Keep the change...

So I've gotten in the habit of saving coins. I don't know where it started, just suddenly seemed to have a lot. So I put the coins in a jar, and then as years passed, the one jar became two, three and so on.

We're not talking about a lot of money but a couple hundred dollars is a fair amount to just have laying around doing not much more than taking up space on my shelves. So what do you with it?

Take it to a bank and deposit it was my first guess. Did you know that most banks charge to deposit coins now? Unless you put them in those paper rolls? The average bank charges 5% for coin counting. On about $300 in change, that's $15 bucks right off the top. No thank you. I feel my time is better spent clipping coupons than filling up roll after roll (which, by the way, you have to buy).

And then there's Coinstar. You know that big green machine in most grocery stores? I see a lot of people using them so I thought I'd check it out. Their rate: 8.9%! That 5% was looking pretty good at that point.

But then I looked further and lo and behold, you can get free coin counting from Coinstar if you turn your change into gift cards or e-certificates. And we're not talking about ObscureStore.com here, we're talking Starbucks, amazon.com, Borders, and even AMC Theatres. These are places I shop at anyway.

Check out Coinstar's website here for a full list of what stores they work with and where you can find the machines that have the ones you want.

So why pay to convert your coins into bills, or even deposit them? They'd do better sitting on the shelves. Why not turn the change you have been collecting for years into something you can use?

I ended up using my loose change for a $289.52 gift certificate for amazon. Definitely takes the sting out of an impulse purchase.