    How many coins do you have laying around at home? Confession time: I’ve got about 2-3 gallon size jars full of them. Which is strange because it’s contrary to my goals and habits for earning interest on savings! In some ways it’s a habit I picked up from my father long ago. When I was very young, I was enthralled with the coin jars and cans my father kept around the house. He commuted often for long hours, riding trains and working in various cities. He ate lunch and other meals on the road, paid tolls, and ended up with lots of change. And he rarely took his coins to the bank. Instead we would hand roll them every couple of years, and after many rolls of pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters were all piled up, he would finally take them to the bank and use the money for something fun.
    I don’t have nearly the number of coins laying around that he did. And I really want to do something with them rather than allow them to sit, wasting away over time as their value may slowly erode with the inexorable march of inflation. A few years ago I tried to do just that… and the bank refused the coins! I had not rolled them, and was hoping the bank would use their machine to sort them. They said they didn’t have time and I had to roll them manually. Ugh. Hence Coinstar arrived on the scene in supermarkets and other stores to fill a consumer need. I refused to use the Coinstar machines however because they charge such high interest, often over 8%.   But they have a new approach these days where you can receive a gift card back from Amazon or another company without paying the interest charge. As often as I use Amazon that’s a pretty good approach.  And now the banks are finally on board too it seems. Many of them have their own sorting machines and will accept loose change.Â
    Either way, I feel like I should take the pennies and do something with them… but for some reason I just like to see them fill up the jars. And so does our 7-year old. We have a savings game while the jars fill up, and we’ve been planning to use the money for a neat fishing trip. Maybe it makes it more tangible for him, and in some ways is the reason I like to have them around. And maybe that’s not a bad reason after all.
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