Counting Coins


As a kid I was fascinated with coins. Every few weeks my father would count his coins and roll them into coin wrappers. I vividly remember the first time I helped him count the change. He let me start with the pennies, because they were, (of course), the easiest coins to count. My dad has always kept his change in the same container. An old cheese curls container, that is roughly twice the size of a package of Pringles. I can picture that container as clear as day. I know the background is blue and the words ‘Cheese Curls’ appear in orange across the side.

When I was a little girl I was given a silver piggy bank to keep my coins. I could’ve sworn the piggy bank had been my father’s, but I asked him recently about it and he couldn’t remember where it came from. Ever since I can remember I have used that small piggy bank to hold my change. It traveled to my dorm room, my first apartment after college, and eventually my first home.

Initially, I fed that piggy bank by raiding my mom’s purse for change. Back then she carried an extra large pocketbook and I could always find loose change hidden in it’s crevices. She jokes to this day that I accumulated hundreds of dollars by picking her pockets. I asked for my dad’s coins too, but unlike my mom he wouldn’t part with his change. Oh, if I needed a quarter or two to finish a roll he’d chip in, but otherwise I knew better than to ask dad.

I have vivid memories of my dad counting out coins, placing them into piles, rolling them into wrappers, and driving to the bank to cash them in. I remember a few occasions where I held the rolled coins in my lap while we drove to the bank.

In the past, whenever my piggy bank filled with coins I would dump out the coins and roll them into wrappers, but these days with coin counting centers the need for counting and rolling coins has clearly diminished. Still, every once in awhile I count out my coins, just so I can think back to those early childhood days.

5 thoughts on “Counting Coins”

  1. I always enjoyed rolling coins, too. Nowadays the coins feed the laundry machines, but I still like to roll my smaller denomination coins. I have always been fascinated by old silver (pre-1965) coins, too.

    Reply
  2. I just returned from a trip to Europe and brought my 2-year old daughter a bunch of foreign coins – Croatian Kuna, Bulgarian Leva, and of course the Euro. She loves seeing the animals on the coins, and playing with them.
    Practically speaking, I also keep (US) coins in the car as insurance for when I need to take the turnpike and pay the tolls. I guess it’s one more selling point for coins in an increasingly plastic-oriented society.
    Jerry
    Reply

  3. I still count and roll my coins. I’m not paying 8.5 cents per dollar for a machine to count my money… that’s 8.5 percent!

    Reply
  4. My husband keeps all his change in a 5 gallon water jug. We paid for our honeymoon with the first jug and are now saving up for a big flat screen TV. It takes a long time… but when you spend the money it feels like whatever you bought is free.

    Reply

Leave a Reply to Zachary Cancel reply