Saving Your Spare Change

Buy a Coin Jar or a Piggy Bank.
If you do not want to go out and buy something new, look for old caramel popcorn tins, or any jars or vases that you are not using anymore around your house. I personally like the coin jars with digital counters so I can track my progress.

Set a Goal.
Having a certain dollar amount or specific thing you want to use your saved coins for in mind will give you motivation. If you have no goal in mind, it is still an excellent idea to save coins as an emergency fund for unplanned expenses.

Deposit Coins as Often as Possible.
Empty out your pockets after an outing where you spent cash. Clean out your purse or wallet every other day, coins can add a lot of extra weight in your pocketbook anyway. Once a week clean out your car's center console (armrest compartment) for loose change. And for the brave ones, pick up any coins you see on the floors and on the ground in public, you can use hand sanitizer to be safe.

No Stealing Coins from Your Stash!
Try your best not to steal quarters and other coins from your piggy bank or coin container for laundry or water, etc. This will help it grow faster.

Yes! The day has finally come, you've reached your goal, but you can't pay in coins for your new designer handbag. You've heard stories of people getting arrested for that sort of foolishness so you want to play it safe. You need to get cash for your coins. Where should you go?
For most people it's simple, head over to your local bank that you hold an account with and there should be a coin counting machine there that you can dump your loose coins in. You should be able to cash your coins in if you do not hold an account with that particular bank, but there may be some fees involved. If this is not the case for you however, there are other options.

When you can't make it to the bank, try any of these:

CoinStar
You can visit CoinStar to cash in your coins at most supermarkets. Check out their website to locate a machine near you. According to their website, CoinStar charges a 9.8% fee to change your coins to cash. If you find a gift certificate that you like offered by the machine, however, they will cash in your coins for that certificate free. The certificates they offer are available from many different popular brands.

Rolling Your Coins
If you buy a coin sorting machine, or sort the coins yourself, you can roll your coins and then cash them in at the bank. I've seen the coin wrappers for sale at the dollar store for rolling coins.

Small Business
If your coins are only worth a small amount of money, maybe $10 or less, you could try visiting a local small business. Sometimes they are short on coins and can help you out. Remember, they are not obligated to do this so be as nice as possible and don't be too upset if they can't help you out.

So your a cheapskate and you didn't buy the coin jar with the digital counter. To make things worse, you're lazy and you don't want to pour out all your coins on the floor and add up your coins by hand. Well lucky for you, there are online coin jar calculators. These provide only an estimate of course, but hey, you can't complain when they make it this easy for you.

The site has simple instructions for how to use the calculator, but basically you will need to know the weight of your coin jar (with all of your coins in it and empty), and then how many of each coin is in a handful that you grab out of your coin jar.

To get the most accurate estimation, you should enter just the weight of just your coins (weight of coin jar full of coins minus weight of empty coin jar) in the field that asks for the weight of your coin jar. Also, you should use the calculator for a couple of different handfuls and try taking the average of that number as your total.

Test out the Coin Jar Calculator for yourself.

Furry Bones Pink Bunny Piggy Bank Money Coin Skull

There is something cute about this creepy skull bunny piggy bank. This hand painted bank is 6 inches tall and has a rubber stopper on the bottom that you can remove to get your coins out. It is hand painted and would make a great gift for a teenager or anyone else who likes funky things. The skull face inside the black stitched bunny suit holding a bunny, is probably something you've never seen before.