
Until I switched to a cash budget in January, I didn’t have a coin problem. When you swipe a card all the time, you don’t have to worry about change. When we switched to using cash, I noticed a big increase in our coins. My purse and change purse were getting heavy. My dryer had coins on top, and hubby’s dresser did too.
So when Collective Bias asked me to try out a Coinstar machine at BI-LO, I was happy to try it out! Follow #NoFeeCoinstar and #CBias on Twitter for more details!

I had only used Coinstar one other time, and that was a LONG time ago. I knew there were fees involved somehow, so I steered clear. What I discovered using Coinstar this time is that if you choose a gift card, there are no fees! So, you can get a grocery gift card from all your spare change, and you won’t be charged for the service. (Another way to save on groceries and add to your budget, how great is that?)

My “spare change” turned into $13.28 on a BI-LO gift card. Hubby’s turned into $20.12.

Hubby and I shopped last night with our BI-LO cards. I had a great produce and laundry soap trip with over 50% savings! (Hubby spent his on man stuff that wasn’t on sale, but that was ok, because it felt ok to let him splurge with our change.)
I have been shopping at BI-LO more and more, because of their great sales and prices. My BI-LO trip:

I spent $15.xx and $13.28 of that was on my BI-LO card from my spare change and Coinstar. I saved over $18 and paid no fees! Want to see our whole trip? You can check out my Google+ story!
If you want to learn more about Coinstar, you can check them out on Facebook or Twitter. BI-LO is on Facebook and Twitter too!
I have been paid (at Coinstar’s request) to try and blog about Coinstar’s products/services as part of a Collective Bias shopper insights study. All opinions are my own.
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disclose : There may be affiliate links in this post.