Wedding Blog
When Mr. Toucan and I moved in together, I realized we both kept little stashes of coins for a rainy day. Most of my coins were saved up from when I worked as a waitress, and always had some extra change from tips. I’m actually not sure where all Mr. Toucan’s change came from…
Anyway, Mr. Toucan kept his change in a giant glass bottle. Come to think of it, I think he’s been hoarding change because he likes the look of the glass bottle. So, we decided to combine both of our “rainy day funds” together. I put all my change into his glass bottle:
Naturally, I decorated said bottle. 
Now it looks like this:
We don’t really expect this money to pay for our honeymoon, but maybe it would pay for some kind of upgrade or side-trip. Every little bit helps.
Originally, we found it tedious to actually add to our honeymoon fund jar because we would come home with lots of change in our pockets, had to bend down (the jar is on the floor by the door), and place each coin in through the mouth of the jar. Then, Mr. Toucan came up with a great idea - a man-made funnel! He took an old milk jug, cut out the bottom, turned the old milk jug upside-down on top of the lip of the honeymoon fund jug.
the view from above the honeymoon fund
He taped the mouths of the 2 jugs together, and voila!
Now, we can just throw our extra change right in, and it will funnel down. We keep the jar by the door, so we can empty our pockets right when walk in!After we fill the jar, I’m not exactly sure how we’ll empty it… we’ll cross that bridge when we get there.
Do you have any unique or interesting ways you save money?
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haha…that’s a good idea..my fiance has at least 12 snapple jars of pennies that he’s been collecting since before i even knew him~! i’ve been trying to convince him to DO SOMETHING WITH IT..besides just leaving them all sitting there. we should make ours a honeymoon upgrade fund too..hehe
We did the same thing and actually had a couple hundred dollars. Every little bit counts! Anytime anyone came over, they put their spare change in too!
Our change jar (well, mostly his) helped get us into our last house. So every little bit helps.
Currently, he has two systems.
1. small ceramic jar by the door to empty his pockets out. Small jar then gets transferred to change sorting Voss Water jars.
2. Cute bank on his nightstand for change that made it into the bedroom. Bankd hten gets transferred to change sorting Voss Water jars.
We do the same thing. In fact my parents did this as I was growing up. A few years ago my dad really started doing this more, separating silver and copper. He’d throw them in coffee cans and figured one day he’d use them for a rainy day emergency. He’d casually give them to my sister for Christmas gifts (but she’d have to roll them).
When we announced our engagement, my dad jokingly said that he’d pay for part of our wedding, but he’d only pay for it in change. And thats what he essentially did. He took the 12 or 13 cans of change and had my mom take them to the bank. In the end, those cans yielded about $7000 towards our reception.
Saving your change can pay off in the end
We use a giant water cooler bottle for our change. We counted it once when it was half full and it was almost $1000!
wow, emilyb! very impressive!
I don’t think we’ll be saving that much (though I do wish!!!).
We’ll probably keep doing it after the honeymoon, and cash to go on vacation in each time we fill up. I don’t think we have the patience to keep watching things fill up and not spend it! 
We put away any five dollar bills we get. It sounds like a lot but my friend also does the change thing and our savings are pretty comparable. I’ve been saving Fives since January for my dress, and they’re WAY easier to get to the bank than change!
We had a big container similar in size to the one you have… we cashed it in 2 weeks before our wedding and had close to $400!! And this was only from less than 2 years of change saving! I was so excited. We brought the cash on our honeymoon instead of withdrawing from the ATM as we normally do for a big trip.
When the jar gets too full you can empty it and then go out on the road as a jug bottle band and make even MORE change.
We did the same thing! And then we took it to our bank and turned it into cash for free instead of paying to do it at one of those coinstar places in the supermarket. We used the cash to pay for our day tours on our honeymoon! It was perfect.
About a year and a half before the wedding, we made the New Year’s resolution to eat out less. By spending a couple of minutes each week to plan menus before we go grocery shopping, we’re saving hundreds every month.
We have a change jar that we started when we got engaged. I used the money to buy everything for our invitations and we are saving money for whatever wedding related purchase is next. Originally it was going to be for our honeymoon but as long as it is wedding related, we use the money. FI still owes $40 that he took to get gas! That is envelope cash!!
i used to do that before i started relying heavily on my debit card [but now my purchases are rounded up to the next dollar and the difference is transferred to my savings so i'm still doing it!] and the last time i checked i had almost $150. Not bad from someone who hates spending money to begin with.
my mom does this as well and she’s been able to pay for hotel rooms for the family the last few times we all went away.
That’s great! We have a jar that we cash in periodically. Not only do we put are loose change in but we are not allowed (unless it’s an emergency and we don’t have enough cash) to pay for anything with change. This really adds to our collection and we don’t notice the difference. When we pay for dinner at our favorite pub we pay for the $22.13 in cahs and the 87cents goes intoour bottle since we are not allowed to use it for our waitress. Our fund isn’t for our honeymoon but for our annual trip to visit my cousin in Florida & see a Phillie’s Spring training game.
This is such a GREAT idea. And even greater that you keep it by the door, where it will most likely be used.
I’m a total change nazi…as in, I always try to pay with exact change, so I dont have a lot laying around at any given time. (Yes, I’m that annoying girl pulling pennies out of her change purse while you’re waiting in line behind me) But this is such a great idea, maybe I’ll start one at my house!
Who knew so many people collected change! I have a quarter jar, a nickel/dime jar and a penny jar. Really it started with just the quarter jar - I’m always trying to calculate my change so I get more quarters to add to it. I go to Vegas twice a year for work and this is my gambling money I always have around $80.
I roll my own coins - I used to this when I was a child for my dad - so I love the memories it brings back (The folks at the bank look at me like I’m crazy every time I ask for the papers - they always say “You know we have a machine that does that”.)
As for my husband - his change ends up on the kitchen table, on his dresser, on the bathroom counter, on the desk, on the nightstand, in his pockets - etc etc - I just scoop it up and put it in the proper jars! (Which is fine with me because he would dump it all in the same jar! Me being the weird anal perfectionist I am would end up resorting it!)
miss penguin, i’m the same way! i try to keep at least $.99 with me at all times in those just in case moments. all you need are 3 quarters, 1 dime, 2 nickels and 4 pennies and you can make any combination of exact change! that helps me keep a less bulky wallet
Miss Penguin, I actually used to be the same way. I used to ALWAYS have correct change. Now, I’m crazy because I get excited when things cost $XX.03, and I pay with and even dollar amount so I can add the 97 cents to the honeymoon fund.
We have a jar as well, when it gets full we cash it out and put the bills in an envelope that says TRIP FUND.
Every two weeks or so we each add $10 to the fund. A little bit of adding goes a long way. We had a long weekend in Key West with it last month.
I love these ideas! Thanks everyone
I have a change bank too, but I use it for something different. My family and I volunteer for an organization that gives out these change banks and you put spare change in it and every year, on your birthday, you donate the bank back to the organization because that’s how it was founded…on a small group of women putting aside spare change every week.
hahaha!! i LOVE IT! if only my fiance and i would use cash more… =\ we’ve opted to use credit cards to keep track of our spending habits.
You’d be surprised how fast it adds up! We did this (in a handle of captain morgan) and ended up with over $400!! You can’t do a honeymoon on it, but you could buy a plane ticket with it!
[...] Toucan posted yesterday about a savings “account” they use — a change jar for all their loose change! Mr. [...]
[...] has been a bit of talk around the hive lately about money matters — savings, how to handle finances as you merge your lives as husband and wife, buying your first place [...]
FI and I did this with all our spare changes, then it eventually grew into a savings fund for all the “extra” money - poker winnings (hehe), reimbursement from work, year end bonuses, etc. I’m so glad we did that because this account has grown SOOO much since day one. =)
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Mrs. Toucan, Boston
Age and Occupation: 25, Full-time Research Assistant, Part-time Graduate Student
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 25, Actuary
Engagement Date: February 18, 2007
Wedding Date: June 7, 2008
Blogging Since: November 07, 2007
Venue: St. Catherine of Genoa, Jin Asian Cuisine Restaurant
About Me: I’m a Gemini to the extreme. On one side, I’m a girly girl. I read countless bridal and fashion magazines, and have an obsession with keeping up with the latest Hollywood gossip. On the other side, I’m a sports fanatic. Despite being a full-time bride-to be, full-time research assistant, and part-time student, I’m also a full-time Red Sox fan from spring training to October, and a full-time Patriots fan from mini-camp to February. I devote almost as much time researching my for fantasy football team as researching for our wedding!
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