Spend your old £1 coins while you can

Shops can refuse to accept the old round £1 coins from 16 October, but where are they hiding in your house?

The old round £1 coins have been used alongside the new 12-sided £1 coin since March - a period called co-circulation.

There is not long left to spend, bank, exchange or donate old pounds coins but, first, you have to find them.

The Treasury and Royal Mint estimate that around 500 million round pounds are still out there somewhere.

The way to find those old coins is to check all of the places that you know are where you usually keep change.

Here is a list of 10 places to look:

1. A wallet or purse

Shops can give the round £1 coins as change until 16 October, so they could be popped into a wallet or purse in a rush.

The Royal Mint has been encouraging shops to bag the round pounds separately so, when they are banked, they are taken out of circulation.

2. Down the sides and back of the sofa

When was the last time you found coins down there? But when was the last time you looked?

3. Supermarket bag for life

You have finished your Friday night big shop and you are about to carry your groceries to the bus or car, but first you lock up the supermarket trolley and your £1 coin pops out of the mechanism. Into the bag for life it goes. Perhaps it is still there?

If the bag really is for life, then it might be sitting in the back of the cupboard under the stairs.

Most supermarket trolleys have now been altered to accept the new 12-sided £1 coin, but there was a delay at Tesco when the new coin was launched in March.

4. Your special, best handbags

They are only used on special occasions, so they might be at the back of the wardrobe or hanging on a peg behind a few coats. The chances are that there is still a bit of cash in there, maybe some change from the bar or the taxi home.

5. Winter coat pockets

Check the pockets of your winter coats, you might not have worn them for a while.

6. ‘That’ drawer where all your bits and pieces go

Any top drawer around the house seems a natural place to throw some loose change - even if it has socks in it.

7. Children's piggy banks

If your children are savers, then there could be quite a few £1 coins in their piggy banks.

It is worth remembering too that tooth fairies should no longer use old, round £1 coins from 16 October.

8. A charity pot

Many homes will have a charity pot of some kind, ranging from those big glass bottles to a cardboard shoe box.

The UK Treasury and the Royal Mint have joined forces with the BBC's Children in Need appeal to ask anyone who finds some old £1 coins to donate them to the charity.

"We are encouraging everyone who can, to promise their round pounds to Pudsey," says Andrew Jones, exchequer secretary to the Treasury.

9. Car glove compartment

Many drivers keep coins in the glove compartment for parking fares, and in that little well by the gear stick that is designed to hold cups.

10. Gym kit bag/swimming bag

The £1 coins for the locker may be old round ones, rather than new 12-sided ones.

The old £1 coins cannot be spent in the shops after the 16 October, but they can continue to be deposited into an account at most banks and the Post Office for the foreseeable future.