pack-rats, cigar-boxes, and the coolest piece of technology since the waffle iron

[truepenny]

So the problem with being a pack-rat, and likewise married to a pack-rat, is that when you move, a fair amount of your pack-ratly clutter moves with you. Stuff that can simply be pitched gets pitched, but stuff that needs to be dealt with one way or another gets shoved in a box and filed under Think about it later. Mirrorthaw and I have this ancient and battered cigar-box which has been the semi-official Loose Change Repository for, um, well, quite some time. It has moved with us at least twice, accreting more coins as it goes. I once got as far as putting some of the pennies into rolls, but the reward for schlepping them to the bank never seemed worth the bother of ... schlepping them to the bank.

Then misia mentioned the fabulous Coinstar machine (seriously, Coinstar machines are the coolest thing ever), and that Coinstar takes donations for charity, specifically in this instance the Red Cross. And I had one of those little Two birds, one stone, yummy dead birds! epiphanies, and Thursday after I deposited heres_luck's dissertation, the cigar-box and I went on a field trip to the Coinstar.

Where we caused delays and hindrances and made the women waiting behind us pick up pennies on our behalf. Because sometimes we are like that. We also gave the Coinstar an arcade token without meaning to, but it is a wise and savvy machine and wouldn't take it.

I came home several pounds' worth of metal lighter, and that truly embarrassing number of pennies, like Sydney Carton, is doing a far far better thing than it has ever done.

The cigar-box lurks on my desk, biding its time.

Comments

[kristine-smith.livejournal.com]

The cigar-box lurks on my desk, biding its time.

I have an actual ceramic piggy bank, which I bought at a booth at the Madison Farmers Market several years ago. It's decorated with planets and a spaceship on one side (they're outlined in a paint that GLOWS IN THE DARK), and my name in blue on the other.

It's getting kinda full. I wonder if there are Coinstar machines in this area...?

[truepenny.livejournal.com]

They've got a little Locate The Coinstar Nearest You thingy on the page I linked to. Which is good, because otherwise I would have had no idea.

[kristine-smith.livejournal.com]

I used it. What do you know--the coin counter at my nearby grocery store is a Coinstar. And it does take Red Cross donations.

[truepenny.livejournal.com]

Coolness!

[mmarques.livejournal.com]

OMG, what an excellent idea! I have to do a small test to see if the Canadian coinstars can be used for donations. There's plenty of them near me. :)

Did you get a receipt for your donation?

[truepenny.livejournal.com]

Yes, I did. The machine very obligingly prints one out.

[bibliofile.livejournal.com]

Let's hear it for "Two birds, one stone, yummy dead birds! epiphanies"! What a great way to put it.

(The other week, I watched as friends disposed of their backlog of pennies fed the nasty tollbooths on a quick road trip. CoinStar takes a percentage fee, but really, it's about the same fee that you pay (these days) at many banks for counting coins.)

[truepenny.livejournal.com]

GLORY: Two birds, one stone, and boom. You have yummy dead birds.

--Steven S. DeKnight, "Blood Ties," Buffy the Vampire Slayer 5.13

[truepenny.livejournal.com]

You beat us by approximately twenty pennies.

I don't know if that makes you feel better or worse.