found money

Whopping $100,000 Found in Backpack at Burger King

November 27, 2014 By Kendra Smith 1 Comment

$100,000 left in a backpack at a Burger King

Have you ever wondered how honest someone would be if you left your money in plain sight? Well, in San Jose, California, a person can leave one hundred thousand dollars behind and employees at the local Burger King will wait for you to come back and pick it up.

Yes, you read that correctly — $100,000. Wednesday, the assistant manager at the Burger King on North Bascom Avenue in San Jose, California discovered a back pack with cash totaling one hundred thousand dollars. The faded blue and tan pack was left in a booth and no one ever came back for it.

There are a lot of people who look for lost money, but nobody expects to find $100,000 in a backpack. It sounds reminiscent of a TV crime drama ransom drop gone wrong. It also appears that Burger King employees value honesty over getting rich quick.

The assistant manager stated he cleaned multiple times and waited for someone to come back for the bag, When no one did, the manager contacted the owner of the restaurant. He searched the outside of the bag for contact information. When that search failed, he unzipped the bag to see if contact information was inside. He was greeted by stacks of hundred dollar bills.

“I see lots of money, cash money, $100 bills stack up like half the bag, money,” Burger King owner Altaf Chaus told ABC’s Channel 7 news. “I said, “Wow! Today’s my birthday, this is my birthday gift.” But that thought was fleeting.

He called the police right away, worried the someone may be looking for the money and needed it. The owner knows what it means to work hard, as he worked two jobs for fifteen years before purchasing the Burger King franchise.

When officers arrived, they also found candy, some marijuana and a bank deposit slip. The slip itself appears to be the best clue to locate the bag’s owner. Currently, the officers are working with the local bank branch to get the bag back to its rightful owner.

Other Burger King customers were impressed by the assistant manager’s honesty. One in particular, Mary Teixeira, was so shocked and impressed, she thanked the assistant manager for their actions. “I would have done the same thing, but to know that someone else did it, really makes me feel good.”

The San Jose police department has yet to comment on the ongoing investigation.

(Photo courtesy of me and the sysop)

52 Week Save Money Challenge: Week Two

January 11, 2014 By Jeffrey Strain 3 Comments

Although I wasn’t disappointed with my $5 savings for week one of this 52 week save money challenge, I was hoping to come in with a better number for week two. While I wasn’t able to cross off the highest amount on the chart this week, I did get to cross off a much higher amount than last week. Below is a recap of the savings I was able to find this week.

Called the Cable Company

The big savings this week came from a call to the cable company. I simply made a call saying that the current amount I was paying was more than I could afford, and if it wasn’t possible to get a better rate, I would go ahead and cancel. The fifteen minute phone call netted me a $26 per month reduction for the next 6 months while the service will basically stay the same. I will have to make another call after 6 months when the rate will return to what I was paying, but this week’s call will net me $156 in savings during the year. I even marked my calendar so I know when the rate is going to expire, and I’ll need to call again.

If you have cable, you should definitely try this. It doesn’t always work, but it has worked for me on numerous occasions. With so many people opting to quit cable all together these day, the cable companies seem to be more willing to find a way to keep you than they have in the past.

Saved: $26.00

No Sake

One of the items on my shopping list this week was to get a new bottle of sake (Japanese rice wine) since I had run out. While I don’t drink every night, I will have a glass or two of sake every once in a while. I decided that I really didn’t need to buy a bottle right now which saved me $10 I would have usually spent.

Saved: $10.00

Money Jar

The change that I collected this week from left over purchases and money found totaled $1.71. I will put $1 of that into the challenge account with $0.70 being carried over until next week. I have also placed one cent to the side since it was a wheat back penny.

I decided that I will keep this penny for myself since you don’t find many of them these days.

Saved: $1.00

Pay to Use My Car

This week I used my car two times which should mean that I saved only two dollars through this method, but I actually have $3. One of the trips was with a friend and when she saw the big “Pay a Buck” sign upon getting into my car, she laughed and asked me what that was all about. I explained the challenge and that I now pay $1 every time I drive as part of it. She insisted that she also pay $1 since she was in my car. I’m not sure if that $1 should go toward the make money challenge, or this save money challenge, but I am placing it here since the inspiration behind it was for saving money. Once again, I saw a definite change in my driving habits, which I’m sure saved me much more than the $3.

Saved: $3.00

Found Money

I ended up finding three cents at the gas station. Two pennies were on the ground:

while another one was on top of the gas pump:

I also found a $50 shell gas card on top of the pump. I assume that it’s empty (I had already filled the car when I noticed it), so I’ll check the next time I need to fill up. The three cents found was added to the change jar. That makes $0.05 found so far for the year.

Saved: $0.00

This week I was able to save a total of $40.00. I crossed this amount off the chart and placed it into the saved column. That means for weeks one and two I have put away $45.00. The good thing here is that with the savings from the cable bill, I will be able to save $26 five more times this year and there is nothing else I need to do (I’ll place that savings into the account when the bill arrives each month).

Total Saved Week 2: $40.00

Goals for the Coming Week

The main goal for this past week was to go through my old documents and find the monthly bills for the last year. These will allow me to make a comparison between what I paid last year and what I pay this year. The assumption being if I pay less this year, it’s due to the steps I’ve taken around the house to reduce those bills. I somewhat succeeded in this goal. I found most of the bills, but still have a few missing. That was a big impetus for deciding to do the declutter challenge this year as well. I know that they are there somewhere in the pile of papers I have, and it’s just a matter of finding them (and throwing away all the papers I don’t need). Finding the missing bills is one goal for this coming week.

The other goal is to put together a list of steps I will be taking to try to reduce those bills. I will start with electricity. Basically, I want to put together a list of things I can do to reduce the electricity bill that I’m not already doing around the house.

If you are also doing this challenge, how did your second week go?

Week 1 Results for the 52 Week Save Money Challenge

January 5, 2014 By Jeffrey Strain 1 Comment

The first week of my attempt for the 2014 52 week save money challenge this year had a slow start, but the good news is that it did begin. I decided to do this challenge from scratch, so I won’t be using money that was in the process of being saved before beginning this challenge. If I had done this, I could have crossed off a much larger number, but I believe doing it this way is more realistic to someone who is just beginning this type of challenge.

I did three things from my initial preparation list to get things started. Even though I didn’t save a lot of money, I did begin to build that foundation which should allow me to knock off the larger amounts in the weeks to come. Here’s how I got the ball rolling.

Start a Money Jar

I created my money jar where I empty my coin change each day when I come home. While I did set this up (I placed a white container into which I empty my change in my room), I didn’t have a lot of change this week as I didn’t do much shopping. The total of the change came to $1.12. I will move $1.00 to the challenge account

I also found a nice tin which I’ll be using as my money account until I open up a new bank account for this challenge.

Since the $0.12 doesn’t make a complete dollar, I’ll leave it in the jar to add to anything I accumulate the next week.

Saved: $1.00

Pay to Use My Car

I set up the “pay to use” system in my car. I decided to pay $1.00 each time I used my car, knowing that having to pay when I drive will make me drive less and save money. The first thing I needed to do was create an area where I could easily pay each time I got into my car. I ended up emptying out a compartment in the front of the car, and then labeled it “Pay A Buck” so it was staring me right in the face each time I got into the car. This way I wouldn’t “accidentally” forget to pay. It’s not pretty, but it does what it’s supposed to do, and it’s definitely the first thing I notice each time I climb into the driver’s seat. I probably won’t leave that up the entire year, but I will leave it until I’ve firmly formed the habit of paying each time I sit down in the car.

This method worked quite well this week. There were two instances where I decided to wait to drive until I had something else that also needed to get done. In one instance, I decided I didn’t really need to drive at all, and I opted once to walk instead of drive. In all, I ended up driving four times this week to put another $4.00 toward the challenge.

I would estimate my change in driving habits from this ended up saving at least $4.00 in gas, and probably quite a bit more. That means that it did exactly what it was supposed to do and I count that as a major win.

Saved: $4.00

Found Money

I actually found my first coins of the year on New Year’s day in the parking lot at the beach. It was only two pennies, but those will be added the $0.12 being held over so that I’ll have a total of $0.14 in the jar starting week two.

Saved: $0.00

That gives me a total of $5.00 saved for this first week to cross off and put into the saved column.

While this certainly isn’t the $52.00 that would have been great to cross off the list, I don’t feel bad at all about the amount. With the limited time I had (it was a busy week), I managed to put into place 2 savings methods that I will continue to use throughout the rest of the year. The most important aspect of this challenge was to begin, and I accomplished that, so I’m happy.

Total Saved Week 1: $5.00

Goals for the Coming Week

My one main goal for the coming week will be to look through my old documents to see if I can locate all my bills for the last 12 months. If I can get these, then I have a base with which to compare what I pay for these utilities this year. This will allow me to determine if the methods I do to try to reduce my utilities work. I’m really not looking forward to searching for these as I don’t keep the neatest of records, but it’s important information to have, so it’ll be at the top of my list.

For those of you who are also doing this challenge, what was your first week savings amount? How are you feeling about the challenge thus far? If you blogged about your first week, please share the link.

10 Places to Find Lost Money at Home

March 5, 2013 By Danielle Warchol 19 Comments

There are a lot of places to look for coins when you are walking about outside. When there is a need to quickly find a few dollars, however, you may want to search in your house instead. Money sometimes gets stored for a later date and accidentally forgotten about. Other times, it simply gets misplaced. Whatever the cause, here are a few places to look around your house where you might find some extra money that you didn’t realize that you had:

Clothing

Have you ever done a load of laundry only to find spare change or dollar bills stuffed in the pockets of your jeans or sweatshirts? Or have you ever received change back at the store and stuck it in your pocket and then forgot all about it? If you’re trying to round-up spare money around your house, your clothing is one of the first places you should look.

Winter Coats

Winter clothing is also a good place to look for “forgotten” money. Have you ever pulled out your winter clothing and found spare change in the pockets? Sometimes when you’re putting away clothes for the season, you forget to clean the pockets out. It’s a good idea to check the clothes before you put them away. You never know what you might find. You might luck out and find $20 hidden away in one of your coat pockets!

Sock Drawer

Some people like to hide their money in their sock drawer. It seems like an archaic place to hide money, but some old habits are hard to break. Of course, some people tend to shove a roll of money to the back of the drawer and then forget about it entirely. If you’re looking for the money you know you’ve hidden somewhere in your apartment, check the back of your drawer to see if you placed it there and then forgot about it.

Couch Cushions

Have you ever taken a cushion off your couch only to find a pile of very strange items underneath? If you spend a lot of time on your couch or other cushioned furniture, it’s likely that money (or other items) have unknowingly become lodged between or underneath the cushions. If you’re trying to track down all the spare change in your apartment, take off your couch cushions and see if any money is hiding in your couch.

Washing Machine

You might not think the washing machine or dryer is a likely place to find forgotten money. However, if you have spare change or dollar bills hidden away in your clothing the money will most likely end up on the bottom of the washing machine. There are some people who just toss in and remove clothing from the washing machine or dryer without looking too closely at the interior of the machine. Also check under the machines as loose coins often find their way there as well.

Behind Picture Frames

One of the best places to hide money is behind picture frames. You might have once taped a $100 to the back or inside of a picture frame thinking it was a great hiding place. But more often than not, people tend to forget where they’ve hidden money, especially if it’s in an unusual place you don’t think about too much. After all, how many times do you move around pictures hanging on the wall or lining your bookshelf?

Underneath Furniture or Shelves

Just as money tends to become wedged between and underneath couch cushions, it also sometimes shows up underneath furniture. Check under your bed, couch, or heavy appliances such as refrigerators or washing machines to see if any spare change or loose bills are there. Additionally, some people also like to tape money underneath heavy furniture or on the underside of a shelf. Again, check to see if anything is taped there that you might have forgotten about.

Car

If you own a car, you probably know that sometimes money happens to fall underneath the seats or show up in random places. Cleaning out your car to try to find “forgotten” money might end up leaving you with a small pile of unexpected coins or bills.

Side Tables or Coffee Tables

Some of us have a habit of tossing something down on a side table or coffee table and forgetting about it until a day or two later. If your side tables are cluttered, cleaning up the mess could definitely help you find forgotten change and bills. After all, how many times have you decided to clean out your pockets, purse, wallet, backpack, or shopping bag and tossed the contents onto the table to sort later? All the spare change that sits at the bottom of those bags will probably end up on your side table.

Purses, Shopping Bags, and Backpacks

Of course, one of the best places to look for “forgotten” money is at the bottom of your purse, shopping bag, wallet, or backpack. As some of you may know, sometimes spare change ends up at the bottom of a bag instead of in a wallet or change purse. Or sometimes money is shoved into a small section of a backpack and forgotten about. Going through and searching your bags might end up showing you just how often you leave change or bills hanging about.

Wherever you find the money, you’ll want to put it someplace where the cash can both build up and be accessible. So consider a free checking account from USAA. USAA has a good reputation, strong customer service and typically offers competitive interest rates.

Are there other places around the house where you often find money that you had misplaced or forgotten about?

Stacking Will Cost You Money

September 10, 2012 By Jennifer Derrick 3 Comments

I stupidly volunteered to help a friend move this month. While I’m out of the heavy lifting business, I did offer to help her pack. In the process of getting her stuff together, we needed to excavate a coffee table. My friend is a “piler.” She has piles of stuff everywhere. In the kitchen, in her office, and on the coffee table. Things tend to look fairly clean because everything is stacked neatly, but when you really start excavating these piles you see that there is no organization. Unless you count, like a fossil record, the oldest stuff being on the bottom an organizational scheme. Rather than properly filing things and dealing with them as they come in, she simply stacks newer stuff on top of older stuff until it topples over. Or until she moves.

At first she just wanted to scrape it all off the table and into the trash. “I know there’s nothing in there I need,” she said. I said that we should at least make sure. When we started digging into these piles, I was amazed at the amount of “money” that we found. Some of it was too late to do anything about (expired coupons), but some of it was stuff that could still be used, or which was actually costing her money. We found:

Expired Coupons: “Oh, yeah, I meant to use that coupon for the oil change place, but it got lost so I just paid full price.”
Coupons That Were Still Good: At least we got a discount on the pizza we ordered so we could eat while we worked. The rest I convinced her to put on her fridge so she could see them.
An Forgotten Netflix Movie: “Yeah, I knew I was only down to the one checkout with them instead of the two on my plan, but I didn’t know where that other movie had gone to.”
An Overdue Library Book: Thankfully, our library caps overdue fines at $10 because otherwise this probably would have been at least $50 down the drain.
Five Store & Restaurant Gift Cards: “Yeah, people give me those for Christmas and birthdays but then I forget about them.”
Spare Change: We found $12.47 in spare change and bills stuffed in amongst the piles.
Unread Magazines: A subscription you never read is a waste of money. It’s an even bigger waste of money if you bought the magazines on the newsstand and never read them.
Unpaid Bills: “Huh. I wondered why the water company charged me a late fee two months ago and threatened to cancel my service. I could have sworn I paid that.”
Uncashed Checks: A few more birthday and Christmas presents that never got taken to the bank. “Woo-hoo. Now I can pay for the moving van!”
Stamps: “Yeah, I thought I had some but I couldn’t find them so I bought more.”
Assorted Statements: Health insurance statements, bank statements, investment statements, and credit card statements were all in the piles, most of them unopened. “I just never see the point of really looking at those things. I’d know if something was wrong.” Uh-huh.

After we were finished excavating the coffee table, my friend moved on to her office where more of the same was uncovered. I don’t know exactly how much “money” — both lost and found — she ultimately uncovered, but it wasn’t an insignificant amount. She’s vowed that from now on she will be more careful. It might last, but I kind of doubt it.

The moral of this story is twofold. First, if you tend to pile things up, take some time today to excavate your piles. You might be surprised at how much money you have literally left, “on the table.” Second, even if you’re not a piler, take the time to get organized. Find a solution that works for you and deal with things as they come in. That way, you’ll always know where things are and be able to use them before they expire, incur fees, or become lost.

(Photo courtesy of hashmil)

The Moral Dilemma of Found Cash

December 5, 2011 By Jennifer Derrick 4 Comments

Two weeks ago I had to make an emergency trip to the home improvement store to buy a replacement part for my toilet. The home improvement store shares a strip mall with another big box store and several smaller stores. I parked between the big box store and the home improvement place since that seemed the least congested and I just wanted to get the trip over with.

Anyway, when I stepped out of the car I found $200 in cash lying on the ground. I’m sure someone had it in their pocket and then dragged it out when they pulled out their keys or cell phone. It was two $100 bills folded up together with no identification. No shopping list, no ATM slip, nothing. No one else was getting into or out of cars in the immediate area, so I couldn’t ask if anyone had dropped it or seen anyone leaving my space.

Amazed at my luck, I sat back down in the car to think things through for a few minutes. Had there been any identification or even just a phone number there would have been no question about what to do next: I would have found a way to return it. But since cash is effectively untraceable, I had a dilemma on my hands.

Since I’d parked between two stores, with some smaller stores also occupying the shopping center, I had no way of knowing which store(s) the owner of the cash went into. That sort of let out giving it to a lost and found department. If I gave it to the home improvement place but the owner went only to the big box store, he or she would likely never go into the home store to inquire about the lost money, and vice versa. Factor in the smaller stores and the wind and the breeze generated by passing cars that might have pushed the money from one end of the parking lot to the other and it becomes almost impossible to figure out where the person might have intended to shop. Plus, when you turn in cash to a lost and found you’re assuming that the employees will actually hold it to see if anyone claims it, instead of keeping it for themselves.

Eventually I decided to go into the two big stores and give my name and number to the managers on duty. I simply told them that I’d found a large amount of cash in the parking lot and if anyone came looking for it to have them call me and identify how much they’d lost. I decided to wait a week and see what happened.

I didn’t know what else to do. Usually I find pennies, dimes, the occasional dollar or, once, a twenty dollar bill. Those sorts of finds are pretty easy to say, “I’ll just keep it.” But $200 is a lot of money, especially during the Christmas season. I knew someone was going to be really upset that they’d lost it, but I didn’t have any real ideas about what else to do.

After thinking some more, I called the police station to see if they had any ideas or if they could hold it in case someone called to claim it. They said that they really don’t get involved with lost property unless it’s a “substantial amount of cash” (thousands of dollars), or if it is identifiable in some way (like a ring, wallet, or a watch). It’s a big city, so I guess they just don’t have time to deal with small stuff.

A week went by and no one called me to ask about the money. I decided the money was mine to keep at that point. Lost is lost and no amount of wandering around the city on my part was going to find the owner. Who knows if the person was even from the area or just passing through. I still hated the idea of keeping the money, so ultimately I gave it all to one of my favorite local charities. At least someone is going to benefit from the money this Christmas.

I still wonder if I made the right choice, but I still don’t know what else I could have done. I feel better that I didn’t keep it and spend it on something frivolous, but it still bugs me that someone, somewhere, is out $200.

This little moral dilemma of mine makes me want to offer one suggestion to my readers. If you are carrying large amounts of cash, make sure to keep it in a wallet or envelope with identification, put a sticky note on it with your information, or in some other way make sure it can get back to you. You may not get it back because some people will still keep something that has a name printed on it. But you will make things easier for people like me who genuinely want to give your money back.

(Photo courtesy of quinn.anya)