AMJ Posted September 26, 2013 Share Posted September 26, 2013 A long-anticipated trip to the mall was about to be delayed one MORE week, much to DD12's consternation and disappointment. I had PROMISED we would go Friday (had already delayed it a week due to sinus infection), but an expense came up one week earlier than expected and ate up the funds I planned on having to hand. Payday for DH (and therefore the household) isn't until Monday. This was promising to be a big bummer of a budget lesson for the kids. Until I remembered we had loose change around the house, and the kids had a bunch of change themselves in their banks. We rounded it up, rolled it, and plan on taking it to the credit union to exchange for paper money before going to the mall. Oh my gosh! I have more than $60 in pocket change! It was spread about the house, so it didn't look like much -- just the chump change that tends to clutter up the odd hot spot. DD12 didn't have much, since she's been eager to spend her money at every opportunity. But DD9 has twice as much as I do! So, before the mall opens tomorrow we are going to the credit union to put most in savings, then exchange some for paper money to spend at the mall. We don't need to spend much -- eldest DD just likes malls (plans to own her own someday) and wants to go to look it over and hang out. I have a Barnes & Noble gift certificate from my birthday, so that, some waffle cones from Marble Slab, and maybe a trinket or two from Justice should have us all happy with our mall outing. Oh, and among the coins we found a token for the Carousel at the mall -- haven't ridden that in years. We'll check when we go tomorrow -- if DD12 isn't too big we'll buy another token so both girls can ride. If she is too big DD9 will ride to use up the token. If DD9 is too big we'll give it to someone. We also found several foreign coins from assorted countries (past business trips), a couple Susan B. Anthony dollars and several Sacajawea dollars. We set those aside. DD9 also chose to save several "green" pennies -- we discussed tarnish, patina, metal content in coins, and noticed how older pennies are thicker than new pennies. Plenty more room there for more discussion of the uses of money in history, and values of coinage and currency. Hooray! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AMJ Posted September 26, 2013 Author Share Posted September 26, 2013 Awesome! My 8 year old asked if he could have whatever change he found in the house. I said sure because I tend to just throw change here or there and forget about it. I don't carry a purse so I don't tend to put change in my pocket. So he went around and collected it. I took it to a Coinstar and there was over $30. He was thrilled. I bet he was! DD12 probably has more money sitting around somewhere. She has a habit of populating odd bags and containers, then misplacing them. Cleaning her room (*gasp!*) might actually be profitable. Though she still resists the suggestion.... When I was in college my Dad used to save quarters and dimes for me, since that's the coinage the laundry facilities in my dorm required. The glass vases he used filled up when I was no longer mining them for laundry and munchie change. We took them to the bank one day and gleaned almost $150 between the two. He went out and splurged on a present he wanted to get a friend, but couldn't justify the money. He still had enough left over for a nice lunch out for two -- my reward, for reminding him that change vases could be emptied, as well as filled. It's unlikely we will garner this level of a money harvest again for many years. This was a multi-year accumulation, and the kids are now quite aware how the change can build up. They are going to be checking their change whenever it amounts to more than a handful for quite some time now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlessedMom Posted September 26, 2013 Share Posted September 26, 2013 Wonderful!! Have fun at the mall! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AMJ Posted September 28, 2013 Author Share Posted September 28, 2013 Our "field trip" to the mall was a big hit! We stopped by the mall management office just to see if someone would talk to us, and the head manager himself gave us 15-20 minutes out of an obviously busy day. He and his staff seemed a bit surprised to find 1) someone (anyone) asking how malls are run, and 2) a KID expressing an interest in doing exactly that when she grows up. He was quite nice, and answered DD12's questions (and mine) quite thoughtfully, even when they were a little from left field. As we ambled through the rest of the mall I pointed out some of the architectural features to the girls, and we discussed the wide variety of shops, carts, and amenities our mall has. Lunch at the food court, picking out something inexpensive at Justice, and Mom (me) getting to spend a birthday gift card at Barnes & Noble had us all feeling like we had a real treat. Just the thing to round out a stretched-budget month on a high note! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baseball mom Posted September 28, 2013 Share Posted September 28, 2013 :hurray: :thumbup1: I cleaned under the chair today. I found 71cents. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chelle in MO Posted September 28, 2013 Share Posted September 28, 2013 :hurray: :thumbup1: I cleaned under the chair today. I found 71cents. That'll get you 4 1/2 Tootsie Rolls at QT! :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MomOfOneFunOne Posted September 28, 2013 Share Posted September 28, 2013 AMDG I never spend change. I always pay with paper money even if it's a single cent. If I buy something for $2.01, even if I have the penny, I'll pay with 3 ones or whatever I have. My husband does the same. We have a 5 gallon plastic water bottle about 2/3 full of change now. We have no idea how much is in there but can't wait to find out. There is precious little in the way of loose change around here. Any time anyone finds a stray, it goes to the bucket. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sparrow Posted September 28, 2013 Share Posted September 28, 2013 AMDG I never spend change. I always pay with paper money even if it's a single cent. If I buy something for $2.01, even if I have the penny, I'll pay with 3 ones or whatever I have. My husband does the same. We have a 5 gallon plastic water bottle about 2/3 full of change now. We have no idea how much is in there but can't wait to find out. There is precious little in the way of loose change around here. Any time anyone finds a stray, it goes to the bucket. We do this. Over the years, change rolling night has been something to look forward to. We watch a movie, drink a few beers, and count our money :) . We have saved nearly $1,000 in change this way. And this is without doing it ALL the time. We go through periods where we use our debit more often than cash, but it's definitely a pain free way to stash some cash! Here's another cash saving tip: We save any dollar that has one of our initials in the Federal Reserve circle (left side of the dollar). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alef Posted September 28, 2013 Share Posted September 28, 2013 Wow, it sounds like you had quite an educational experience. It was very kind of the mall manager to take time to talk with you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tap Posted September 28, 2013 Share Posted September 28, 2013 Glad you had a great day! It is nice when you find extra cash that you aren't expecting. It is like a unexpected, fabulous birthday present in 'just your size' :0) . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
freeindeed Posted September 28, 2013 Share Posted September 28, 2013 :) I hope y'all had a great day! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cinder Posted September 29, 2013 Share Posted September 29, 2013 Love loose change here -- it's actually a big part of my Christmas fund. Dh travels a lot for work and tries to use cash for eating so when he gets home he dumps the change into a jar. Sometime in Nov/Dec we go to the credit union to change it to bills. What is a real pain is a lot of banks around here won't take large quantities of change anymore and they won't even take rolled coins at all. The Coinstar is kind of a rip off except now you can get the full value on a gift card if you opt to take it in that format. So I got an Amazon gift card since I buy stuff from them often. Our credit union no longer takes wrapped coins but they have a Coinstar-type machine. If you're a member there is no charge to use the machine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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