Comments on: How to Bank Mad Cash in Japan

By: How to Japonese» Blog Archive » How to Bank Mad Cash in Japan – Director’s Commentary

Sun, 13 Dec 2009 23:40:11 +0000

[...] still think this relative change section is genius. Check out my writeup in the original post. Basically, I argue that psychologically we are more likely to spend change too freely, and that [...]

By: Tom

Tom — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 23:28:47 +0000

Before I got married I used to do this to make larger purchases. Now I’m married and don’t have any money of my own.

By: Adam

Adam — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 23:02:58 +0000

I have a couple of mugs filled with change that I dump my pockets into every once in awhile.

Though one month I decided to change (durr) this and spend no change AT ALL. Every month I take a set amount of money to live off of, and that particular month I ran out of funds far earlier than I should have. The culprit was the massive amount of coins I had built up.

So that’s my warning: BE CAREFUL, CHANGE CAN BE DANGEROUS

By: Kevin Hurley

Kevin Hurley — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 22:30:30 +0000

I saved up all my change for the past year or so, putting what was in my pocket at the end of the day into a jar. I try to avoid using it during the day, but for tea and such sometimes. I cashed in last week and got 120,000.

By: Daniel

Daniel — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 11:56:55 +0000

Brian: Damn, that’s a ton of 500 yen coins. Take some pictures of that stash when you finish saving.

Matt: Haha, I used to be like that. It’s a pretty fun game to play, but I also found it pretty liberating for to say fuck it and break those bills, carry around massive pockets of change. There were some days I remember dumping like 3 or 4 500 yen coins into my bag. Although I did have to temporarily retire a set of jeans because the pockets were too small (bought them in China).

By: Matt

Matt — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 09:51:42 +0000

Intellectually I can see how this is a great idea. Emotionally, though, it fills me with revulsion. This is because I am one of those people who always gives the cashier a strategically irregular amount of money designed to minimize the total number of coins in my wallet after the purchase. It's bad enough on those rare occasions when I make a mistake at the register and later realize that I've been walking around with two five-yen coins all day -- there's no way I could ever intentionally pollute myself. (Actually, there are rare exceptions. When I had to use a laundromat, I would spend a couple of days in mode B, where my goal in each transaction would be to maximize the 100-yen coins in my wallet while minimizing everything else. But I didn't like it one bit.)

By: Brian

Brian — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 22:40:52 +0000

You can buy 100 yen or 500 yen piggy banks at the 100 yen store. I have a 500 yen one, and when it’s full, it will have 300,000. I’ve had a similar strategy as you for a year and a half, but only with the 500 yen coins. I haven’t spent one… ever. Even if something is 499 yen, I break a 1000 yen note and save the coin. It looks about 4/5 of the way full. Weighs a ton though-