# How much spare change do you estimate that you have in your house? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 15, 2011, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-spare-change-do-you-estimate-that-you-have-in-your-house/606331 "2011-12-15T19:59:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2011, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-spare-change-do-you-estimate-that-you-have-in-your-house/606331/41 "2011-12-16T01:51:29Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > I’m not big on saving coins but I do have a small mayo jar of them. > > For me, and I suspect many folks it goes like this: > > I use a credit card for 98% of my retail purchases. And I make maybe 10 retail purchases per week, tops. So cash purchases are a less-than-once-per-month event for me.So I’m sure as hell not going to carry 13 or 87 or whatever cents worth of coins around for the next 5 weeks on the off chance that A) I might make a cash purchase today, and B) the change I already have will be enough to reduce the amount I get back. > > So if I’m not going to put coins in my pocket at the \*start \*of a day, what am I going to do with any I have at the \*end \*of a day? Dumping it in a jar seems like a sensible idea. > > I’ve read of younger dopers who simply throw it in the trash at the end of the day. That offends my sense of avoid-pointless-waste. Although I piss away a hell of a lot more than a fraction of a dollar on other pointless wastes each & every day. > > I have to admit that trashing change makes a certain sense. If I end up with 5 dollars of change at the end of 3 months it won’t even pay my vehicle mileage to make a special trip to the bank. So instead it sits around until there’s $20 or $30 then I make that semi-special trip to stop by a bank along my regular errands route with a free coin counter. > > I agree it seems silly for folks of modest means to sit on hundreds of $ in coins. Then again, if that’s the only way they can bring themselves to save, so be it. I’m one of those who does not accumulate coins. I have maybe a couple of dollars worth of change at any one time, because I continually spend coins about as fast as I get them. But here’s the thing: You said: “So if I’m not going to put coins in my pocket at the \*start \*of a day, what am I going to do with any I have at the \*end \*of a day?” I have a different approach. I have a tiny change purse that I keep on my person whenever I am dressed to go out. It holds my normally small amount of coins, whatever I happen to have at the time. I pick it up with my wallet every day, when I get dressed to go out. So I always have all my coins with me, naturally. I’ve done this all my adult life, for more than 30 years now. While I always pay for large expenses with a credit card, I have no problem paying for little things, like a coffee or a sandwich, with cash. And in that case my goal is to leave with fewer coins than I started with. So I try to pay with exact change, if I can. The point being that this way the coins are immediately used as actual money, rather than being stuck in a jar to no purpose. (Of course, if there’s people waiting for me then I don’t go searching through my coins for exact change. But you’d be amazed how many purchases I make with nobody else in line at all.) ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2011, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-spare-change-do-you-estimate-that-you-have-in-your-house/606331/42 "2011-12-16T01:52:43Z")
> [@rachelellogram](#): > > I got a debit card with the first bank account I opened in college.. Well, here explains one difference: Debit cards didn’t exist when I went to college – or for many years later. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2011, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-spare-change-do-you-estimate-that-you-have-in-your-house/606331/43 "2011-12-16T01:54:27Z")
I took a coffee can of change to one of those counter machines about a year ago and had $93. There’s easily another $80 around the house in coins. About time to take the coffee can back to the counter machine. 😉 I get most of my change at drive up fast food. There’s literally only seconds to wait after ordering before you’re in front of the cashier. Even with two cars ahead, they’ve paid and pulled forward in under 30 seconds. There’s no time to count out change before I get to the window. So, I always get a fist full back. It sucks. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2011, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-spare-change-do-you-estimate-that-you-have-in-your-house/606331/44 "2011-12-16T02:31:20Z")
Probably a little less than $50. The jar that usually cashes out around $200 when full is slightly less than a quarter full. ---
**Author:** ![missred](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/missred/32/14096_2.png) [@missred](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/missred)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2011, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-spare-change-do-you-estimate-that-you-have-in-your-house/606331/45 "2011-12-16T03:12:06Z")
I usually have between $100-500. Come Monday, it will be back down to \<$1. Like **aceplace** , I accumulate a fairly good chunk of it going through the drive-thru. After culling out the quarters (for laundry), the rest goes in an old tin and an old teakettle. Before leaving for the Christmas holidays, I take them to Coinstar and get a giftcard that is good for groceries and/or gas. Most years there’s $200-400. Since I pay for most things with cash (unlike **rachellogram** , that feels more real to me and I tend to budget better with it), so I get quite a bit of change. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2011, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-spare-change-do-you-estimate-that-you-have-in-your-house/606331/46 "2011-12-16T16:27:59Z")
> [@suranyi](#): > > … > I have a different approach. I have a tiny change purse that I keep on my person whenever I am dressed to go out. It holds my normally small amount of coins, whatever I happen to have at the time. I pick it up with my wallet every day, when I get dressed to go out. So I always have all my coins with me, naturally. I’ve done this all my adult life, for more than 30 years now. > > While I always pay for large expenses with a credit card, I have no problem paying for little things, like a coffee or a sandwich, with cash. And in that case my goal is to leave with fewer coins than I started with. So I try to pay with exact change, if I can. The point being that this way the coins are immediately used as actual money, rather than being stuck in a jar to no purpose. (Of course, if there’s people waiting for me then I don’t go searching through my coins for exact change. But you’d be amazed how many purchases I make with nobody else in line at all.) And you’re describing exactly what I did for decades before I switched from using cash for all purchases below ~$30 to using a credit card for everything, even a single pack of gum. Yours is also a very logical approach. As \*\*rachelellogram \*\*attests, between inflation & changing technology the desire to handle coins is going away. Each of us is somewhere along that continuum but the direction we’re all going seems clear enough. One key difference nobody has directly talked about is how many transactions folks do in a day. Urban dwellers with jobs in the city can easily generate 10 small retail or vending transactions per _day_. A retired suburbanite might go an entire \*month \*with none. That surely has a big effect on how any particular person would perceive the utility of carrying & using cash or coins. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2011, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-spare-change-do-you-estimate-that-you-have-in-your-house/606331/47 "2011-12-16T16:32:57Z")
Between $500 and a grand. I have a polar water jug that I put change into. It was around half full the last time I CoinStared it, and I got around eight hundred. It’s about the same level now. ---
**Author:** ![jabiru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/bbce88/32.png) [@jabiru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jabiru)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2011, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-spare-change-do-you-estimate-that-you-have-in-your-house/606331/48 "2011-12-17T00:07:18Z")
About $600. I put my gold coins into a money box and when it gets full, I buy something for myself. My first purchase was a digital camera but since I now use a dSLR, that isn’t going to work anymore. My other coins collect in my wallet and I get rid of them as I can. ---
**Author:** ![SpoilerVirgin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@SpoilerVirgin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpoilerVirgin)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2011, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-spare-change-do-you-estimate-that-you-have-in-your-house/606331/49 "2011-12-17T00:20:08Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > One key difference nobody has directly talked about is how many transactions folks do in a day. Urban dwellers with jobs in the city can easily generate 10 small retail or vending transactions per _day_. A retired suburbanite might go an entire \*month \*with none. That surely has a big effect on how any particular person would perceive the utility of carrying & using cash or coins. This is an excellent point, and one that I hadn’t considered. I am an urban dweller with a job in the city; I use cash almost exclusively for my transactions; and yes, I do seem to make many small transactions throughout the day. Maybe this explains why, even though like **rachelellogram** I received a debit card with my first bank account in college, I still use cash and collect up rolls of coins. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2011, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-spare-change-do-you-estimate-that-you-have-in-your-house/606331/50 "2011-12-17T01:02:05Z")
> [@Dr.Drake](#): > > I don’t save coins because (1) my budget won’t allow tens or hundreds or thousands of dollars sitting around unused, but if I did, (2) a savings account at .00001% interest would be a better idea than the metallic equivalent of stuffing dollars into a mattress. 1. It’s just another form of savings. Even for someone making minimum wage, I’d consider \<$1k in the bank to be living paycheck to paycheck. If a few hundred of that is instead in change–no big deal. 2. It’s really not. Let’s use a infinitesimally more reasonable 0.25%, which is about what my bank gives me. That’s $1.25 over the course of a year on $500. I find it more than worth that amount to have some change handy in case I’m headed to the city and need quarters for a parking meter, or want to grab some fast food and find that I’m completely out of cash and don’t feel like hitting the ATM, or whatever. > [@Dr.Drake](#): > > Are you too impatient to count out coins when paying cash / never pay cash and thus have no other use for them? Yes, mostly. Also, laziness. I can amortize the cost of counting by doing it all at once, or having a machine do it. My dad saved even more change than I do, even though our family was distinctly middle-class. The change jar often served as Christmas money. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2011, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-spare-change-do-you-estimate-that-you-have-in-your-house/606331/51 "2011-12-17T01:07:37Z")
I use cash for small things. And I try to spend all the coins I get. I actually have three coin holders, for Canadian, American, and Barbadian coins. I might have more than $10 or might not when I add all three. My wife has a some coins too, often more than me. And we do have a small box of US pennies. We had some Canadian ones, but rolled them up and took them to a bank a couple years ago. They amounted to about $10. ---
**Author:** ![Bam\_Boo\_Gut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8c91f0/32.png) [@Bam\_Boo\_Gut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bam_Boo_Gut)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2011, 12:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-spare-change-do-you-estimate-that-you-have-in-your-house/606331/52 "2011-12-18T12:10:47Z")
Me none. Lodger - one creepy jar half full. I spend every cent I get and coins stay in my purse to get spent. I find coins to be grimy and I go for that saying take care of the pennies and the pounds will take care of themselves. ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21906_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2011, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-spare-change-do-you-estimate-that-you-have-in-your-house/606331/53 "2011-12-18T15:09:39Z")
I guessed between $50 and $100, but that’s because of a large pickle jar that my daughter left here - it’s pretty full of assorted coins and I need to remind her to get it out of here. There are also several ceramic pots in various places with various amounts in them. When I’d make a pot that my husband liked, he’d put it on a shelf or a halfwall, then the change would start appearing. And I know there are at least 6 or 7 pennies in my laundry room that showed up in the washer or dryer over the years. The ashtrays in the truck and the Miata are full of change also, since someone doesn’t like change in his pockets. Last time I rolled my change, the teller at the credit union told me to just bring the loose stuff in and they’d run it in their machine. Unfortunately, since I’ve retired, I’m never near the credit union, but my daughter still works about a mile from there, so I may send it all in with her. That’s what kids are for, right?? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![RedWood](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f08c70/32.png) [@RedWood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RedWood)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2011, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-spare-change-do-you-estimate-that-you-have-in-your-house/606331/54 "2011-12-18T15:12:34Z")
Spare change is a contradiction in terms. 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![NinjaChick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/71c47a/32.png) [@NinjaChick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinjaChick)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2011, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-spare-change-do-you-estimate-that-you-have-in-your-house/606331/55 "2011-12-18T19:03:28Z")
My spare change is sorted into three separate ziploc bags: US coinage, Euro coinage, and “other”: currently known to contain British pounds, Polish zloty and Czech crowns, possibly others; it is a collection that was passed on to me by my former roommate when she moved back to the US. So…I haven’t a clue how much money it actually works out to. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2011, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-spare-change-do-you-estimate-that-you-have-in-your-house/606331/56 "2011-12-18T20:40:52Z")
Less than a tenner. There might be a few coins or a fiver in an odd pocket, but that’s it. ---
**Author:** ![a35362](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3da27b/32.png) [@a35362](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/a35362)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2011, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-spare-change-do-you-estimate-that-you-have-in-your-house/606331/57 "2011-12-19T03:38:00Z")
I have more than $20 in quarters, but only because I need them for laundry and the bus. I hardly ever use cash any more, so I don’t have jars of miscellaneous spare change. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2011, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-spare-change-do-you-estimate-that-you-have-in-your-house/606331/58 "2011-12-26T23:46:13Z")
> [@Dr.Drake](#): > > Can the coin-savers please explain your behavior to me? I genuinely don’t get it. > > I don’t save coins because (1) my budget won’t allow tens or hundreds or thousands of dollars sitting around unused, but if I did, (2) a savings account at .00001% interest would be a better idea than the metallic equivalent of stuffing dollars into a mattress. > > Is it because you don’t think of coins as money? Are you so rich that small demoninations are meaningless? Is it just fun to be surprised by an “extra” $20 once in a while when you lug the big inconvenient jar to a Coinstar? Are you too impatient to count out coins when paying cash / never pay cash and thus have no other use for them? Using coins in this country is often not worth the hassle. First off, there’s very little you can easily pay for with just coins; after all the largest coin we have in everyday circulation is the quarter. It takes about fifty of them to buy a cheap greasy meal for two people; that would be five rolls each weighing a half pound, if memory serves. (Or, if unwrapped, I believe that many quarters would be enough to fill your smaller hats. You could add some of your coins to bills when tendering payment, to avoid getting yet another handful back in change, but that’s not always convenient. You have to count out bills as well as coins, and most people keep those different forms of money in different places. It’s too complicated when there are people behind you in line. I use mass transit occasionally, and quarters are still fairly useful for that; besides that they’re always good for laundry. So I usually keep any dimes and quarters near the stuff I usually take with me, like my pen. Pennies and nickels, though, go into a different receptacle and they ultimately go to Coinstar. ---
**Author:** ![Critical\_Mass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f1d935/32.png) [@Critical\_Mass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Critical_Mass)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2011, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-spare-change-do-you-estimate-that-you-have-in-your-house/606331/59 "2011-12-27T00:42:39Z")
I have about $1,500 wrapped and ready to go to the bank. I own a couple of vending machines - pop and snacks - they generate about $500 per month in revenue. The machines take all silver plus $1 and $2 coins. They don’t take bills. I usually take the coins to the bank about once a month, but I’m a little behind. The time involved in keeping the machines stocked amounts to about 2 hours per month. The profit pays for a nice vacation every year. ---
**Author:** ![dangermom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e274bd/32.png) [@dangermom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dangermom)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2011, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-spare-change-do-you-estimate-that-you-have-in-your-house/606331/60 "2011-12-27T01:03:54Z")
Probably more than $10 but less than $50. Every summer we gather up all the change that has accumulated in the change jar and the coin bank, and I have the kids help me roll it up. It usually amounts to about $60 and becomes our fun money for the summer. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-spare-change-do-you-estimate-that-you-have-in-your-house/606331.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-spare-change-do-you-estimate-that-you-have-in-your-house/606331.md?page=4)