Longbored Surfer

2005.05.13 Continuous Pocket Change

The continuous pocket change theory, or practice is very quite simple. I never want to have more than 99¢ of change in my pocket. Because of that, I choose to recycle my change. Any time that I'm asked to pay an amount in cash, I try to utilize any/all of my coins to make the purchase possible.

There are only a few points to remember when you choose to perform this

  • Always attempt to pay part of the total with your change, even if you don't have enough.
    • If they ask for 60¢, but you only have a dime, then use the dime so you can get back a couple quarters instead of a quarter, dime and nickel.
    • I'm not going to list every possible variation of giving change, but let's be smarter than the money on this one.
  • In theory, you should never have more than 3 quarters, 2 dimes, 4 pennies
  • You should never have the following
    • 2 Nickels
    • 4 Quarters
    • 5 Pennies
    • 2 Dimes and 1 Nickel.
    • 5 Dimes

Points to Ponder

Yes, I'm aware that you can have $1.19 in change and still not be able to make change for a dollar. But how you ended up with 3 quarters, 4 dimes, and 4 pennies is beyond me, since at some point you should have used some of your change to pay for something.

Some places just give change, without accepting change to pay. That's just fine. The point is to make up for it then at the next place. If you've got more than $1 in change, the next place you go, you should be spending AT LEAST $1 in change.

Why do this? I'm not trying to keep a stash of all my coins so that one day I can turn around at make $200 when I go and cash it in. I'd rather have that $200 spread out over ____ amount of time.

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