I have been saving my husband's and my spare change for years. This year I decided to document every "cash-in", to see exactly how much change that we DID wind up with at the end of the year. I have always used this money for a rainy-day fund, like when I was absolutely out of money, needed gas for the car, or an unexpected item from the grocery store.
This year, I determined to earmark the money for a special project. so I started collecting in January, and planned to use the money for garden expenses. If I used any of the money in the jar, then I made note of how much was taken, and put a reminder to repay it in the jar.
This way, I was able to: 1. See how much money that I was able to save from just loose change, and 2. Keep up with how much was spent on my garden in a year's time. Since I knew that I was "saving" money, I often would give a dollar to pay for an item, instead of correct change. I knew that the small amount would not make a difference to my budget, but would help contribute to my garden fund.
As of this date, November 5, I have so far saved almost six hundred dollars in loose change, and spent $582.00 on my garden. I knew that the change collection was a big help, but now realize how much, since I started actually keeping track of "deposits and withdrawals". I was very pleased to learn what the actual figure was.
Many people drop their loose change in a bucket or jar. If you take that cache in to your local market where there is a Coinstar machine you can turn it into cash, no fee gift cards, or make a donation. There is a fee for the service, but you don't have to sort and wrap as with a bank. This can make you feel like you just got a second payday.
