spare change

I found out something new last week that I just had to share with somebody!  I've been collecting the spare change that Steve dumps out of his pockets every day after work for nearly a year now, and I finally got around to taking them to Fred Meyer to cash them in.  I wasn't looking forward to the percentage that the big green machine takes (I think it's up to 10.9% now, yuk).  Also I'm a little OCD so I counted the change before I left the house to make sure that the machine didn't 'steal' some of my change, ha ha.  

One of the other reasons I like to sort through the coins before I leave the house is because I love to look for old coins.  It is always a little amazing to me to think that many of these coins have been around since before I was born.  This time I found a penny that was from 1950 and a dime from 1943.  It nearly gives me goosebumps to think of all that these coins have been through and all the people who have had them in their possession.

 Anyway, when I first started following the prompts on the sorting machine, I noticed that there was a gift card option in addition to the cash voucher option.  I clicked on it, mostly because there was no fee if you chose this option.  I was surprised to see how many different retailers you could get a gift card to!  I highly recommend this option if you have a change jar piling up somewhere.  I was already planning a visit to Gap for myself and Riggs, so I was thrilled to see them on the gift card list.

not bad, eh?