I love Ralph's Self Checkout

So, I have this...issue. With loose change. My spouse goes through periods of time where he spends cash for things. Not a lot. Just here and there. But he rarely spends the change. So I find little piles of change...on the counter, on the dresser, on the desk, on the bookshelf.

Now, I like spending cash. I think it's a way of controlling your spending. I try to spend cash for groceries from time to time. But the change gets the best of me.

I have the habit of just sweeping the piles of change into my purse or backpack. All that serves to do is to make them very heavy. In years past, when I had a bad soda habit (1-2 per day at $1.25 each), I would spend the change on soda. But I mostly kicked the soda habit (yes, I still drink a few a week), and I left the job with the soda machine.

So I have made it my mission to conquer the change. So I have to fess up...we have this blue bowl. Of change. And other junk. Mostly pennies. But we've had it for years. It has moved from counter to dresser to bookshelf. I bought myself a little change purse shaped like a sock. And I use it. If I succumb to a soda ($1.47), I use 7 pennies. When I pay cash for groceries, I use my change.

Then, I discovered Ralph's self checkout. You can pay cash. And they take pennies! I don't shop often at Ralphs, but when I do...today I must have unloaded 30 pennies from the sock.

My goal: empty the bowl of change by the end of the year. I considered using this as "bonus" grocery money. But that's cheating. So instead, I count the change as part of my grocery budget, the bonus being that I'll have more money in the checking account at the end of the year.