A few days ago I ran out of clean socks, so I had to do some laundry. I grabbed all of my dirty socks and threw them into the washer. Much to my surprise, when I went to transfer my socks to the dryer, I found a soggy, wet $20 bill sitting on top of my socks.
I have no idea how the $20 bill got there. There weren’t any pants in the load of laundry that I put in the washer. In fact, there weren’t any articles of clothing that had pockets. So where did this $20 bill come from? (No, I don’t stick $20 bills into my socks.)
Here are a few theories on how/why it happened.
- It was a $20 bill from the previous load of laundry.
- I have the best washing machine ever.
- It fell out of some other article of clothing and got mixed in with the socks.
- I subconsciously felt the need to wash my cash.
- Magic.
Honestly, I have no clue where the money came from or how it got there, but it got me thinking about all of the times that I’ve found money in unexpected places. Have you ever put money away in a “safe” place and then completely forgot about it? Of course, you never really know unless you eventually find the money again.
A few years ago, I remember my sister going through her closet to clear out some old clothes, and she found some cash in the pocket of a jacket that she hadn’t worn in almost a decade. After that, she started checking all of the pockets.
Do you ever find money in unexpected places?
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{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
My wife lost $50 from a Christmas gift in 2005. We tore the place apart trying to find it, and she has been sick about it since. A few weeks ago, I was cleaning out boxes from old cell phones and MP3 players, and found it in the box for an MP3 player that we got that same year. It must have gotten pulled together in all the paperwork. That was a great find!
I just received a $250 check for the return of my security deposit from my last apartment, that I had completely forgotten about. Best mailbox trip ever.
“I have the best washing machine ever.” HILARIOUS. I love secret money. I most often find it in old jeans that only fit sometimes and jacket pockets.
When I used to live in the North I’d always find a $1 or a $5 the first cold weekend of fall when non-jacket season turned. No kidding, almost every year!
Man, I want your washing machine! A $20 here, a $20 there…no worries! But, I think the most likely culprit is probably that it fell out of the pockets of something else and then just got mixed in with the socks.
I do this a lot, hide money from myself and then forget about it. I was going through some old books the other day because I’m planning on getting rid of some of them, and happened to find a $20 stuck between two books. Not within the pages, which is weird. So, I’m thinking that I set the $20 on top of a book, and then another book on top of that and just forgot about it. But, it’s got me checking all my books and the pages in between, just in case!
Instead of Maytag, I bet your washer was made by Jeanie…
Yeah for found money!