a penny saved

Those little piggy banks don't really hold too many coins, but the idea of saving your pennies has been something I've heard since I was little.  Over the years, I've been so broke where I couldn't save anywhere near as much as I wanted to.  Of course things would just come up that you needed to break into your piggy bank/savings and then sometimes I was starting back from zero.

My most recent savings has been about 8 years in the making.  I have a 5 gallon water jug that I would put loose coins in, sometimes if I had a few dollars I'd roll them up and throw them in there too.  Of course, coins are heavy, so I knew I wouldn't be moving this.  It was time to cash it in.

The coins didn't fill the jug, not by a long shot.  It was maybe 1/6th of the way full.  Hard to say.  I poured the coins into smaller containers that I could carry.  It totaled $560 in coins and $35 in bills.  Plus last year, I dumped out some coins into one container and that was about $180.  $775 in about eight years in just 'extra' coins.  Not bad at all considering I don't really use cash!

I am going to bring this large 5 gallon jug with me, and I will continue to throw lose coins in there.  It would be great if I can continue to save about $100 a year in pennies, nickles, dimes and quarters! Although quarters are more rare because of needing them for parking or laundry or something.  It is money I don't even think about.