Although it is incredibly rare that I have cash to spend, I like to hang on to any spare change I get. Any coins are considered to be spare change. I like to keep them in two ziplock bags, one for gold (one and two dollars) and one for silver (fifty, twenty, ten and five cents).
The main use I have for the gold coins is to pay for any parking. I regularly see a client in the city and need to pay for parking while I am there. Honestly, I could park on the street for free and move my car every few hours, but I am too lazy to do that. Plus, it could be raining, or cold, or no spaces left when I need to move it, or worse still, I could forget altogether and end up with a parking fine. And that fine costs about twelve times more than the parking! I try to keep enough money for 2 trips to this client in my coin purse. It also means that if something else comes up, I have a small amount of change on me at any given time.
I have been quite lucky though. The ticket machines have been upgraded and will also take card payments. That really comes in handy when I forget to top up my coin purse.
Other uses
Occasionally I use the gold coins for the self-service car wash.
For the last two years, I have donated all my silver coins when I host the Biggest Morning Tea. It means I get rid of all my really small change and it goes to a good cause. I also have to go to the bank in order to deposit the money into the charity’s account, so it goes full circle: I get change from a shop. I put it in the bank when I donate it. Shops order change from the bank to give to their customers.
Sheila from Behind Every Day uses a piggy bank for pocket change and coins found around the house. Then when it gets full, she takes it to her church. It’s a great way to boost her donation and means she doesn’t need a special trip to the bank.
Katy takes on a Found Change Challenge each year. Putting aside all the change that she finds, mostly on the street. She puts this money towards her son’s college fund.
