Coinstar - Another Cash for Christmas Idea!

Every night my husband comes home from work and dumps his loose change into a jar. He just doesn't like all that extra weight and jingling in his pockets. I've been saving those coins all year to use at the Coinstar machine at my local supermarket.

If you select a cash voucher at Coinstar, your change will be totaled and you will receive a voucher that you can take to the register for cash, but there is a 10.9 percent fee.

You can also enroll your Paypal account with Coinstar, and have the amount directly transferred to Paypal, but there is a 9.8 percent fee.

The best use of the Coinstar - because there is no fee - is to cash in for an e-certificate with one of the following vendors:

Aéropostale

Amazon MP3

Amazon.com

AMC Theatres

Applebee's

Bass Pro Shops

Build-A-Bear Workshops

Chili's

Cold Stone Creamery
GameStop
Gap Options
iTunes

JCPenney
Lowe's

Nike
Red Robin
Regal
Rixty
Sears

Sephora

Southwest Airlines
Sports Authority
Starbucks

The Home Depot

Toys R Us

Xbox Live

You also have the option to donate your change to one of the following charities for no fee:

• American Red Cross
• Audubon
• Autism Speaks
• Big Brothers Big Sisters
• Change Making Change
• Children's Miracle Network Hospitals
• Earth’s Birthday Project
• Feeding America
• Jumpstart
• Ronald McDonald House Charities
• The Humane Society of the United States
• The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society
• UNICEF
• World Wildlife Fund

Today I took my husband's change jar (above) and dumped it into the Coinstar for $43.08 worth of Amazon credit. A certificate with a code on it printed out, and I was able to easily put it on my Amazon account under Gift Cards where it says:  Apply a Gift Card to Your Account.

Then, I used part of it to order a last minute Christmas gift for my son. I'll save the rest for a future purchase, since Amazon credit never expires!