Homemade Coin Bank for Saving Wayward Coins

Dissolution is a fact of life: that things naturally break down into smaller and smaller parts until they virtually do not exist. It is the same with money. A newborn $20 bill from the ATM is beautiful and full of potential. As it is used, the bill is broken into many smaller bills and the smaller bills into coins which are left to languish at the bottom of purses and wallets. Eventually, these remains of a larger sum end up in corners and crevices of the home, and become a housekeeping nuisance.

Do you ever stop to think that all the orphaned pennies, nickels, dimes, and quarters skulking about your house might together be worth $20 or more? $20 of grubby coins, has as much worth in its soul as $20 in a crisp new bill. And these coins, if rehabilitated, wiped, and sent to work at the bank, will do their very best to repay you over the course of your life. You will receive interest for taking interest.

On each occasion when Penelope and I have gathered up a whole houseful of coins, usually when moving out, we were surprised by an impressive grand total. Coins, like people, are worth more hanging together than hanging alone.

As a way of rounding up stray coins on a regular basis, I suggest you keep at least one coin jar in the house. Several would be better so you would not need to leave the room to deposit a loose coin, as one usually encounters a coin when very busy. A jar in the car is also advisable as money is often dropped there (and sometimes not your own!).

Note: Avoid services which charge money to count your coins. Credit unions are usually better than banks at not charging fees to deposit change–as they should not because banks benefit from holding your money no matter what form it comes in. We prefer to deposit cash in our savings account (which earns good interest daily) and spend it through our credit cards which earns us cash back on all expenditures. For more on earning money by using credit cards refer to Penelope’s post: this post.

Continue reading for tips on making an attractive coin jar for your home.

How to make coin jars an attractive addition to your home

1. Take a jar that has been thoroughly cleaned.
2. Cut a circle of cardboard or card stock the same size as the top. You can use food cartons or heavy paper from junk mail for this.
3. Cut a slit in the circle big enough to drop a quarter (or half dollar).
4. Cut a square from a scrap fabric several inches larger than the top of the jar
5. Glue the cardboard circle to its center.
6. At the place of the coin slot cut the fabric in an X to turn over the edges of the slot and glue.
7. Place this cover on the jar and secure in place with elastic or a rubber band.

Now you may begin to save desperate wayward pennies and see how a minor change can work wonders.

Tips for your homemade coin jar

• If you cannot get the label cleanly off the jar, type a cute new label on the computer and tape or glue over the gunk. Example “DONATIONS TO ME”
• If you do not want to make a cloth cover - Cut a slot in the jar’s original lid and paint it an attractive color.

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This entry was posted on Thursday, April 3rd, 2008 at 6:27 am and is filed under Finance. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.