Change

... hadn't visited a Coinstar machine in a long time. Sure needed all of this $27.44. From my pennies, nickels, and dimes*, i got back everything I spent at Target last night. Even cashed in a winning $2 lottery scratcher ticket that had been in my wallet since Christmas.

I have a box on my dresser where I throw in all my loose pennies and nickels. All dimes go into a glass bottle my grandmother, mi abulla, gave me years ago. Filled to the top, the bottle holds $60 in dimes. I love this bottle not just because mi abuelita gave it to me, she was always filling up some container with coins to give to her grandchildren; but because she covered the bottle with stamps for magazine subscriptions that would come in Publishers Clearing House mailers (remember those?).

My crafty grandmother ... I know now where i get it from.


*Coinstar did not accept my dimes from the following years: 1949, 1957, 1961, 1963. Never has. For sentimental and superstitious reasons, i've just thrown those dimes back into the bottle every time.