Ever since we Canadians moved to the loonie and the toonie, we all have noticed the heavy amount of change we have to carry around. Getting rid of the penny helped a bit, but those coins pile up. Save with SPP took a look at what we are doing with all that spare change.

A Wikihow site called Save Money with Spare Change suggests that you “get yourself a change jar that you want to use to put all your spare change in.” Then, you consolidate all your change from pockets, little piles around the house, and so on in that one big container, the post says.  Keep stuffing the change into the jar (without taking any out) until the jar is full, the article notes. Once it is full, the article recommends that you “start rolling (the coins) up with wrappers,” and then either spending that stash of change, or putting it in the bank.

An article in the Mint Life blog, What’s the Best Way to Cash in Loose Change for Free, talks about using Coinstar machines, a coin counting device, to turn your change into folding money.   These machines, the article says, which are commonly found at grocery stores, are simple to use.

“Simply drop your coins into the slot and the machine counts them all up for you,” the article notes.

“You receive a handy-dandy money voucher afterwards, condensing all your heavy metal money into one, easy-to-store piece of paper,” the article adds.

While the “pro” is that the machine is easy to use and a simpler way to get rid of coins than rolling them up in wrappers, fees usually apply, the article says. In other words, the machine gets a cut of your savings.

If you don’t like the fee, you can roll them yourself, pay someone else to roll them, or buy your own coin separating machine, the article suggests.

Is it all worth the bother?

Well, maybe. The Five Cent Nickel blog tells the story of “a guy named Danny who uses a coin jar to supercharge his savings. Whenever he spends cash, he makes a point of not using his change – and when he receives additional change, he collects it in a jar back at home before taking it to the bank.”

Danny, the article says, “managed to save $723 over a seven-month period by doing this.” The article notes that Danny benefits from being Canadian and having loonies and toonies to “supercharge his change jar.”

Save with SPP uses many of these principles. Our change goes in a little metal piggy bank. It’s home for change from pockets, from returning bottles, and from minor scratch ticket wins. When the bank gets heavy, it’s off to the local grocery store for coin counting, and then to the bank to deposit the paper bills. The final destination for that money is retirement savings, via the Saskatchewan Pension Plan. It’s a great way to turn a little change into retirement security.

Written by Martin Biefer
	Martin Biefer is Senior Pension Writer at Avery & Kerr Communications in Nepean, Ontario. A veteran reporter, editor and pension communicator, he’s now a freelancer. Interests include golf, line dancing and classic rock. He and his wife live with their Shelties, Duncan and Phoebe, and cat, Toobins. You can follow him on Twitter – his handle is @AveryKerr22