PHOTOS: (COINS) VEER; (CALENDAR) GETTY

penny-wise

If yo u ’re like m o s t fam ilies, y o u prol

If y o u ’re like m o s t fam ilies, y o u p ro b a b ly have

$50

o r m o re w o rth o f pennies,

nickels, and d im e s languishing in jars, u n d e r sofa cushions, and on to p o f th e

clothe s d ryer. These days, m a n y p eople lu g th e ir caches to c o u n tin g m achines a t

g ro c e ry sto re s and o th e r reta ile rs. M o s t o f these co n ve n ie n tly located m achines

are o pe ra te d b y C oinstar (th e cleve r fo lk s b ehind Red B ox m o vie re nta l kiosks).

B ut it’s a little p o u n d -fo o lish to p ay an

8

.

9

-ce n ts-p e r-d o lla r co m m issio n fo r cash.

G et

100

p e rce n t o f y o u r m o n e y back b y loa d ing th e value o n to a re ta il g ift card o r

e C e rtifica te fo r m erchandise a t A m azon, iTunes, Low e’s, O ld Navy, S tarbucks, and

o th e rs. You can also d on a te y o u r w in d fa ll to m a jo r charities, such as th e A m e rica n

Red C ross, th e Leukem ia & L ym ph o m a S ociety, and th e M a rch o f D im es. To fin d a

m achine g o t o

locator.coinstar.com .

n ib b le away th a t d e b t

Conventional wisdom on getting out of debt advises paying off

your biggest loan first. Financial counselor Dave Ramsey

recommends making your smallest balance the No. 1

priority. Why?

Debt reduction is more about behavior than math, he claims.

Paying off your smallest debt gives you a quick-win mentality and

the motivation to plow through your next-larger bill—and so on. Of

course, you need to make at least minimum payments on higher-

payoff obligations while doing the debt snowball. Ramsey spells it

all out in his book,

T h e T o ta l M o n e y M a k e o v e r,

and at his Web site,

d a v e ra m s e y .c o m .

tfS)

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