Nuisance Money

Loose change is a nuisance for me. Right now I have collections at the bottom of my purse, in a jar on the counter, and in my car.

Back in high school I was a carhop at Sonic, and every night after work I would come home with $10-$15 worth of tips in change. I would tediously roll the coins and turn them into the bank weekly. Although rolling is still an option, I've discovered some easier ways.

1) Spend it. Keep a small amount of change with you all the time and use it during cash transactions so you never receive any change in return. (i.e. If your purchase is $1.26, hand over the dollar + 26 cents instead of paying with $2 and gaining 74 more cents for your collection.)

2) Use a coinstar machine -- for a giftcard. Coinstar machines are often found in banks and grocery stores; they accept your loose change and spit out bills in return -- for a charge of 8.9%. To charge 8.9% for turning US currency into US currency is absurd, but thankfully they now they offer to redeem your change for giftcards at no charge. Some of the card choices include Starbucks, iTunes, and Amazon.com.

3) Take it to a Commerce Bank. Commerce Bank currently serves metro New York, Philadelphia, DC, and Southeast Florida and is expanding. They offer a coin counting machine, dubbed the Penny Arcade, that converts coins to cash for no charge even if you aren't an account holder. Wells Fargo bank offered a similar service until recently, when they pulled machines due to the large number of businesses that were using the service.

4) Use coins in the self-checkout line. This method works great on a weekday night when you won't annoy other customers. Simply go to a store with a self-check out line, choose to pay for your purchase with cash, and start depositing coins. There is no charge, plus you get to use the cash for things you really need (groceries) vs things you don't really need (iTunes).

If you still choose to roll your coins, make sure you never buy coin sleeves -- many banks will provide them for free if you ask. Also, here's some encouragement for the coin rollers thanks to understory.com. They state that a roll of coins should take no longer than 2 minutes to roll. At that rate, assuming you would pay 8.9% to a Coinstar machine otherwise, you would make (save) $25.70 an hour if rolling exclusively quarters. (However you would only save $1.36/hour if rolling exclusively pennies.) Finally, there are a few local banks that will accept large amounts of unrolled coinage and deposit them into your account. Check with your bank for specific policies.

You never need to pay 8.9% to convert your pocket change to bills. Even better, once the change is converted you can put it to work by paying off debt or making a deposit into a high yield savings account.

"Money often costs too much." -Ralph Waldo Emerson