Spare Change

[eagle]

Does anyone else collect their spare change?
When I come home, I tend to empty my pockets, putting all my 1p, 2p and 5p coins into a tray/jar. I've no idea how much I might have collected, but it's probably in the region of £20 or so - comes in handy every now and again when I'm short of cash - I just take it into town and exchange it for a couple of notes (FREE MONEY!)

Do you collect change, and if so, how much do you have?

[Fawksie]

I collect masses of coppers, because having more than a few of them in your pockets at once is pointless and heavy. Everything else I tend to spend by using the greatest possible number of coins, within reason. Edinburgh bus drivers find it difficult to count a handful of 10p and 20p coins dumped into the coinbox, incidentally

[queen of scots]

We do (well, my husband does, I just spend my money on shoes) and think we had £35 at the last count. It's probably gone up quite a bit since then, as we never get round to taking it to the bank since the coin banking is closed on a saturday.

[KayBee]

Yeah we do it as well. Any spare change gets fired in our son's money box. When it's built up a bit we take it to a coinster machine and treat him to a toy or whatever. It's rubbed off on the wee one to the extent that he is some kind of magpie now and regularly picks up dropped money in the house or on the street. His dad (accountant) is ridiculously proud!

[Mr Comedy]

I do the same - I have a tube that I got a bottle of whisky in ages ago, and I stick all my 5ps, 2ps and 1ps in here. Partly this is out of an inherent dislike of small change, but I take it to the bank every time it gets full (usually only once a year) and I can have a good £50-80 in there.

And you're right - it's just like free money!

[munchingfoo]

I use a pewter mug. I collect all year, then jerk someones arm when I dump the contents into a blue collection bucket carried around during ragweek.

[Gubbins]

Edinburgh bus drivers find it difficult to count a handful of 10p and 20p coins dumped into the coinbox, incidentally

I've heard it's possible to get away with £2.25 for a day ticket when you don't have enough change. I figure they make it up those times I have to pay £1.20 for a £1.10 ticket.

[The Jaspar]

Is there anywhere we can take coins to have them counted and turned into useful money? I have some coin bags from the bank, but I don't quite have enough of any type to get them changed at the bank. Why won't RBS let me just dump all my change into a magical machine that counts them for me?

[Fawksie]

Coinstar machines will automatically count your change and issue a ticket which you can exchange for banknotes or goods at the customer service desk. They take a 7.9% cut though. There's machines in both Tescos, both ASDAs, Sainsbury's and Morrisons in Dundee.

[Freaker]

There's no place in St Andrews, though?

I usually keep all my small change in a little basket in my room - although I sometimes keep some larger change in there as well for when I really need it (and it is such a pleasant surprise to see how much is left over at the end!)

I did this in China this summer, and at the end of my study program we took the little basket to the meat-stick seller outside the uni gate and had more than 80 chicken, lamb, beef, veg and mushroom sticks. Small change collected like this is the perfect money for small treats!

[orudge]

Is there anywhere we can take coins to have them counted and turned into useful money?

Well, not quite the same, but I like to take a pile of random change and feed it into the Tesco self-service machines. If I find I don't quite have enough, and have to put in a note, I will at least then get decent change out of it instead of the same rubbish change I put in. Note: this is best done when there isn't a huge queue behind you, or people may not like you very much.

[careba2010]

Our Branch of HSBC at home has a machine that counts your money and pays it into your bank account, so at the end of each academic year I take my money box and empty it in. But a warning should be posted my Dad has a pot which he fills with the contents of his pockets each night, 9 times out of ten this is OK and the machine in HSBC does it thing but it does not like the stray buttons and polos that end up in the pot!

[eagle]

9 times out of ten this is OK and the machine in HSBC does it thing but it does not like the stray buttons and polos that end up in the pot!

This actually made me chuckle.

[LonelyPilgrim]

Am I alone in quite liking change? I used to store it up, and horde every 20p I could find for the New Hall washing machines, but now that I'm living back in the States, I don't have that concern and regularly pay exact change as often as possible for whatever I happen to be purchasing.

Perhaps my budget is simply too tight to allow me to store money in a coffee can until it's full anymore...

[Ellkie2]

Well, not quite the same, but I like to take a pile of random change and feed it into the Tesco self-service machines.

Brilliant idea! My windowsill is covered in coins. Me and my flatmate have amassed loads of change that we find on our floor and on shelves when we empty our pockets and forget who it belongs to. We also find a lot in the garden, probably from drunken fumblings for keys. We're now collecting it for a booze fund.

A trip to Tesco self-service is in order!

[Freaker]

I just used a fair bit of small change, 1p and 2p pieces included, to pay off my library fines at the machine in the short loan section. Fun fun fun !

[HarryP]

Well, not quite the same, but I like to take a pile of random change and feed it into the Tesco self-service machines.

Brilliant idea! My windowsill is covered in coins. Me and my flatmate have amassed loads of change that we find on our floor and on shelves when we empty our pockets and forget who it belongs to. We also find a lot in the garden, probably from drunken fumblings for keys. We're now collecting it for a booze fund.

A trip to Tesco self-service is in order!

The older gentleman in Tesco loves it when you pay with small change. Do it.

[Hennessy]

Yeah cheers for that. There is nothing more annoying than standing in line behind some inconsiderate twat who has decided to bring his collection of 5 pences along to pay for his shopping, and absolutely refuses to pay in anything but the exact change.

[Stu le taxi]

Rules are more fun when they're bendy. With an unbreakable rule you can really hurt somebody, but with a bendy one you can just tickle them, or slap them if you swing it hard.

I agree with Frank, in his legendary stint as DRA's teaboy/assistant bitch he broke plenty of rules, and no-one came to harm, and nobody likes a complainer because you sir, are bringing everyone down

That's the problem with being a miserable moralising bastard, you can't quite ever have all of your own bases covered.

Yeah cheers for that. There is nothing more annoying than standing in line behind some inconsiderate twat who has decided to bring his collection of 5 pences along to pay for his shopping, and absolutely refuses to pay in anything but the exact change.

[Abserdman]

I collect all the money I find in glasses and on the floor in the union. I have (not including notes, which I spent) well over £20 there now.

I also collect all my 1p, 2p and 5p coins seperately and have about £10 there too.