Counting coins May 29, 2006
Posted by irishmadness in Budgeting, Credit cards, Debt, Frugal living.trackback
The only problem with rolling coins is that if you aren’t spending much money, you don’t have much change. I haven’t been able to get enough coins for a roll in a few weeks now, and it’s frustrating. But I have saved a bunch during the last week, and I’m hoping I’ll have enough tonight to get a roll or two, even if it’s just pennies.
In other news, my birthday weekend went well, even if part of it was at work. I now have a working toaster oven, thanks to my parents. They gave me a Target gift card for twice as much as I needed, so I took the chance to stock up on shampoo, conditioner and Gatorade, plus pick up a reusable drink bottle for my post-workout soy protein shakes. Since I have plenty of soy powder, the shakes should not only help me eat better and recover better from my runs, they’ll also fill me up for minimal cost and cool me down. (Milk, powder and frozen fruit mixed in a blender)
I enjoyed my meal out yesterday, and was so full from the appetizer that I brought most of the entree home, giving me lunch and dinner today. So that was a nice savings there. I still have most of the meals I froze at the begining of May still in my freezer, plus that pork loin is in there as well. Since I got a larger toaster oven, it will be big enough to cook the pork, which will save on the electric bill. It cooks remarkably quickly, probably because it’s a convection oven. (Well, everything but toast. That it does slowly.)
My dentist appointment is tomorrow, so I’ll find out what the damage is going to be there. It’s going to send my CC balance up again for several weeks until I pay it off from money that normally goes to my pinch-point account, but by the end of August I should be back on track.
Oh, and I have one gift card still unused (book store), one in the mail (craft store) and at least two presents that haven’t arrived yet. (I know one’s not a gift card, but I’m not sure about the other.) So I still have a couple of small splurges left from my birthday, and am thinking of ways I can use them to help me in my quest to vanquish this debt. More details to come once I know the final tally…
I’ve found that when I either am out of coin wrappers or have a decent amount of change but not necessarily enough to fill up more than one wrapper of each denomination, there are two decent options that will let me put that money into savings — where it can accrue interest instead of dust — sooner rather than later… and simply.
a) dump it all into a CoinStar ,
b) dump it all into Commerce Bank’s “Penny Arcade”
If you have a Commerce Bank account I suggest using their machine over CoinStar because CoinStar takes a percentage (albeit a small one) while Commerce does not. Still, either way is a great way to save little bits of money over time. They add up more quickly than you’d think, and it’s a time-saver too.