Have you ever thought about how much loose change you have lying around the house, everywhere from coat pockets to junk drawers to the bottom of your purse?
Maybe $5 worth? $10? $100 or more?
In our family, we deposit all of our loose change in a small plastic mixing bowl in the kitchen. Just the other day, my kids asked if we could cash in our change at the CoinStar machine. Normally, I’d say “Yes” but when I saw just how full that thing was, I immediately changed my mind. 😉
Then I got to thinking: What if we saved all of our loose change through the end of the year (3 months)? How much money would that be?
Eyeballing the nearly full change bowl in front of me made me realize just how fast and easy it could all add up. And that nice lump sum would certainly come in handy just before Christmas…
So with that, I’d like to ask all of you frugalicious readers to join my Save the Change Challenge!
- From now through December 20th, save all your loose change.
- Don’t spend a single penny!
- Get the hubby and kids involved as well.
- Then on December 20th, we’ll all share just how much we were able to save up!
You can even add to the challenge by coming up a goal for yourselves like: “By December 20th, I want to have saved $100” etc.
The prize? Pure bragging rights, baby. Maybe even a prize or two…(Hee hee) 😉
I think this will be a lot of fun and can’t wait to see how much money we can all save! Who’s with me?
About Karrie
Food is my love language. But so is saving money. So I like to combine the two a lot and make thrifty make ahead and freeze meals to save time. Because life is busy, and freezer meals can come to the rescue for all of us. And yes, they actually CAN taste good. Read more...
Comments & Reviews
Melissa says
My husband and I save our change. We each get a cash allowance each week and we are not allowed to save our change – EVER!
We use our change as spending money for our vacations. We usually have approximately $600 annually saved from change alone!
Karrie says
Wow – that is so much built up change! So inspiring. Hoping my change jar gets that big too!
Lori says
I’m in! Being single I’m at a slight disadvantage as far as winning anything, but we are all winners in the end when we cash in those coins!!!!
Tracie says
We do this every year for vacations blow money. We have had over $500 before! It’s amazing how fast it can add up. We are currently doing it for our ski vaction after Christmas, this year will probably go for some yummy Starbucks after a few runs on the slopes. Yummo!!!
Victoria Hamel says
We are in and the goal will be to hit $300 in savings! Thank you for this challenge!
Kim says
This is something I already do in our family. I save the change all year long. Then for Christmas I divide it into four ( 4 children). I weigh each so they all get the same weight, not necessarily the same amount. On Christmas day they choose one of the containers under the tree. The day after Christmas we head to Hapo to their counting machine and find out how much each has and then we go shopping. It ranges from $20-$30 per person. I have done this for many years and it never grows old,
Chip says
If any of you belong to a credit union, most of them have a coin machine that you can use for FREE. We usually save ours up and cash in right before going on vacation. This will save you the Coinstar fee.
Kate says
there is a great book called the Christmas Jars by Jason Wright. This reminds me of that. Definately a worthwhile read! May just change your life!
Kim says
We are in too. I am always throwing change into containers. It will be fun to see how much we end up with.
Meri says
I am totally in on this! I already have Christmas cash figured out, but next year’s vacation…well, that’s a different story. I’ll just keep the jar going after the 12/20 for this challenge, and maybe we can have a little more fun next summer!
Jenny says
We just cashed in our change jar a few months ago, it was $60! Working on filling it up again and since I cleaned the garage and found lots of loose change out there I’m thinking we will have at least another $60 by the time we cash it in again. 🙂
Lori says
I’m in, we already do this but we cash in when needed. I’ll get the kids involved as well, they are always finding money. =)
Debby says
We did this for Disneyland – At the 6 month countdown we started for disneyland. Cashing it in right before we left. The incentive – The total divied by two kids equels you can buy anything at disneyland with “your” money no questions asked. It was about $40 per kid and it made them really think about what they were buying.
I did pre buy shirts and logoed items before we left – they were surprised each day with a new shirt and trinket.
Mandy says
We do this but don’t use CoinStar, I think they charge you. We bought a cheap coin roller 7 years ago and my son LOVES rolling the change himself. It turned into a family affair with Grandpa getting involved and donating to my son’s cause!!
Bernadette Hernandez says
I always try to save our change, but than we get strapped for cash close to payday and I have to cash it in.. I am going to try to last until Christmas.
Just so you know, if you have an account at Hapo you can use their “coinstar” thing in the lobby for FREE!
Claudia says
Im in! I have a baby bottle “coin-piggy bank.” I told my husband that once it is filled we can start talking about babies! I like your idea better! 🙂
Lisa Lord says
we are IN!!! ;)sounds fun.. and to get the kids SAVING!