Where to get loose change

PROs: A coin separator quickly organizes everything and rolls it all for you, and charges no fees. CONs: Unfortunately, you still have to buy the machine, and if you have a huge project involving jars upon jars of coins, a top-of-the-line separator could run you several hundred bucks. Simply bring what you need to the counter, pay the clerk, and enjoy all your new-found stuff.

CONs: You have to constantly count your coins before using them, which gets old fast. To wrap up, here are six ways you can turn change into cash:.

Mary Hiers is a personal finance writer who helps people earn more and spend less. Guide to Turning Coins into Cash. Take Your Coins to the Bank As you might have guessed, one way you can have your silver coins swapped for crisp, paper Lincolns is by taking them to the bank.

Great article! It is always great when you find spare change lying around your home. And when you take it to your local grocery store which has a Coinstar machine, you can buy groceries with your change! Instead of giving out bills, the Coinstar machine will print out a receipt with the dollar amount value you have accumulated to use for groceries at that store! That's one free grocery trip. Thanks for the tips, I looked this page up after searching my house today. About Contact Advertise.

Credit Cards Personal Finance. Home » Personal Finance » Forget Saving By Tisha Tolar on 21 May 26 comments. Photo: Coinstar. Wise Bread Picks. Tagged: Personal Finance , cash , change , found money , saving money , spare coins. Related and Popular. Now What? How to Make Better Financial Decisions. Average: 1 1 vote. Guest 1. Whose going to go dig up their yard to find spare change?

LOL Not so much. Andi 2. Guest 3. Linda 4. Guest 5. Guest 6. Eliza 7. This post has to be a joke Daniel Costalis 8. Most of the time he steals other people incorrect work and posts it as his own. It is a good idea to keep spare change in your car in case you need it for metered parking. Create a central collection spot. As you find change, you need to have a central place to keep it so it doesn't get lost again. You can use a jar, a small box, or a grown up piggy bank or a toy version if you are a kid or kid at heart.

Put this bank in a convenient location, like by the front door or in a hallway that you walk down frequently, so you won't forget to use it. If you have kids, give them a piggy bank and encourage them to cash in on the fun, too. If there is a particular toy that they want, encourage them to save half of the money for it in loose change so they have a goal to work toward.

Collecting change around the house can teach them important lessons about saving and budgeting. Part 2. Look down in a crowd. Your best bet for finding change in public is to look in a crowded, busy space, like an airport, a subway station, or a train station. In spaces like these, most people won't bother to stop and pick up change they have dropped because they are too busy to notice it's gone. TSA guidelines require passengers to empty their pockets of loose change, but many passengers do not recollect this change from security bins.

Follow heavy foot traffic. Go to places where there is a lot of pedestrian activity. If you live near a popular bar area, you might consider taking a walk on an early Sunday morning to look for change on the ground left behind from people the night before. If you visit ballparks, concert venues and movie theaters, you should also keep an eye out for change on the ground or under the rows of seats. If you are looking for change on sidewalks, be sure to also check gutters too.

Think about where you use change. How often do you use physical change in your daily activities? You most likely use it at places like vending machines, ATMs, laundromats, food carts, parking meters and while standing at a cash register.

Look on the ground around these places to check and see if there is any loose change. At vending machines, you can check the returned change slot to see if there are any stray coins left behind.

If you are using a drive-thru to pick up food, you might get out of your car while you are waiting to look for change. Many customers drop change when the cashier hands it to them through the window, so this is also a good place to check. At cash registers, be sure that you only pick up change on the ground. Many businesses will leave out jars or dishes for tips or for collections for charities. Do not take change in these receptacles; that is illegal.

Look around fences or other barriers. Often, when there is bad weather or a strong wind, stray bills and loose change will be pushed around until they hit a barrier like a fence. Check along the ground near fences to see if any money has been pushed against them.

Get in the weeds. If you are walking around a park or public garden, look around the less tended areas such as tall grass or weeds. Often when change is dropped in these areas, it goes unnoticed for a long time. Founded in , Bankrate has a long track record of helping people make smart financial choices. All of our content is authored by highly qualified professionals and edited by subject matter experts , who ensure everything we publish is objective, accurate and trustworthy.

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