Woman shares hack to count change backwards and its a life-saver for all adults

There is much about the basics of adult life that one learns only when one steps into adulthood. Several essential aspects of adult life are not taught in school and must be learned through experience. Michelle Raleigh (@michellebellexo) shared a math lesson after her experience at the supermarket. The woman noticed that the young cashier dealing with her items and bills was struggling with basic math. She noticed that the young man couldn’t count back change.

“How to count back change- they probably don’t teach you this in schools,” she said. Raleigh mentioned that counting back change is a crucial skill required in several daily life scenarios and at various jobs as well. Elaborating more on her experience, she said, “My total was $15.06 and I gave him $20.” She noted that the cashier appeared to be a young man, likely still in high school. When she handed over the $20, she realized she didn’t want to carry around that much change. So, she gave him an additional 6 cents to round out the bill.

“I handed it to him while he was counting the change and the panic on his face,” Raleigh remarked. The young man was caught off guard and didn't know how to react. Raleigh mentioned that he simply needed to take the 6 cents and hand her a $5 bill, but he got so worked up with the math that he blanked out. “I said, ‘You know what, it’s okay. I’ll keep my 6 cents,’” she mentioned as she allowed the cashier to calmly work his way. “He gave me $4.94 back and I took it and added my 6 cents and handed it all back to him and said, ‘Can I get $5 for this please?’” she explained. The cashier was baffled and had no clue how to respond.

To help others avoid such a dilemma, Raleigh shared an example of how to easily count back change, using a total of $12.34 as an example. “Instead of counting up, you want to count backward. So, you want to try to get to the nearest quarter,” she explained. Going ahead with her math, she pointed out that since the total included 34 cents, it was beyond 25, so the next step was to reach 50. “We’re trying to get to fifty first. You first add a penny to 34 and make it 35. Now we wanna get to forty, you add a nickel. To get to 50, you add a dime. Now we’re at $12.50,” she explained.

Raleigh rounded out the figure and then said, “Now to get to $13, we just add 50 cents." Continuing in a like manner, the woman counted up to a $20 bill. However, she mentioned, “As a bartender, I would not give this as change.” She then demonstrated counting first from $14 up to $20 and then lastly, adding the change to complete the amount to be returned. Instead of counting up from a penny, she counted backward, starting with a dollar.

Raleigh's video gained huge popularity and crossed over 7 million views. Over 1 million users liked the hack and many commented on the video thanking her. @mikey037185 wrote, “This is what they should be teaching in schools, life skills.” @bozozo10 added, “I needed this.” 

You can follow Michelle Raleigh (@michellebellexo) on TikTok for more content on life hacks.