Okay, the euro is not exactly top of people’s agendas right now. But the other day, I got scared: we’re 67 days away from the Big E. That’s not even ten weeks.

So I did the unthinkable, and bought a stack of small, sealable plastic bags, at 18 pfennigs apiece. No, I should get used to this, E0.092 apiece.

Not, you understand, to store away morsels of food in the event that the whole economy collapses round me in the midst of the fireworks on New Year’s eve. It won’t. But to force my disorganised, shambolic piles of assorted currencies, amassed on dozens of business trips and weird holidays, into a sophisticated filing system – alias the above mentioned plastic bags.

The result was startling. I reckon I had the equivalent of about DM120 – no, I must get used to this, E61.355 – in no less than eight eurozone currencies, excluding my own trusty DMs. Not bad going.

The point is, that somehow, one has to either spend the stuff, or convert it, now, rather than in January, along with everyone else. Sales of small sealable plastic bags must be soaring as 300m people across the eurozone sift through ancient wallets and drawers, aware that time is running out.

Another option is to give the stuff away. I inherited 5 Belgian francs (E0.1239) from a perfect stranger at Cologne train station a week ago. When I asked about my connecting train to Brussels, he pulled out the coin with a mournful expression on his face. "I suppose the euro is coming soon, so you may aswell have this."The way in which he said this spoke volumes: Germans are not exactly ecstatic about the euro replacing their beloved DM. But they are stoically resigned to its inevitable arrival.

Slowly slowly, prices are being labelled in both currencies, and increasingly, the euro price is the more prominent of the two. But there’s some way left to go. Go on, savour the irony that some of the shops and cafés around the Frankfurt’s Eurotower, which houses the European Central Bank, still have their prices displayed exclusively in – you guessed it – Deutsche Marks.

Last week I received a flyer for a book entitled Die Letzte Mark (The last Deutsche Mark), hardcover, 56-page affair boasting more than 100 colour photos and illustrations to commemorate the 130-year history of the now-nearly-defunct currency. Perhaps this will make the goodbye a little easier for the 125,000 people who have bought copies so far.

For my part, I am working hard at eroding my little hoard of plastic bags, and I long for the day (sort of), when a classic continental European holiday no longer involves mathematical acrobatics every time you’ve crossed a border.

Put it this way: last month, I spent a week in South Tyrol, inside Italy, but within metaphorical spitting distance of both Austria and Switzerland. So my mind was muddled with DM, Swiss francs, Austrian schillings and Italian lire, as well as good old sterling, which I still use as an anchor for my mental health in these circumstances.

The spend-by date of the (non eurozone) Swiss francs I don’t have to worry about, the remnants of my schillings I’ve now spent, while the remaining lire will hopefully be converted into a large chunk of parmesan cheese before the year is out.

Hurrah for the simplicity the euro will bring. But it will be just a little sad to see all those currencies go.

First in a countdown to E-day diary by our European correspondents.