If you’re like me and thinks every penny counts, that’s awesome. If you don’t, you should. Why? Because it all adds up!
The humble change nobody likes. It’s still money! So, why do so many of us disregard it? It’s as if it devalues as soon as it becomes a coin. I often hear people say, “just keep the change” Is it because they’re just being nice, or don’t want to be bothered with the change? Probably a bit of both.
It doesn’t help that our wallets and purses these days are more designed to carry notes and cards, so maybe there’s the problem. It actually makes me laugh at how many card slots there are available. Really, who has that many!
I don’t deny that, yes, it can weigh us down, it can be too bulky and yes, it does take time at the checkout. But every penny still counts and here’s why. Since supermarkets have gone bag-free, we now have to buy our own reusable bags. This is a great help for our environment but not so great for the budget. Now don’t get me wrong, I’m definitely not complaining about buying bags. My problem is, I have so many bags because I keep forgetting them. It had to stop.
Each 15 cent I spend on a bag is 15 cents less in my pocket. If I continued to go on buying them all year, I would have spent approximately $32 on just shopping bags. Now the challenge in itself to remember my shopping bags probably will never change but my solution is to scan and put it back in the trolley as is. Invariably, my bags are in the car and I can just transfer them into the bags then. But my point is 15 cents adds up and it’s better in your pocket than in theirs!
The same goes for containers for change cashback system. If you use glass, soda cans or plastic bottles and you haven’t already joined, you should. Having the opportunity to get 10 cents back on each bottle is awesome. Why? Because we weren’t before. We were just recycling. Now we get paid to recycle – and it all adds up. Let’s say, if I was to return 24 bottles a month over a period of a year, I would receive $31.10 back. Now, considering it was just going in the bin before, I’m happy, it’s now going into my bank balance. Sounds good to me!
If you really don’t like carrying change for whatever reason, let’s turn it into something bigger. Just to give you an idea, a 250ml soda can/bottle will hold approximately $350 worth of $2 coins or if you want a bigger challenge a 1.25L bottle could save you over $1500 once filled. Obviously, different values for different coins used but you get my point. Instead of disregarding or losing the humble coin, stop and think of its ………BIGGER VALUE!
