My best tip is to look in the washing machine and clothes dryer. The rule in my house is that I get to keep anything I find in the laundry. This does not seem to make anyone ever want to check their pockets even though I make sure gloat about my finds. This tatic would probably work well in a laundromat!

A $20 on the sidewalk is a different matter...

I found a $20 bill two months ago about 20 feet away from a bum who was begging for change. I chuckled to myself as I put tht bill into my back pocket as I was walking by him.

@domesticdork: Nope. The $100 bill is actually the most counterfeited bill. But it depends on your goals. If you want to escape notice, you'd never print anything over a $10, because $20s and up are commonly checked by retail workers. If you're trying to get rich illicitly by turning the bills into real money though, you go big.

That's worth $30 in funny money, fyi.

When I worked at a water park, we would scan the bottom of the slides at the end of the day. If someone decided there was enough money in there to compensate for being soaking wet, they'd jump in. Usually got at least $5 out of it. Canada does have $1 and $2 coins after all.

We'd also find jewelry, hair accessories, retainers, keys, sunglasses, prescription glasses, and so on. Not so fun for us, but people appreciated it.

@skc15: Doesn't the money you pay to fly to Munich make it pointles.... oh wait, I see...

[www.marlerclark.com]

We live about a hundred yards from a long peninsular beach, and there are a couple of guys who patrol it after hours with metal detectors. I figure they must be finding *something* because they keep coming back.

Parking lots are great change-finding places, especially in early morning or late afternoon when the slanting sunlight picks out anything metallic on the asphalt. (I find all kinds of loose change when walking the dog...)

Definitely good karma there.

WHenever I was in like 4th grade I used to go to the car wash and pick up change. Usually get like 2 dollars everytime, enough to get candy. Back then they didn't have all the automated ones at every gas station that take credit either. I think only about 3 of the old fashioned ones in my city are left and if I went to those parts of town I'd probably end up losing money from being robbed.

It was in an envolope, so i handed it in to reception, then the guy came back for it, and gave me 20 quid. Seemed like it was drug money, but u never know for sure.

@wesrubix:

What about a "poo dollar"?

[www.urbandictionary.com]

I know the fast foot playground ball-pit is going the way of the dinosaur, but back in the day that was a lock for quarters. Stand in the middle, jump up and down a few times, then reach in and among the discarded french fries was always a handful of change.

Filthy, filthy, glorious change.

I cant imagine how long it took them to find over $1,000 in coins.

Even when I was TRYING to find as many modern coins possible(in my metal detecting hobby) I could only manage to find a little over $100 in coins during one year's time.

But there are old retired guys out there who can find that much in a month or so.

And yes.... I will pick up any coin from the street. Over the years I have found several pieces of jewelry (Gold diamond ring, siver bracelete etc. etc.), by looking at the ground as I walk.

Once I found a waterproof tube, designed to keep your valuables around your neck while you swam, in one of the filters. Inside was $150 and a watch. Turned it in to the park office. Three days later, it remained unclaimed, and I had myself a nice windfall.

At that park I also worked the walk-through haunted house. That was a great place for lost swag. We kept a collection in the back room of all the sunglasses lost and unclaimed over the summer. We'd throw out close to 100 pair a year (after keeping the good ones).

I will also pick up dropped MetroCards. I have probably had better luck with MetroCards though. A couple weeks ago I found one on the ground on Livingston Street with $11 on it.

I open it up and it was a few $1's and then the mother load...$200 in various denominations. :D

As of late, I find change in supermaket parking lot's,etc.
I save it and then bring it to Commerce Bank.

That goes for my : I want to buy a guitar pedal (I don't play the guitar but I use the pedals for my circuit bent toys) or I use the few dollars to buy parts (resistors,potentiometers,etc).

Hey, it adds up!

$10 on the top of an escalator at my job. I was all "ha-ha! Lunch!"

But yeah, I pick up any money I find. I've probably found around $100 in BILLS in the last 15 years.

Once my sister found $85 on the floor of a convenience store. We were psyched...until we found out our mom had dropped it. Mom was happy, though.

I find change all the time while running. I usually won't stop a run to pick it up unless it's a quarter (or more). I decided, though, that I'd keep everything I find in 2009 in jar, just to see how much I can collect. But so far this year I've found nothing.

Oh, and about finding $$ in clothes at Goodwill. About 3 years ago I donated a bunch of clothes...and about a week later found out my husband and left a very $$$ watch in the pocket of one of the sport jackets. If you know anything about it, there's a reward waiting!

@IH8M_SteveDave: Hey! You're Jersey-shore rich!

Too bad you didn't find a bottle of Brut.

I ignore change since I'm out for the big loot!

But I do put all of my change into a jar at the end of the day and I'm always surprised by how much I've saved in change over a year. I typically end up rolling a few hundred dollars in change each year.

I found $20 outside a movie theater, $10 at an outdoor concert festival, and $5 at a pet store not too long ago. Two instances of $1 within a week or so on the same block in Chicago, and countless coins.

My husband used to be very annoyed that I look down when I walk, but I do it because I have a bad ankle, and stepping on even a twig the wrong way can end up in a nasty sprain. But now as I look down, I'm always searching, and after that $100 he doesn't seem to be too bothered by it anymore ;)

There's an older man at our church who does this. He takes a walk to McD's to get a senior coffee. His goal is to at least find enough change to pay for the coffee, but he usually finds more.

While I don't go hunting for change, I do pick it up when I see it. Then I state "a penny closer to my first million". I save all my change and end up with a hundred bucks or so...sometimes I donate it to Relay for Life, sometimes take the family to dinner, movie or whatever.

You take whatever entertainment you can get when you've lowered yourself to retail work.

And no I don't care about the interest I may have lost by putting it in the bank. So don't go there.

I actually have kept track of this kind of stuff for the last couple of years. In a good year, I'm finding about $300. I was doing the walking for exercise, the money was a bonus. Early morning is much better for bills right along the curb (I live in a dense suburban area with colleges and plenty of multifamily houses). I know I've found $30 at once.

I won't do as well now as I drive to work rather than take the subway. People always drop stuff in the subway, including monthly passes. Also check out the candy boxes right underneath the registers (usually in drug stores). Lots of quarters and sometimes a bill or gift card.

Don't forget to check out the bill slots at the grocery self-service. I found $100 once (but I turned that in--honest).

Most that I have ever found was 20 bucks at the bottom of the wave pool at a wet'n'wild. But have thats was alot of money for a kid in the 6th grade.

@IH8M_SteveDave: IM GOING TO PISTOL WHIP THE NEXT GUY THAT SAYS SHENANIGANS //// FARVA whats that place you like to go all the time? (OOO shenanigans!?)

Seriously, we're going to criticize people for this?!

On the way out of the store, we found $10 in the parking lot! Instant reward for us.

@pb5000: I buy my meals during the day with cash instead of card and save the change. In a year I saved over $200 in change. I'm not a big fan of those "keep the change" programs because it seems like there are more effective ways of saving your own money, but stuff like that really adds up.

a friend of mine kept their tip money in a styrofoam cup. After a long, bad, day they made it much worse by leaving it on the roof of their car before driving away.

On the plus side, some change hunter just made a couple hundred dollars.

Once, while waiting in line at Goodwill, I spotted about $40 near the register. I'd seen it fall out of the pocket of whoever was in front of me, but she left before I could give it to her. So I handed the money to the cashier, who said that if no one claimed it in a week, it was mine.

A few days later, I called 'em to see what happened. Turns out that I shouldn't have turned it in... while the woman came back for the money, if she didn't, the store would've considered it a donation, so the cashier told me that in the future, I should just pocket the money. Hmph.

@nytmare: Superstition be damned, I would take the 2 tailed pennies with me.

@floraposte:

It came across my mind to keep it.. but i am glad i didnt. About a month later i lost my wallet at a concert with 4 sets of tickets to different concerts in it and about 200 dollars or so... somebody turned it in without taking a dime. made me a believer in what goes around comes around.

My mom found $800 on a cruise ship once. It was under the little rubber mat inside the room safe. She turned it in, but no one claimed it in 4 weeks (their standard waiting period) so she got to keep it.

I found a $20 once on an arcade machine. But I was gullible then, and my friend convinced me to give him 10 of it.

Last year I decided to keep a tally of how much I was collecting.

My tally for for 2008: $85.30

I found a $20 on the ground in a parking lot. I kinda felt bad picking it up, but it made up for the $20 I lost as an 8 year old.

*APPLAUSE*

When I was a kid I found about $80 rolled up on the floor of a dinner. It wasn't until I started waiting tables that I clued in that those were tips. I felt like crap once it dawned on me. :(

I found $26 on the floor at a Lynyrd Skynyrd concert once. I pick up change, but I am superstitious and wont pick up a penny unless its "heads" up. I will, however, stop and flip it over "heads" up so that the next person who comes along CAN pick it up with no ill effects.

Those fake bills make me think of Moe in an episode of The Simpsons. He's in a parking lot standing by his car, telling everyone passing by that he's not leaving. Carl drives by, asks him what he is doing, he replies "You know that moment when you get someone's hopes up and kill it? I feed on that."

@Hooray4Zoidberg: I use CoinStar too. I usually save up until I get a quart-bag or so's worth, then trade it in and buy something.

I enjoyed spending that found money greatly.

I always pick up found change. Goes in the trip jug.

I found a folded $100 bill at a football game once. I picked it up and opened it I realized I had been duped into picking up a religious tract.

Boo-hiss!

@backbroken: haha, well done

How long did it take her to collect the $1k? If it was a few months, fine. But if it's several years... meh.

Forget the ground. We just collected about $85 from my husband's desk!

I found over 2000 dollars once, but it was in a purse that someone lost. Took awhile to track down the owner cause it was a poor german immigrant that just came to the states. Turned out that money was there savings. I felt pretty good about returning it.

I thought that was pretty cool.

They should've ended the piece with "....and then I found 5 dollars"

I found a whole bunch of change at the local 7-11 (some paper money too!) It was sitting in a box right next to the register...hard to believe I was the first one to spot it! I think people were distracted by the picture of the cute kid right next to the box.

However, I hope one day to make so much money that in the time it takes to stoop and pick up a quarter, I make more than a quarter.

Go to a lazy river at any water park. I used to go through these wearing goggles and scooping up change when I was a kid - occassionally even a fluttering bill.

I assumed they were probably counterfeit, but they passed just fine when I eventually spent them.

Best score was finding a $5 bill on a shelf of shoes at a Payless when I was about 7.