There’s less than a week to go before the round £1 coin will be officially replaced by the 12-sided £1 coin as legal tender.
The new £1 was introduced on 28 March and is currently in ‘co-circulation’ with the old 'round pounds', which means shops and restaurants will accept both kinds.
But, from midnight on Sunday 15 October round £1 coins, will lose their legal tender status and only the new 12-sided £1 coin should be accepted and distributed by merchants.
Read: new £1 coin: security features, commemorative versions and more.
The Treasury says more than 1.2 billion old coins have been returned in the last six months, however, it’s estimated with a week left until the deadline there’s an estimated 500 million still in circulation.
Here are six things to do now if you have some.
Don’t panic
The general advice when this sort of currency changeover occurs is to get rid of the old money before the deadline when it becomes worthless.
However, there’s no need to blow your collection of round pound coins in a blind panic.
First of all, many shops have confirmed they're going to ignore 15 October deadline (for the time being).
Most notably, Tesco has said customers can pay with old pounds until 22 October in order to "do the right thing by its customers".
Elsewhere, Poundland has said more than 850 of its UK stores will continue accepting the round pounds until 31 October.
The Federation of Small Businesses, which represents 170,000 firms across the UK, has also advised its members to continue to take the coins as the changeover period has been so brief.
What's more, most major banks will continue to accept deposits of old £1 coins for both business and personal customers after the deadline.
Santander, HSBC, Barclays, NatWest, Royal Bank of Scotland, Nationwide, TSB and Lloyds Bank all confirmed to loveMONEY that they will continue to accept deposits of the round pound coins from customers after they lose their legal tender status.
The Royal Mint has also confirmed that the Post Office will also continue to take deposits of the round pound after the deadline.
Separate the rare ones
Rather than rush to get rid of your round £1 coins, double check if you hold any rare ones.
Coin specialist blog Change Checker has a ‘scarcity index’ that lists the old £1 coins that may be worth more than face value in years to come.
Head this way to see 25 rare pound coins that are still could still be in circulation.
Spend, bank or donate
HM Treasury and The Royal Mint are urging people to hunt down any remaining coins in piggy banks or hidden down the back o the sofa to spend, bank or donate them.
If you have a few £1 coins rattling around in your change then using them over the next few days makes sense.
But if you have a whole piggy bank- full you should put them into a savings account. You can check out the top places for your cash using loveMONEY’s savings comparison service.
Alternatively, you could give any old round pounds you have in piggy banks or down the back of the sofa to charity.
BBC Children in Need has partnered with The Royal Mint and HM Treasury to encourage people to donate their round pounds to Pudsey.
CEO and Deputy Master of The Royal Mint, Adam Lawrence, said: “Any round £1 coins donated to BBC Children in Need through Pudsey’s Round Pound Countdown will not only go to a fantastic cause but they will make their way back to The Royal Mint where some will be melted to make new £1 coins.”
Keep an emergency stash
Many vending machines, parking meters and train ticket machines haven’t been upgraded to accept the new 12-sided £1 coins yet, so it may be worth keeping an emergency stash of the old ones to avoid being caught out.
John Hart from the Automatic Vending Association (AVA) says that around 70,000 of its 450,000 machines might reject the new £1 coins.
The British Parking Association says that most of its machines have been updated but a ‘small number’ are still being overhauled so there is a slim chance your new £1 coin would be rejected.