I counted my jar of coins last night......

[mousebymarriage]

we also use the Disney popcorn bucket for our change (except we have 2 popcorn buckets because DH likes to use one for quarters only and the other for dimes, nickles and pennies...I have no idea why he likes them seperated). We usually cash ours in right before we leave for vacation and thats gas money for the trip (last trip June 2011, we had almost $400 in change). We have been doing this for years and DH's dad used to do the same thing but, he used his change for Disney souvenier money. We bank at TD North Bank and they have a change counting machine in the bank lobby that is free for customers.

 

[karice2]

I must be fancy. I use my Longaberger Recipe basket for my change catcher. I also put my $1 bills and my disney gift cards that I get from Target using 5% off. My credit union has a corn machine so I just use that one for free. I do it quarterly. Last time I had $100. I also have the way to save program at my bank since I don't use a lot of cash. I am also using two different cards though. It would be higher if I only used one card.

I also transfer my coupon savings to a ING account.

 

[Lintasare]

I am another popcorn bucket saver. It's just my sister and I so we usually have about $100 after a year of saving our change. We put this on one of those small F&W gift cards and it's our snacking money. Today I emptied out my purse and put over $5 in change in our bucket. I also decided to start the $5 savings plan and stuck a $5 bill in a baggie.

 

[Forevryoung]

So this prompted me to count mine- $36.90

I keep my change in an awesome glass jar with Mickey/Minnie on it that I found at Goodwill that I had to have (I think it was $3 ).

It's just me so it builds slowly. But because it's just me, nobody takes any money from my jar

 

[ellie'smom]

The dollar stores around here have plastic pig banks, that's what I use. The banks have no outlet so you have to cut into them in order to retrieve your cash. This way you can't get to your money until you cut it open. My 9 year old daughter calls it, gutting the pig
We usually start a new vacation piggie the week we come home from our vacation, this way we save an entire year. My husband and I have one and our daughter has her own . All her extras at Disney she pays for herself out of her vacation fund. Last year she had 600 dollars, and managed to come home from vacation with some of that cash!
Last week piggie actually got full and had to be cut open early. All the bills and quarters I kept and moved to a bigger bank( not a pig) . My daughter got to keep the dimes, nickels, and pennies as a bonus for doing well in school. The dimes, nickels, and pennies added up to 84 dollars, the rest came to just over 1000 dollars.

 

[disny_luvr]

We throw all our change into a jar too. I agree, it is amazing how quickly change adds up. I am always shocked at how many people drop change on the ground and don't pick it up. Just the other day I was in a parking lot and a lady dropped some change. She didn't think twice about it and just kept on walking. I went over to pick it up after she pulled away and it was 32 cents.

A few months ago a poster here on the DIS posted that she keeps all the $1 bills that have the same letter as the first letter of either her name, her DH's name or her children's names. I started doing this too and WOW those $1 bills add up quickly. I've only been doing this for a few weeks and have well over $100.

 

[momto2inKC]

We have a change jar on our desk that counts the change as you put it in. We cashed it out for our trip in December and started fresh in January. It's got $50 in it so far

 

[ericamcl]

I have a change "bucket" but my husband raids it a lot - with that being said, I have taken to emptying the change once a week and rolling whatever i can with it.

other ways I save for our trips is by rounding up the deductions in my check register. if i use my check card for like, $3.50 i deduct $5.00 - then i balance it down to the penny every couple of months and whatever the "overage" is I put on a disney gift card.
I also add $25, $50, whatever on the gift card every pay day - i'm hoping that this will pretty much pay for everything for our planned trip in december except for airfare

 

[dumbocutie]

you must have got lucky and got the ONE jar that counts correctly. i've bought one at target and one at kohls.. neither worked correctly...[/QUOTE

I have 2 and mine both count correctly.

Bought a counting bank off of e-bay as a stocking stuffer for my husband. But he lets me puts the coins in, he gets a kick out of me getting so excited when it adds up. We cash it in when were going on a trip. Nice little extra spending money.

 

[Disneynut71]

Just finished a large jar of pickles...we washed the jar and now holding our coins. We are going to Disney at the end of May and what ever coins we save we will use as our souvenir money

I have to save most of my quarters for laundry, but I have been putting everything else in the jar. My DS and DD are putting all their coins in too. DD was walking around this weekend picking up pennies on the ground to add to the jar. I think we are close to $10 in the first week. If we can save at least $50 by our trip that could buy them each a few great pins!!

 

[bookgirl]

My name is bookgirl and I'm a coin hoarder

I'm the third generation (granddad taught mom, mom taught me and brother, my nephew is the fourth as he has buckets of money hidden in HIS closet).


I unlike my mom and brother do regulary cash it in and put it in my savings. They never turn it in until they physically can't put anymore in.

I have a small peter pan antique peanut butter can (yep it came in a metal can a long time ago) that I throw it in every couple of days then when that's full I seperate out the pennies and give them to my mom (she does her pennies in 5 galllon jars beleive me that's a nightmare to turn in) and the silver I keep and put in my WDW popcorn bucket. (my mom has actually confiscated one of my two buckets to throw stepdads coins in, yes he too is part of the hoarding that runs through my family). Once the bucket is full (about 300.00) it goes to my moms bank where I'm a signer and they count for free then I either add it to my savings account or I put it in my cash stash for fun money.

 

[Nintfamily]

I had a gallon glass jar that had pickles in it. I washed it out (although it still smells faintly of pickles ) and decorated it with Disney stickers. I have been dumping change in it for the last 4 months. My husband won't take money out of it, but will snag dollars on occasion. So, to help the savings along, I get a lot of change at the bank and when no one is looking, I put it in. My local credit union counts it for free (since I am a member). I haven't counted it in a while, but it will go for our vacation this summer.

 

[Krissalee]

I use an old glass milk container. When it is filled it usually is about $100

That's what I use. I have 3 old glass milk bottles, and they each hold about $80 in change. Carrying it to the bank is heavy, but definately worth it. We cash out each year before our October Disney trip and I usually put the money on a Disney gift card.

 

[Bambi5826]

I have to tell you: Have you heard about the $5 Savings Plan? Here's the rule:

Every single time you get a five dollar bill, NEVER spend it. Put it in a jar and don't touch it again. This really adds up! We started doing this a few weeks ago and already have a few hundred dollars! Right now we're planning on a mini-beach vacation for a couple of days, but as soon as we get home from that, we're going to save for a Disney cruise to Alaska. We won't be able to go for at least two years, so that could really add up.

Planning on trying a variation of this, so thanks for the idea!!

 

[Bambi5826]

Where do you guys turn in your coins?

My credit union has a machine that lets members count for free

 

[Minnesota!]

you must have got lucky and got the ONE jar that counts correctly. i've bought one at target and one at kohls.. neither worked correctly...

I agree - I have owned 3 or 4 of these and they have NEVER counted correctly. Granted, it would only be off by a few dollars, but still irritating...it should work as intended!

We have a HUGE plastic container that used to be the home for cheeseballs...from Target. We have yet to fill it (because our vacations come up too quickly) but we do save A LOT! I cash it in every few months and get about $175 - $200. I also have a coffee mug on my desk that I throw change in, too. Usually about $20 when I cash that in.
My credit union cashes for free.

 

[Shelly F - Ohio]

We have a plastic jug that we put change in. When we empty the jug and cash in the coins I write on the jug what the date is and how much we had saved. It nice to see over the years how much pocket change we were able to save and how long it took to save.

 

[powellrj]

Dh saved our coins last year and bought a flat screen with it and I was saving this year for a french door fridge, but spent part of it last week on a new iphone since my old phone was really old and I needed a new one. I didn't spend all of it, so I am back to saving for the fridge.

 

[GBBTomorrow]

I have to tell you: Have you heard about the $5 Savings Plan? Here's the rule:

Every single time you get a five dollar bill, NEVER spend it. Put it in a jar and don't touch it again. This really adds up! We started doing this a few weeks ago and already have a few hundred dollars! Right now we're planning on a mini-beach vacation for a couple of days, but as soon as we get home from that, we're going to save for a Disney cruise to Alaska. We won't be able to go for at least two years, so that could really add up.

It should be noted that this can be used from everything from vacations to home renovations - it's really worked well for us!

OK, this is a GREAT idea! I'm going to try this.

Speaking of change, I'm always shocked when people are willing to pay 8% to get their change sorted for them in one of those grocery store machines. Am I just extra-cheap, or is that crazy?

 

[doris1976]

Been doing this for many years and am always surprised how much is actually thrown in there. I only do silver as the pennies are not worth it to me.