Bags of Change

nobblyned

darich wrote: »

Why???

I've regularly saved hundreds of pounds in coins - enough to pay my car insurance on one occasion. My bank (Nationwide) will not accept any more than 5 bags per day per customer. That, added to it being around 7miles away makes it inconvenient if not impossible to make to make numerous trips to that branch.
Finally it would take me hours to sort and count the hundreds or thousands of coins i have and bag them. Incidentally I'd need to visit the branch without coins to get bags in the first place!

For the above reasons and because I value my time more than 8% charge, I'm happy to pay them their charge and save me lots of time, hassle and expense!

That has to be the most ridiculous un-MSE post ever!!

You deliberately save 'hundreds of pounds' in coins and then subject youself to an 8% tax for no reason at all.

briona

nobblyned wrote: »

That has to be the most ridiculous un-MSE post ever!!

Not necessarily true! As noted by Martin Lewis himself (p80, The Money Diet, 2nd edition), sometimes saving time is as, or more, important than saving money. And if that is the case as long as you have the money to save time, then there is nothing wrong with that logic.

An 8% charge saves darich the petrol costs of getting to and from town, and also time because he can cash his change whilst doing his Tesco shop for example (assuming that's where his nearest Coinstar booth is located).

darich

nobblyned wrote: »

That has to be the most ridiculous un-MSE post ever!!

You deliberately save 'hundreds of pounds' in coins and then subject youself to an 8% tax for no reason at all.

Far from it.

I already said i can only deposit 5 bags per day at the branch and it's a 14mile round trip.
So driving to and from the bank will take me at least 30mins and use half a gallon of fuel and all i can deposit is 5 bags....what about the other 20bags or so that i have?

Every 5 bags is the same.

So you think it's more MSE to spend half a gallon fuel and take an hour out of my day for only 5bags?

For 20 bags that's 4 hours driving, 2 gallons of fuel and 60miles on my car.
Or i can pop into the local Asda AS I PASS IT ON THE WAY HOME FROM WORK and get everything converted in one visit.....for the price of one trip to my bank and in one quarter of the time.

Even if it was costing me the same financially (or even marginally more), I'd still do it because my time is valuable to me.

Did you actually think before you posted????

LittleVoice

What I find hard to understand is how people accumulate so much change. If you have change it must be because you are using cash in transactions. Therefore use the coins in the next transaction.

I know some people seem to think that if they put the money aside at the end of each day, they will be saving it. But it just means they have to get notes out from their bank (which might pay sensible interest on the balance) sooner than if they used the coins sensibly in day-to-day spending.

If you don't accumulate the coins, you don't have to work out how to pay them in to your bank or exchange them for notes.

Oh well, each to his or her own!

Northern_girl_2

LittleVoice wrote: »

What I find hard to understand is how people accumulate so much change. If you have change it must be because you are using cash in transactions. Therefore use the coins in the next transaction.

I know some people seem to think that if they put the money aside at the end of each day, they will be saving it. But it just means they have to get notes out from their bank (which might pay sensible interest on the balance) sooner than if they used the coins sensibly in day-to-day spending.

I'm one of those people that puts any change in a pot at the end of the day to contribute to savings. I understand the logical point you are making that it just means that you take notes out of the bank quicker but what actually happens is I'm less likely to buy small and usually unecessary items. If I empty my purse of change each night then I am far less likely to break into a note for a coffee, magazine, chocolate bar or whatever. It does save me money because I'm less likely to buy pointless tat.

I'm quite strict though and once it goes in my pot it doesn't come out as well as drawing a set amount out of the bank each week. Therefore once the change goes in the pot and I've ran out of notes then I force myself not to spend any more.

I guess it depends how you budget and deal with cash.

Lokolo

Northern_girl wrote: »

I'm one of those people that puts any change in a pot at the end of the day to contribute to savings. I understand the logical point you are making that it just means that you take notes out of the bank quicker but what actually happens is I'm less likely to buy small and usually unecessary items. If I empty my purse of change each night then I am far less likely to break into a note for a coffee, magazine, chocolate bar or whatever. It does save me money because I'm less likely to buy pointless tat.

I'm quite strict though and once it goes in my pot it doesn't come out as well as drawing a set amount out of the bank each week. Therefore once the change goes in the pot and I've ran out of notes then I force myself not to spend any more.

I guess it depends how you budget and deal with cash.

Exactly the same as me.

I actually feel bad giving shops etc. all those 10 and 20ps. But I did work selling programmes at football club. £2.50 week in week out, people always bought coppers, copppers!!! I used to be quite rude to those people and count the money in front of them very very slowly. :T

darich

LittleVoice wrote: »

What I find hard to understand is how people accumulate so much change. If you have change it must be because you are using cash in transactions. Therefore use the coins in the next transaction.

I know some people seem to think that if they put the money aside at the end of each day, they will be saving it. But it just means they have to get notes out from their bank (which might pay sensible interest on the balance) sooner than if they used the coins sensibly in day-to-day spending.

If you don't accumulate the coins, you don't have to work out how to pay them in to your bank or exchange them for notes.

Oh well, each to his or her own!

As northergirl has said with smaller coins and change I'd be more likely to buy junk.
Also, as a bloke, I don't have a purse and there's nothing i hate more than a bunch of coins rattling about in my pocket as i walk up and down the office. I always think it sounds unprofessional (in my office it does anyway!)
I prefer notes and I'd be less likely to buy a 40p pack of chewing gum with a £20 note than I would be with a load of coins.

It also helps me save a bit - as I said in a previous post - i once paid my car insurance with the proceeds frmo my change jar. I've also completed Christmas shopping with another filled jar and bought several pictures for my house....and still had money left. We're talking about £300plus here so it's quite a sum of money.

I'll always save money in a jar. I recently returned from NYC with cash and got it converted back to Sterling. It meant i had around £300 spare - I didn't go mad with it but over a few weeks I've ended up with £100 in notes alone in my bottle along with coins - and they're all silver. No coppers, plus notes means I wouldn't be surprised if i had £200 plus in there now and I've not noticed putting it in there.

Any

I have to say our local NatWest in village tried to send my hubby away with our coins. However he told them that he is paying money into his account and they have to accept, the manager was there just then he told the staff to take it.
However when I go to NatWest branch where I work, they always happily bank my coins in. And give me new empty bags.
It might be because there is lot of little private shops around and their owners come for the change as they need it to be able to give change to customers. And I know for sure that bank charges them for this. So they might take it because every little coin is good for them.

brila

A lot of banks let you pay an unlimited amount of coin bags into a childs account (I know Nationwide and Halifax do). So when I have a pile of bags I pay them into my son's account and draw out notes (or a cheque) straight away.

Often cashiers are more willing to take more than the permitted number of coin bags when they are quiet (ie not lunchtimes or weekends). Scouts (leaders!) are often interested in bags of change before holding a jumble sale and I often swap a few bags for notes for a neighbour who helps out with the stalls.

I save all my change apart from £1 and 50p and it really does add up! It would get frittered away on mints and diet coke before.

PamelaH

I also save all loose change except 50p and £1 coins. Well its mainly my husbands, but as he moans about getting holes in his pockets, I feel I am doing him a favour.

We save from 1st December to 1st December each year and whatever there is pays for meals and outings on the run up to Christmas, that way we feel we are having treats for nothing. Can't wait to count this years.:rotfl: :rotfl: