Money down the drain (or in the bin!): wasteful Brits literally throw away 2 million coins a year

It appears that the old adage 'look after your pennies and the pounds will look after themselves' is a thing of the past, as it turns out over two million coins are thrown away each year.

Yes, you read that right. According to a new study of over 1,000 UK adults, conducted to launch the Nectar Savvy Family 2014 competition, 7.5% of people admit to throwing away coins.

Younger adults, aged 16 to 24 years old, are six times more likely to bin their cash then those aged 45 or over. Tsk, tsk.

Hard to believe? Well almost a third (31.7%) of us have witnessed money being thrown in to the bin.

And one in five of us has no idea how much change we have in our pockets.

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'I'm amazed by the research - throwing cash away is ridiculous and it's a basic savvy principle I instil into my boys,' says Sarah Beeny, property developer and television presenter, who returns this year as a Nectar Savvy Family judge.

'I believe in encouraging families to share their savviness through this competition; to help inspire the next generation to get better value in their daily lives, just from being smarter with money.'

Further research from Nectar shows how families could save almost £4,000 extra a year - just by saving those pennies, which is based on simple lifestyle tips from last year's winner of the Nectar Savvy Family 2013 competition, Julie Abell and her family of six, from Oakham, Rutland.

Top tips from the reigning winners include signing up to mailing lists for free meals and drinks vouchers, buying presents throughout the year in the sales, and shopping around when buying new insurance.

'Being a savvy family can be fun and so often it isn't about big changes, it's about the small things that really add up, as these tips really highlight,' says Sarah Willingham, co-judge and founder of letssavesomemoney.com.

If you think that your savvy family could be most frugal of all, why not take a look at this year's competition?

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