Frugal Friday Save Your Pennies

I mentioned last week a saying that my Great-Grandmother used often when I was growing up..."Take care of your pennies, your dollars are big enough to take care of themselves."

It's an attitude. An attitude that every penny counts.

And even in this day when our pennies are not what they used to be, I still follow this philosophy.

I know that many financial experts advise that you account for every penny. And while I think this is completely sound advise, it's just something that never "stuck" here. If we had extra change in our pockets/pocketbooks we'd spend it because we had it. Not because we needed something.

How often have you given your kids a quarter for the piece of junk in the vending machine or that unneeded soda?

Yeah, me too.

So we decided that every bit of change after the days outing goes into a jar that sits by our door. As we walk in, we empty our pockets.


This is not to say the we don't spend change when needed as we're out doing errands. We do. But at the end of our time out of the house, what's left goes here.


It takes us about 3 months on average to fill the quart jar.


It took Jillian and I about 30 minutes to sort, count and wrap this $82. The "leftovers" go back in the jar.

At the front of our local grocery store is one of those coin change machines. The machines that you just drop your coins into and it counts them and give you the cash. Minus 10%. Almost every time we're checking out there is people standing there, many looking like this is their last coins in the world, using this machine.

Losing that 10%.

I wish they could have known my Great-Grandmother.

For more Frugal Friday tips, be sure to check out Crystal's Blog!