Loose Change

It's the time of year when I convert last year's spare change into a more useful form of currency. It started after I moved in to my current apartment. That's when I decided to put a dish by a front door that collectes my loose change. The dish is also the place where keys can have a home (which greatly reduces the number of times they need to be hunted for) and a spare Chapstick can be on hand if needed.

I do also keep change in my bags, tend to pull out any quarters for laundry, and am pretty good about actually using it when paying cash, but there are always time when either I have no change with me or don't have enough change, so the accumulation of loose change always outweighs the efforts on my part to rid myself of it.

When I first implemented the front door dish, I had no plan for what to do when it got full, which it did in a little over a year. Then one day I was in a QFC and was reminded of the existence of Coinstar. I had no interest in paying a fee to convert my coins in to something more useful, but thankfully other options existed. I chose the Amazon gift certificate over the option to donate to charity.

After that, I started the practice of an end of the year emptying of the dish. And then eventually I manage to take the zip lock baggie of coins in to QFC and the Coinstar machine. Today, the total was $16.31 (plus a dime and penny that, for whatever reason, the machine rejected). All that remains is a little Amazon shopping.