If you are someone who has shied away from Coinstar because of the service charge that you must pay, here’s another reason to look at them especially with Christmas approaching. If you have more than $40 in change lying around you can get a $10 bonus if you put the $40 onto an e-certificate for more than a dozen retailers including Amazon, Eddie Bauer, Borders, Cabela’s J. C. Penny’s, CVS and more. The offer expires December 6 a few weeks before Christmas, but you can take advantage of the offer and have your shopping done early or get a little bonus when you do your shopping.

While you’re saving money, you might need more ideas about saving change or small bills in banks.

Are there times when you still want to save some money but want to do it in style? Check out these banks at Oddee.com. Though according to Wallet Pop the piggy bank is a worthless piece of junk. Obviously, they haven’t found the right one yet and don’t realize that the concept of savings has to be taught as well.

As I was going to the grocery store yesterday, I saw a billboard for Feedthepig.org. This one featured a large container that fries come in with rolled up bills in it. Of course this was across the street from a White Castle’s restaurant.

I don’t really spend a lot on fast food. When eating out, I would rather go to a nicer restaurant.

I have seen the ads for the Feed the Pig but I had never visited the site. The site gives some good advice but the pig with the slot in his head creeps me out. Also, if you are just looking around, and not clicking anything, the pig will periodically say “feed me.” Maybe I watch too much SciFi Channel but that has the makings of something freaky.

Benjamin, the pig’s name, wants you to conquer your under-saver. I am not an undersaver, but I know I can always save a little more. Something I have been trying to do lately is save the dollar bills from my wallet. The singles aren’t going toward any specific spending goal, it’s just that I have a zip around wallet and if I have too many singles in it, it makes it difficult to zip. So I take out excess change ($1.26 in coins is a good mix) and singles. Instead, I put the singles into a container and when I know I will need some, I grab a few.

Having singles all in one place also comes in handy, when I don’t want to break a big bill or want a little treat from a place in the neighborhood. This way I am not breaking my budget.

The coins I put into a bank for later use. Since the time I was caught without change and had to run into my dentist’s office to ask for change for a dollar, I have had a few quarters with me to feed the meter just in case I don’t find an unmetered spot.

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Found money is better than no money at all. The other day I was in the grocery store and like a trail of bread crumbs I saw a nickel and four pennies. Nine cents really won’t do a lot but if you saved 9¢ a day for a year you would have $32.85. That’s not a lot of money but what if you saved a dollar a day and put it into a savings account. You would have $365 if you just saved the dollar in a jar in your closet.

If you saved a dollar a day and invested it or saved it at the end of each week you would have compounding interest on your side at the end of the year and your nest egg would be larger. So what if you don’t want to use that money right away? That’s ok too. If you have credit card debt or are saving for a big ticket item like a vacation or making a large purchase then saving a dollar a week can make a difference.

If you saved $30 a month, and put it into a savings account that you opened online with $1, assuming you earn 3.55% interest you will have $365 at the end of a year even after fulfilling your tax obligations and including your interest earned. This would work for a Christmas savings account. In about 11 months many people will have credit cards that will start to melt because of overuse. An extra $365 would really come in handy in December.

Many people do not like to talk about taxes but lets say you have to pay taxes each year. Instead of forking over a lot of money to the government or having to set up a payment plan: set money aside for taxes. Don’t owe the IRS, what about property tax? In that case, you would do well to put a little money aside to make your payments. Paying $1000 or more for your taxes may be difficult, but it would be a lot easier to set aside $90 a month or about $23 a week.

Saving money may not be chic (yet) but having a tax lien against you by the government isn’t either. Let’s say your taxes are up to snuff and don’t have outstanding credit card bills, if you save money that you would otherwise do nothing with this could be an easy way to add some padding to your emergency fund.

Somewhere in your current spending plan you may be able to find an extra dollar a day that you could save, donate or invest. If you start small, the savings can add up.