It’s been ‘all change’ in the world of money recently…
In the last few weeks, the old crinkly fivers we all knew and loved were taken out of circulation, and the non-creasable, polymer, sparkly new ones became the only legal tender in town. According to the Bank of England, these notes are stronger, cleaner and more waterproof, which means next time you accidentally leave one in your jeans when you wash them, it will come out freshly laundered, but not in the illegal way!
Out with the old, in with the new…
The new pound coin was launched in March in all its hexagonal glory. For those who have seen one, you’ll notice that it has some really cool design features, which makes it more secure against counterfeit than the boring old round ones. There are thought to be more than 30 million fake round pounds currently in circulation, so you can see they wanted a way to find a way to stop this. The current round pound days are numbered, and will no longer be legal tender after midnight on 15th October, so you might want to start changing them up to avoid getting caught out. Remember to check down the back of the sofa or in the pockets of the jacket, you haven’t worn since last winter, to make sure you are not stuck with lots of useless coins.
Obviously, the best and easiest way to get rid of old money is to take it to the bank. They will even supply little money bags for you to put it in, and you can either exchange for some new ones, or just pay it into your account.
When it comes to other random coinage, I tend to put all my loose change into a money box. It’s the shape of a globe, and inspires me to save and use whatever this for my next adventure. As the saying goes, look after the pennies and the pounds will look after themselves, and hopefully, they’ll look after me too.
Surprisingly, to the less frugally minded out there, looking after their pennies is not really their thing. In fact according to a survey conducted by Mecca Bingo in 2016, one in ten people in Britain tend to just throw away their pennies because they are too heavy!!
As a Frugal Femme that seems pretty crazy to me, and I would suggest throwing them in a penny jar, rather than the bin. They may be annoying and fiddly, but they are still legal tender, and all money is good money as far as I am concerned. If you save them, it’s amazing how quickly all those little bits of change will add up.
A friend of mine used to use random saved up small coinage when paying for things at self-service supermarket checkouts. Good idea from a FF point of view, but I am sure the people in the queue behind her were not so impressed when she produced another bag of pennies to pay for her meal deal…
Why not use all those pennies to buy yourself a little treat? A new lipstick, or a maybe even a cheeky bottle of wine, it’s up to you. Word of advice, maybe change them up first to avoid scaring the poor cashier with a mountain of pennies.
If you are looking for a more creative way of using up your pennies, why not consider a spot of home improvement by creating a penny floor or wall? Obviously think about the size of the room you want to decorate or it could end up being a very expensive makeover, but it could be kind of cool maybe in a smaller room, like a bathroom, perhaps. It would definitely bring a new meaning to spending a penny!!
Stay Frugal,
FF x