Forget Saving...25 Places to Look for Spare Change

Tisha Tolar — Thu, 21 May 2009 12:25:37 +0000

While there have been times you may have had to scrounge around the house for spare change to buy milk until payday or to fill up a coin roll, you may be surprised to learn that if you really took a good look around at the spare change hiding in the crevices of your home, you might add it all up to a small fortune. It is estimated that average American has somewhere around $90 of loose change within their grasp. Some of the places to locate that change may be glaringly obvious, but others just may not be on your radar.

Depending on each person's home and habits, there can be money literally anyway. But just for fun, we came up with 25 different places you may be able to spot some spare change that you can turn in to some usable cash.

1. Couch cushions

2. Washing machine

3. Dryer

4. Under your car seats

5. Coat pockets (including the ones hanging in your closet)

6. Pockets of your clothes

7. Purses (active and inactive)

8. Wallets (active and inactive)

9. Old greeting cards (may find a green bill or two in a card from Grandma)

10. Desk drawers

11. Buried in the yard

12. Attic or closet storage boxes

13. Suitcases

14. Under the radiators

15. Under the carpet

16. On top of or under the refrigerator

17. Old piggy banks

18. Junk drawers

19. Old grocery bags

20. Kids toy box

21. Kitchen cabinets

22. Under the porch/deck

23. In the bed

24. In the clothing hamper

25. Old jars/cups

The company, Coinstar, that consolidates your change into dollar bills has been running a promotion to waive their usual 8% redemption fee if consumers consent to exchange their change for merchant gift cards or certificates from participating retailers, such as iTunes, Amazon, Starbucks, Cabelas, and Overstock.com.

Just when you think you may be broke, take a good look around your living space and see what you can find. Make a sport of it for the kids to see who can find the most change. Get into the practice of leaving collection jars in centralized locations like the kitchen, laundry room, bathroom, and bedroom to make future change collections much easier.

Written by Tisha Tolar and published on Wise Bread. Read more articles from Wise Bread.

spare coins

Forget Saving...25 Places to Look for Spare Change