What to do with that coin jar.

Revealer

Hi Everyone. Myself like many other people have a lot of money just lying around in coin jars, at the back of the sofa, in cupboards, in bowls etc. Coinstar was never an option for me as they take a healthy cut and although it is loose coins, it is still my hard earned money. I used to take it to my bank but it is such a hassle with having to bag it all up and some banks only take 5 bags a day.

So, I've discovered a new way of dealing with coins. I normally shop at ASDA. At the self help checkout they have the coin slots. This takes a long time if you want to pay with all your change and will annoy people in the queue. So what I have discovered is that in some shops, especially in Morrisons, at the self help checkouts they have coin drops with little conveyor belts instead of slots. You can basically dump all your coins in the coin drop and it takes seconds to count it all.

There are three secrets to this:

1. Make sure you only buy products that are cheaper or the same price as the shop where you normally shop. Use the internet to compare prices.

2. You can 'overpay' the machine. For instance if the product you buy costs just £1, continue pouring coins in, especially 1 and 2ps. The machine will give you the biggest possible coin or note value as change.

3. It is a good idea to go in the morning so you don't hold up the queue. I find there are normally no queues early in the morning.

This really works and is far better than counting coins in bags or let a machine take a percentage of your money.

Any other ideas?

Thanks

asajj

This is a good idea indeed, I do the same at Tesco

joeyjimbles

HSBC branches have their own money counting machines and the money goes straight into your account without a cut going anywhere else. I assume that this would only work if you hold an account with HSBC or First Direct but I've never checked it out.
In these days on online, mobile and ATM banking, it might be worth a trip into branch to see if yours has one of these machines.

graham73

Nice idea with the Tesco machine, didn't know that. We use the HSBC one, we do it once a year at it usually goes towards our holiday.

Kite2010

The machines in Sainsburys used to have little coin hoppers where you could load them up with various coins, sadly replaced with a slot where you need to put one in at a time. Useful when at a quiet time where other machines are available for other shoppers to use.

Whatever you do, don't use those "coin-star" style machines, I saw one in Basingstoke Tesco Metro last weekend which takes a nice 10% cut.

benbenandme

I've bagged all mine up and keep popping in to pay in 5 bags a day at my bank (I live 3 doors away). The lady in there is getting really huffy about it, she keeps telling me "they don't have anywhere to put the coins" and have I thought about going to Sainsburys with them and using their machine? :cool: I smile sweetly and tell her yes I've thought about it, but I'm not letting them take their cut when I can pay it into my bank account instead I have a total of £130, its about 6 days trips to the bank, which I pass several times a day anyway. Its worth it just to see her getting grumpy

Makeachange

benbenandme wrote: »

I've bagged all mine up and keep popping in to pay in 5 bags a day at my bank (I live 3 doors away). The lady in there is getting really huffy about it, she keeps telling me "they don't have anywhere to put the coins" and have I thought about going to Sainsburys with them and using their machine? :cool: I smile sweetly and tell her yes I've thought about it, but I'm not letting them take their cut when I can pay it into my bank account instead I have a total of £130, its about 6 days trips to the bank, which I pass several times a day anyway. Its worth it just to see her getting grumpy

I love this! I think i'd like to see her get grumpy too :rotfl: Hold on to all your cash, I hate those machines!!

I tend to do the same, I take a bit of my change a little bit at a time and when im paying at the self service I use it up!

Coinstar = no go! I've seen people come use them and put like £300 in there, imagine the cut! too much!!!

[Deleted User]

Put an ad on Gumtree or Craisgslist and convert the cash into Silver Britannia 1 ounces. Buying from the Mint is £45 but cash in hand is less than £20.

Sugarplum634

My HSBC hasn't got a counting machine but they do have weight scales so as long as they are bagged up correctly they'll take them.

m-march1

I keep all 1ps, 2ps, 5ps and 10ps, and if I have £1 in 20ps, that goes in the jar too. I emptied it out recently and I had over £60 in loose change!

I just asked for some money bags from the bank (if you ask for loads then you don't have to keep going in for more) and counted it out into the correct amounts for the bag. It didn't take long and I did it in front of the TV.

When you take it to the bank, make sure you have some spare coins on you just in case you've counted wrong.

They usually ask for:
£1 in 1 or 2p coins.
£5 in 5 or 10p coins.
£10 in 20p coins.
£20 in 50p or £1 coins.

Ilona

Revealer wrote: »

Hi Everyone. Myself like many other people have a lot of money just lying around in coin jars, at the back of the sofa, in cupboards, in bowls etc.

Any other ideas?

Thanks

Hi. Your idea is good, but, an even better idea........I don't have any money lying around, anywhere in the house, either in jars or loose. My pension is paid into the bank, I withdraw the exact amount I need to cover my spending, I go back to the bank when I need more cash and use the machine to take it out. If I accumulate a few coins in my purse I use them to pay for my shopping at the till.

I don't need to save coins in a jar, I watch my bank balance rise on the statement instead. No need to faff with counting, shoving it all in a machine, going into a supermarket when there is nothing I particularly need just to get rid of the metal, and dealing with grumpy bank staff. Why make all that extra work for yourself. A printed number on a page is just the same as hard cash.
Ilona