apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time


Look! Demijohn as Change Jar

2-25-demijohn2.jpgDo you save loose change? Not the most original idea, but one that works well for us, we use our vintage demijohn (which we found at the Melrose Trading Post during a trip to LA last year) as a sort of retro savings account - collecting all of our loose change and sometimes a bill or two, all while being pretty enough that it fits nicely into our decor.

 
 

2-25-demijohn1.jpg
We're not exactly sure what we're saving for - sometimes it's a new couch, sometimes a vacation. But we've gotten into the habit of cleaning out our wallet and pockets when we walk in the door and dumping their contents in, which hopefully means when we figure out what exactly we want to spend the money on there'll be a fair amount there. Then we'll just have to figure out how to lift the thing - we suspect it's going to be mighty heavy once full.



(Edited from a post originally published 2.25.2008)

Tags

Look!

Related Links

Share

Comments (32)

Um - it's going to be hard to get the bills out, no? I suspect you're going to have to break it when you finally want your money!

posted by sylvia_f on 2008-10-30 17:56:25
view sylvia_f's profile

While that's pretty for collecting change (and bringing to say, coinstar all at once), I prefer a deep bowl. That way it is easier just to drop a handful of coins in at once, and is MUCH easier to dig around in, looking for bus fare. I also pre-sort out the quarters into a smaller bowl for laundry.

But, I definitely agree that it is great to be able to make something as utilitarian as a change bowl, look beautiful.

posted by Craftypants on 2008-10-30 17:59:25
view Craftypants's profile

good luck with that

posted by smorgenstern on 2008-10-30 18:06:56
view smorgenstern's profile

in the 70s my parents filled one of those demijohns with matchbooks they collected from restaurants and the like. ahhh, the days when people smoked indoors!

posted by bibliogrrl on 2008-10-30 18:08:24
view bibliogrrl's profile

Am I the only one who has an actually piggy bank? Well, it's a pretty clay elephant my mom or sis gave me for a New Year. I recently spotted a great leather "fishy" bank in the educational toys catalog, and I'm thinking about getting it for my kiddo. Last time my "ele-bank" got full, there were over $12. And I only collect pennies, dimes and nickels.

posted by Nudik on 2008-10-30 18:12:29
view Nudik's profile

when were were little, we had a champagne bottle as a "coin jar"...

posted by Nudik on 2008-10-30 18:13:12
view Nudik's profile

Oh I love these! My auntie used to have one and used it for exactly this purpose. I remember visiting her as a little kid and being facinated by it.
http://www.notyourgoddess.blogspot.com/

posted by Harpa on 2008-10-30 18:25:19
view Harpa's profile

Cute portrait!

And oh by the way -- what the ^%$ is a demijohn?

posted by outonalimb_2008 on 2008-10-30 18:30:42
view outonalimb_2008's profile

I use a plastic eiffel tower that you get from the Paris casino in Vegas as a coin jar. I deposited my coins today - $269. This doesn't include several greenbacks and dollar coins I have and about 10 bucks in other coins that didn't fill their wrappers. Took me about an hour to roll them and I think it was well worth it to wrap them rather than coin star them. I seperate the pennies from silver coins so I only had about 4 bucks in pennies. I loved seeing the $160 in quarters and 80 bucks in dimes. Me so proud!

posted by chusmabilly on 2008-10-30 18:32:47
view chusmabilly's profile

oh dear

posted by twenty twenty-one on 2008-10-30 19:17:35
view twenty twenty-one's profile

don't wait till it's full to empty it -- not terribly practical, I'm afraid.

posted by dmh on 2008-10-30 20:09:07
view dmh's profile

i have a buddha bank. its bright pink.

posted by art_brutale on 2008-10-30 21:27:09
view art_brutale's profile

Oh dear. We did this, with a jereboam-sized wine bottle. Brilliant, until the day someone accidentally kicked it, and it shattered. Picking several hundred dollars worth of change out of a pile of broken glass was not a lot of fun.

posted by vita on 2008-10-30 22:40:21
view vita's profile

The size and color of your glass bottle reminds me of the vintage 5-gallon glass water jug my mom used to put change in when I was a kid. The shape was different though. It was pretty much the same shape as the plastic 5-gallon water dispenser bottles you see now, only it was green glass. Unfortunately, it was damn near impossible to lift when it was even 1/3 full!

posted by Stephie_is_a_dork on 2008-10-30 22:49:49
view Stephie_is_a_dork's profile

Ummm, good luck getting the money out. When you get a fair amount in the jar, it is going to be really tough to get it out. I did the same thing, you think because it went in easy it will come out easy...wrong. But I do think it looks nice!

posted by Mrs.B on 2008-10-30 23:00:49
view Mrs.B's profile

I was just the other day remembering the beautiful blue bottle like that (thank you, now I know the proper name!) that we had when I was growing up. We did keep change in it and it was a huge project to empty it, but it can be done without breaking the bank (har, har).

posted by still life mercantile on 2008-10-30 23:17:08
view still life mercantile's profile

My friends used to use a water cooler bottle. The mouth was wide enough that if you just gave it a shake money would come out.

posted by charlenemcbride on 2008-10-30 23:28:01
view charlenemcbride's profile

I've just got a classic piggy bank.

posted by Jessa on 2008-10-30 23:45:46
view Jessa's profile

whew, Ana you made me feel so much better. I thought I was having a freaky moment of deja-vu! then I couldn't remember if I saw this on another website perhaps, and felt really crazy...

posted by kgenesius on 2008-10-30 23:49:47
view kgenesius's profile

@chusmabilly:

just so you know, commerce bank has one of those coin counting machines, and lets people use them for free. you get to keep all your money without those stupid coinstar charges and you get to go to commerce bank, where you can get pens and candy!

posted by bunbun on 2008-10-31 00:49:09
view bunbun's profile

Aw, "demijohn"! The Italian dad always called that thing a "damigiana". Which is kind of pronounced the same way.

They were usually filled with homemade wine of often questionable quality.

posted by natomaton on 2008-10-31 00:57:14
view natomaton's profile

Why was this reposted?

posted by f.in.eur on 2008-10-31 05:51:25
view f.in.eur's profile

this is the first time i've heard the word demijohn...

just me then?

posted by khanzen on 2008-10-31 06:24:27
view khanzen's profile

:-D we had precisely this about 30 years ago. and we had no trouble to get the money out, either ... but it WAS really heavy when it was filling up. we tipped it on its side and got half of the money out while it was still on the floor.

posted by maike on 2008-10-31 11:13:32
view maike's profile

Repost!

posted by VeryVee on 2008-10-31 12:35:28
view VeryVee's profile

the only problem is that you will have to break it when you want your change back

posted by hanako66 on 2008-10-31 13:27:28
view hanako66's profile

I like the contrast of the blues & greens from the demijohn, votive holders & portrait of Jerry Mathers as The Beaver against the stark white walls & radiator.

posted by tailfin on 2008-10-31 14:54:17
view tailfin's profile

Ok...am I the only one that thinks that displaying saved change is a bad idea? If it is in the front entry...then anyone passing your door can look in and see it sitting there. Also, it is one of the first things robbers go for since it is already in a container. (You can trace electronics...not often... through serial numbers, but consider that $269 saved long gone). At least make them work for it if they are going to break into your house. I keep a nondescript piggy bank in my closet in my bathroom (some place robbers rarely touch), that way when I put my dirty clothes in my hamper in the bathroom, then I empty my pockets into the piggy.

posted by kambykitten on 2008-10-31 15:00:33
view kambykitten's profile

kambykitten..I think you are underestimating the heaviness of that much change. and the noise it would make!

posted by laddibugg on 2008-10-31 15:39:47
view laddibugg's profile

people on AT sure are negative.

its a change container, CHILL OUT.

posted by Hollyconda on 2008-11-03 15:51:04
view Hollyconda's profile