Turning coins into holiday gifts
Thanks to Coinstar for sponsoring this post. As always, all opinions are my own.
I don’t want to alarm you, but there are less than 5 weeks before Christmas. That means you have less than 5 weeks to shop – and for many people, budgets are tight right now. Hopefully you have saved year-round for the gifts you will be purchasing, or maybe you’re one of those who starts their holiday shopping in January?
I started putting more into savings in January (I try to do this every month), but understandably, my time off after having the baby used up a lot of that savings. With childcare, there just isn’t as much going into savings as I would like. When I was younger, I had great intentions of saving more, but unless I cut out socializing (which I did sometimes) I just had to make do with smaller holiday budgets.
It turns out, you probably have money that you aren’t fully aware of. I know I have a stash of change on the top of our dryer, change in my purse pocket and coat pocket, some in my car cupholders – and that doesn’t include the change that I put in a jar on our dresser. Anytime I have money in my pockets when I get home, I put it in the jar. I rarely do anything with that jar, though. I may pull some money out for parking or the ice cream trucks in the summer, otherwise it just sits there.
The green Coinstar® kiosk can convert all of the pocket change into cash or no fee e-giftcards – or donate them to directly to charity. Think Amazon, Toys R Us, Starbucks, Home Depot – and more! That’s not a bad deal. You can convert the coins AND do online shopping! My jar of coins is just waiting to be transferred into something (probably an Amazon gift card because I can find everything on that site!)
And how many of us have gift cards leftover from LAST Christmas? {raises hand} I wrote about Coinstar™ Exchange last year. It’s the yellow kiosk available in grocery stores in major cities that will turn your gift card into instant cash. If you don’t need one more toy for your child or the store just isn’t a fit for you, but you could use the cash on LIFE, Coinstar Exchange is an easy way to help you. Just a couple of steps, and you have the cash in your pocket.
If you’re feeling the holiday budget pinch, I recommend looking around your home. You never know where it will turn up and how much it can really add up to!
Where do you find the most change in your home? (For me it’s the washer or dryer.)