Hundreds of thousands of people place their extra change into a jar or bank every night when they return home thinking that they are
saving money. In reality, the dynamics of saving coins has changed over the last 10 years so that by placing your extra coins in a
jar, you may actually be losing money.
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The money jar has been a classic way for people to save money for generations. The concept was easy. After coming home for the day,
you simply empty out your pockets and put the coins into a jar. When the jar was full, you take it to your local bank, have the
coins counted and place the money into your savings account. While this sounds simple enough, the savings generated in the coin jar
may not be worth their face value depending on how you redeem the coins.
The problem with the money jar game is that banks and other enterprises have figured out that they can charge you for taking your
change. If there is a way to make a buck, you can be sure that banks and others will try to take it.
Take the convenience of changing your coins at a grocery store. CoinStar and other businesses will take your change and give you a
receipt that you can use for your grocery shopping, but they'll also take a huge fee to do so. In effect, you are trading the face
value of your coins for something worth less than face value.
About the Author:
Copyright (c) Jeffrey Strain. He is owner of Save Money Games - a website dedicated to decreasing debt through
money saving games.
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