I made a coin holder out of index cards and duct tape that fits in half my wallet and holds 24 coins. I can always either pay with exact change or minimize the number of coins I receive in change,
I routinely dip into the spouse's in-vehicle change-hoard tray to refill it, because apparently some people can't be arsed to fish a penny out of a giant pile of coins when their drive-through total is $X.01, and would rather dump $0.99 in coins into it--never to be spent--instead.
In theory, you should never need more than four $0.01 coins, never more than one $0.05 coin, no more than two $0.10 coins, and not more than three $0.25 coins, per cash transaction. If you have those 10 coins, you can always provide exact change. If you do not have those exact ten, you can always spend some of your coins, such that you get fewer than nine coins in your change. In practice, I need more coin slots, because I am spending coins that do not originate from my own transactions, and need to spend as many small coins as is possible, rather than maintaining an efficient working set of coins in my wallet.
If no one else is filling up a change jar at home, your coin holder only needs to hold ten coins (in the US). It will fit in the same space as a paper note folded in half.
I routinely dip into the spouse's in-vehicle change-hoard tray to refill it, because apparently some people can't be arsed to fish a penny out of a giant pile of coins when their drive-through total is $X.01, and would rather dump $0.99 in coins into it--never to be spent--instead.
In theory, you should never need more than four $0.01 coins, never more than one $0.05 coin, no more than two $0.10 coins, and not more than three $0.25 coins, per cash transaction. If you have those 10 coins, you can always provide exact change. If you do not have those exact ten, you can always spend some of your coins, such that you get fewer than nine coins in your change. In practice, I need more coin slots, because I am spending coins that do not originate from my own transactions, and need to spend as many small coins as is possible, rather than maintaining an efficient working set of coins in my wallet.
If no one else is filling up a change jar at home, your coin holder only needs to hold ten coins (in the US). It will fit in the same space as a paper note folded in half.