What to do with small change

Notes and pound coins soon break down to little bits of change weighing down your purse or wallet.

When you make the effort to rummage for the right amount at the check-out you have a line of angry customers huffing and puffing for you to get a move on.

Turn your pennies into pounds

Sainsbury’s change machine, called the ‘coin star’, has removed the time consuming process of bagging up the coins, counting how much you have and taking them to the bank to deposit.

All you have to do is take your coins to a machine and empty them into the coin machine. The machine prints a receipt that you take to customer services and they can give you either a discount on your shopping or cash.

Small fee for convenience

Sainsbury’s charges 7.5p per £1 deposited, which looks bad when banks do this for free. If you have the time to bag the coins then head to the bank and save even more pennies.

But for many working people it can be hard to find the time to make a trip to a bank, let alone bag up all the money correctly.

Grab your money jar, bottle, piggy bank or bowl of change and head to your local Sainsbury’s to turn those pennies into something you could actually spend.