Currently, the US only prints bills worth $1, $2, $5, $10, $20, $50, and $100. A $1 bill is commonly called a “single. ” Bills worth $2 are rare. The other 6 bills are the ones you’ll see most frequently. Even though the US doesn’t print bills larger than $100 anymore, those bills are still legal to use if you come across them.

A penny is worth 1 cent, so it takes 100 pennies to make 1 dollar. Pennies are copper in color and are the second-smallest coin. A nickel is worth 5 cents, and it takes 20 nickels to make 1 dollar. Nickels are silver and are larger than pennies. A dime is worth 10 cents, and it takes 10 dimes to make 1 dollar. Dimes are silver and are the smallest of all the coins. A quarter is worth 25 cents, so it takes 4 quarters to make 1 dollar. Quarters are silver and they are the biggest of the coins.

Lay your money on a flat, clean surface. This will make stacking easier and keep your piles separate and organized.

Pretend you have stacks of 2 quarters (50¢), 2 dimes (20¢), 4 nickels (20¢), and 11 pennies (11¢). When you add these stacks together, you get a total of 101¢. Since 100 cents makes 1 dollar, you have 1 dollar and 1 cent ($1. 01).

Pretend you have 2 $20 bills ($40), 3 $10 bills ($30), 1 $5 bill ($5), and 7 $1 dollar bills ($7). When you add these stacks together, you get a total of $82.

Use mental math for small numbers or numbers that are simple to add, like numbers ending in 0 or 5. Grab a calculator or do long addition with a pencil and paper to add up larger, more complicated numbers.

Skip-count by 5s to count nickels and $5 bills. Twenty nickels make 1 dollar: 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, 40, 45, 50, 55, 60, 65, 70, 75, 80, 85, 90, 95, 100. Skip-count by 10s to count dimes and $10 bills. It takes 10 dimes to make 1 dollar: 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90, 100. Skip count by 20s to count $20 bills: 20, 40, 60, 80, 100. Skip-count by 25s to count quarters. It takes 4 quarters to make 1 dollar: 25, 50, 75, 100.

Pennies come in rolls of 50, so each roll is worth 50 cents. Nickels come in rolls of 40, so each roll is worth 2 dollars. Dimes come in rolls of 50 (like pennies), so each roll is worth 5 dollars. Quarters come in rolls of 40 (like nickels), so each roll is worth 10 dollars. If you have large amounts of coins at home, try rolling them yourself for easy counting and storage.

To calculate change, count forward from the cost until you reach the amount paid. In this example, count up by $1 increments from 3 to 5 to get $2. Alternatively, subtract the cost from the amount paid. In this case, 5-3 = 2, so you get $2 in change. Use whichever method is easiest for you to calculate change. Counting forward and subtracting will both get you the correct answer.