Released: September 24, 2006

A penny here, a savings fund there

Source: By Kathy M. Kristof, Los Angeles Times (Free Registration)

Christopher Hall, 33, has been saving small change all of his life. When he was 13, his mother gave him a coin-counting machine. Ever since then, whenever there was something big that he couldn’t quite afford, he’d cash in jars full of coins.

Years ago, the hair stylist used accumulated change to buy a car. He later cashed in $2,500 in coins to make a down payment on his house. Recently, he reached into his jars to help pay for a remodel of his Costa Mesa hair salon, Split Ends.

Hall gets more coins than the average guy because of his business. He’s also reluctant to spend them because he uses coins like some people use tax refunds.

Even though he realizes that it’s not necessarily brilliant to leave thousands of dollars lying around without earning interest, he considers collecting coins a painless way to save.

He’s not the only one throwing money into a jar. Millions of Americans empty their pockets each night into bowls, jars or sock drawers, said Alex Camara, senior vice president of Coinstar Inc., which operates change machines in 12,000 supermarkets nationwide.

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