What's the most loose change you saved?

[Tyche]

Ive had a huge whiskey jar I've kept pennies in since i was 16. Between that, my ash tray in my car, and the pennies in the couch, I probably have about $7.00. I haven't used cash in probably 6 or 7 years. Always carry a debit card on me and that's all. If for some reason I ever need cash, I got to the ATM and get the appropriate amount.

[Oxyminus]

I actually just read an interesting article that recommends cashing in your change every 1 to 2 months and depositing it into a savings account so you can actually accumulate some interest. I never considered that.

thats genius, you'd be getting "something" out of it, and if you're like me, and put ALL your change in said jar, its not like you're using the money on anything until it fills up anyway.

What do you guys do that causes you to end up with so much change? It's always falling out of my pocket into some random chair so I purposely go out of my way to make sure I can pay with a card instead of cash.

nothing special, just empty my pocket into the jar when I get home, it slowly adds up to be a lot

[Remembrance]

I remember my grandparent's got me this huge Coke bottle change holder, the thing must have been like three and a half feet tall. I think they got it for me when I was like 5 and my grandfather would always empty his change into it after work.. I think I emptied it out when I was 10 and there was 1200 dollars in change..

[megabyte]

Before I moved I counted the change under the drivers seat of my car, where all my change seems to go when I sit down...

$217 under the seat, and $89~ in the cup holder on the passenger side.

I used that to buy a 7 gallon trash can where I toss my change now =P

[Kazen]

A little over $2200 (not mine, my parents), it was a completely full water jug (10 gallon I think?)

On a side note, this thread made me turn in my jug on my dresser today, $158-ish

[Zalius]

i found 6 rolls of quarters in a bag one time when i was 8

2 base set charizards i shit you not

[Siniroth]

well then, I'm gonna start saving change right now >_> I didn't know that much got accumulated

On topic: about $45.80, in my piggy bank I ignored as a kid, I dunno how the $45.80 got in there

[Haelian]

When I graduated from high school, my dad, his 2 brothers and 1 sister combined the change they all had saved up to give to me as a gift. It was something around $1120. I had to have my friend help me lug the giant bucket over to the Coinstar.

[Oxyminus]

When I graduated from high school, my dad, his 2 brothers and 1 sister combined the change they all had saved up to give to me as a gift. It was something around $1120. I had to have my friend help me lug the giant bucket over to the Coinstar.

$1120??? and coinstar takes 10 cents on the dollar, ouch!

[Shuemue]

I had a 2 litre jar of mainly coppers, I figured it'd be around £20-30 GBP ($40-60 USD), turned out to be like £150 GBP ($300 USD) which was a very pleasant surprise.

[Oxyminus]

I had a 2 litre jar of mainly coppers, I figured it'd be around £20-30 GBP ($40-60 USD), turned out to be like £150 GBP ($300 USD) which was a very pleasant surprise.

thats like what happened to me the last time i cashed in my jar. figured it to be about $100 (was a new coin jar, so had no experience with it) mid-emptying, a clerk had to replace the bag for me, she said it should be like $120 total, when it tipped just over $200, I was very happily suprised. best BBQ ever, cause it was free!

[Kiro]

My sister had a big ass bucket of change she got from her grandma. Went to the store and used one of the coinstar machines and it came up to like.. $50 or something like that.

[Ikith]

Where can I find a good coin holder? Like a big piggy bank? I usually end up counting my change after my cup fills up and spending it buying pop at college and whatnot so I figure if I have something to put it in that I'm to lazy to open then it wouldn't get spent

[izembo]

i just use a large glass jar, but anything big like that works pretty well. i forget what it's from exactly but i guess a milk jug would work ok too.

[Tradition]

I had sixty bucks in a pringles can once. Then I rolled up the coins and took it to the bank and got this weird look from the teller, as if I were insane or something.

[Norelco]

I had sixty bucks in a pringles can once. Then I rolled up the coins and took it to the bank and got this weird look from the teller, as if I were insane or something.

Maybe because they smelled like Pringles.

[leviathanertai]

When I graduated from high school, my dad, his 2 brothers and 1 sister combined the change they all had saved up to give to me as a gift. It was something around $1120. I had to have my friend help me lug the giant bucket over to the Coinstar.

$1120??? and coinstar takes 10 cents on the dollar, ouch!

At that price, it would be cheaper to pay for gas to drive to NYC where people are mentioning the free "penny arcade" dealies and save yourself ~70 dollars.

Presently, I have about $40 from the last 6 months worth of change in this weird skull mug from Treasure Island in Vegas that I think I got at a thrift store in WA. I thought that was a good amount til reading this thread...

[Cletis]

i did this yesterday to pay for a movie ticket lol


http://www.antiyawn.com/guidetocoinstar.html



Introduction

So, you go digging through your couch and you find somewhere around $200 in loose change and you REALLY don't want to count all of that yourself. Fortunately, god invented CoinStar to do that for you. Unfortunately, CoinStar charges you somewhere around 9% for its services. This is why you want to learn how to hack a CoinStar.

This is a really simple hack, so you won't be seeing too many pictures.

A picture.
Background

Recently, CoinStar started a campaign where they won't charge you any fee if you turn your coins into iTunes gift cards, Amazon gift cards, or Virgin mobile cards. The machine doesn't actually give you any cards, but rather PINs which can be typed in on the sponsor's site and redeemed for their value. This works because the CoinStar machine has the power of the internets.
How to do it

This is really quite simple. Follow the directions as usual, but when it asks how you would like your money, make sure to pick the iTunes gift card. After it counts all of your change, the machine will ask you how much of your money you want as a gift card and how much you want as cash. Go ahead and set it all to gift card. Now, before proceeding, you need to find a way to unplug the phone jack from the back of the machine. I'm lucky because the wall phone jack for my local CoinStar is at about shoulder height right next to the machine.

Now the poor machine is in quite a pickle. It already has all of your change, and it can't give that back to you. It can't give you an iTunes card either. It could give you cash, but it's not going to lay that 9% fee on because you obviously didn't agree to that when you put your change in the machine. What can it do? Give you cash for FREE. After a few minutes of trying, it will simply give up and just give you a slip which can be redeemed for cash at the store customer service counter.
Conclusion

This little trick worked for me, so go ahead and give it a shot. Oh, and I'm supposed to tell you that I didn't think of this one. My good friend Collin over at Virtual Fresh Air thought of it, but he was too lazy to write it up.