Man pays for 3 cars using saved loose change

[Greg]

Things I do with change:

• drop it into the tip jar
• drop it in the ashtray of my car. These get used up on meters eventually. Except the pennies.
• drop it into the bucket at home. This gets used for laundry. The nickels, dimes and pennies go to the CoinStar machine once a year.

Things Paul Brant of Indiana does with loose change:

• Buy a $26,670 brand new, 2008 half-ton, shiny red Dodge Ram truck

And this isn't the first time! In 1994, Paul bought two cars for $36,000 all in quarters.

Man Saves Loose Change, Buys New '08 Pickup Truck

[Gootsy]

Yeah I read about this guy a few days ago. Pretty funny stuff.

But don't wait till end of year before you cash your change! Like I said in another thread, do it more often and then put it in a high interest savings account! Quarterly at least .

[alex]

Wow, big discount.

[Rebecca]

That is so cool! I never pay with change - I always take the change and immediately put it in my change jar. I used to use the CoinStar but now I'm wrapping up the coins myself to try to save more money. Not as convenient, but I'm too tempted to use the Coinstar to turn the money into a Starbucks giftcard to support that addiction. I do it about every 3-4 months and usually end up with $50.

[nomoredebt4me]

That is so awesome! I stopped using coinstar and I am rolling my change to take to the bank. Maybe I will start a special jar for my next car.

[Megan]

My first thought was that all that change must have taken up a lot of space in his house. My second thought was all the interest he lost out on by not keeping his money at a bank. But I guess that would have made it easier to spend and he would have been less likely to save it all.

I typically spend most of my change, save for pennies, which end up in a change jar. Every so often, I take it to the Coinstar machine and get a gift certificate, either for Amazon.com or iTunes. If you get a GC, the machine doesn't take the standard percentage.

[khorrell]

Don't forget, some banks have coin counting machines that don't charge a fee, and you don't have to be an account holder to use them. In my area, select Chevy Chase bank locations have coin counters.

[Tightwad]

I think it's really cool he has done this multiple times. But, it makes you wonder how much he spent in snack machines, etc. to create that much spare change.

[jkuo13]

It's neat that he managed to save that much change, but it doesn't seem like the smartest approach to saving up for a big purchase. Putting the change into an interest bearing account probably would have been better. Interest on $30K isn't chump change. He could have put the money into a separate account not to be touched except for his planned purchase. Kudos to him anyhow for being a good saver though.

Personally, I spend most of my change. Quarters are all spent on laundry. The other change I try to spend while I'm buying produce at the farmer's market or making other cash purchases.

[rstlne]

I usually bring my change to Commerce Bank for deposit every time I fill a jar with change. They have free coin-counting machines there.

I do think Paul Brant could've done a lot better depositing his coins and saving them in a high-interest online savings account. However, we have to consider his psychology. Maybe seeing the coins physically piling up around his home encourages him to save even more coins. So although it is not an optimal way to save money, maybe the psychological effect is more powerful than the interest he would've earned over the years.