One way to keep from throwing money away is to collect your change. I personally use old 1 liter bottles of soda (they have wide mouths) to keep change in, and then go redeem them when they are full. Most people associate change sorters with CoinStar, which charges over 9% just to sort your change! It’s pretty easy to save-up $100 worth of coins, so they would charge you over $9 just to sort coins with a machine. I know its not much, but $9 is $9. They do have a way to get 100% of your value back, but you do have to use it at Starbucks, Amazon.com, etc.

Instead, you can use the The Understory site to find banks, credit unions, and other businesses which will sort and redeem your change for much less money.

If you do plan on rolling your own coins, be aware that some banks will not accept rolled coins. If you plan on rolling your own, you might want to contact your bank beforehand to make sure they accept them and don’t charge a fee for taking them.