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Original poster

Unusual ways you have gained money

70 replies

DionneB · 16/10/2018 23:11

as we have had the one about money you lost , what about money gained?

i once entered a tombola and won £2 in a jar,

on a train once , a man randomly gave me £40

OP posts:

SandysMam · 17/10/2018 20:40

I got paid £10 to eat a really hot chilli once!

Doubletrouble99 · 17/10/2018 20:47

Last year I was at a rugby club as DS was a ball boy. They have weekly raffle so I bought a ticket. I won £240 we were off on holiday to Skye so it paid for our spends. The year before we were abroad and DS found a 50 euro note in the sand at the playpark outside our apartment.

NameChanger22 · 17/10/2018 20:53

I've found money lots of times, at least 30 times. Usually £5 or £20 notes. The most I ever found was nearly £200. I never take it to the police as it doesn't have a name on it, but I do sometimes give it other people or the homeless.

Yesitwasmethistime · 17/10/2018 20:58

I think PPI was the best one. Convinced I didn’t have any and thankfully haven’t had loans for a long time but filled out the form on my bank’s website just in case.

DH and I got £4.5k between us for loans they found in the 1990s!!

New furniture and help towards a holiday there

YorkshireLawyer · 17/10/2018 20:59

I once received an envelope in the post containing a cheque for £10,000 made out in my name. Completely baffled, when I read the front of the envelope I realised that it was for someone who had the same name as me with a similar address but in the next town. I forwarded it on, never got so much as a thank you note from the real recipient!

Dontknowwhatwillmakeitbetter · 17/10/2018 20:59

When I was 21 I went on holiday with a friend to a place popular with the rich and famous. She liked chatting up rich men and we got invited out to a very expensive restaurant with a Saudi Prince and his right hand man. At the end of the night (after trying it on with both of us but getting nowhere!) his bodyguard handed us each a roll of notes. We did protest (weakly ) but eventually took it. When we counted it in the taxi it was the equivalent of £1500 EACH!!!

AhAgain · 17/10/2018 21:03

This reply has been withdrawn

This has been withdrawn by MNHQ at the poster's request.

NapoleonsNose · 17/10/2018 21:11

£1600 from a deceased cousin of my Granny's who died intestate. I'd never even heard of her and was tracked down by one of those heir hunting firms.

nextdoorscatwantstomovein · 17/10/2018 21:16

Stepmum and I found £140 in a car park, folded up as if it had fallen out of pocket. We handed it in at police station, nobody claimed it so had a very nice £70 each to spend!

RB68 · 17/10/2018 21:29

In 1994/5 I remember my Fiancee telling me he had fees on his bank account - I said whatever for - he said oh its a student account but they wouldn't let me have the overdraft without some insurance thing. Hmm I said thats not right how can you have to pay for insurance when you don't even have a job for them to cover the loss of earnings - one letter later we got 2.5k back - must have been v early days of PPI.

Other time was in Las Vegas - I had $5 of coins in a cup and was playing slots and won around $350 - that was around 2000 so basically it paid all expenses for our 5 day super bargain £400 for the two of us holiday!!!

RB68 · 17/10/2018 21:29

Must be due another lucky find soon....

MorningsEleven · 17/10/2018 21:32

I won £500 in a work lottery. I spent it on a new bed.

CorBlimeyGovenor · 17/10/2018 21:36

My cat once caught a £5 note and bought it up to me in bed one morning. I was so proud of her. Sadly she only did it the once.

AnneElliott · 17/10/2018 21:37

Napoleon - can I be nosy and ask what percentage the heir hunters get? I love that program but they very carefully don't say how much they get!

CarrieBlu · 17/10/2018 21:45

Found 50 euros that had been dropped on the ground outside the Porsche garage in Monaco. Then went to Subway and someone else had dropped 20 euros on the floor there too.

TheLesserOfTwoWeevils · 17/10/2018 21:57

I once took £40 out of a cash point in the wall of a bank and the notes came out with an extra £20 note folded up in between them. I guess it got caught up in the machine. The bank was closed (Sunday) so I couldn't take it back and I was visiting that city so wouldn't be back near that branch for a while. I planned to pop in to my local branch but...erm...'forgot'

dragonsteeth · 17/10/2018 22:51

Qatar airlines paid me £2700 when we were delayed by six hours at Doha airport this summer. (I'd had only paid £1800 for return flights to malaysia for the whole family in the first place)

Utter pissed off-ness gave way to scenes of jubilation as I realised the delay was going to net us in excess of £500 an hour.

Given the twattish comments of CEO of Qatar earlier in the year saying women can't run airlines, I didn't feel the slightest twang of guilt claiming the compensation from them.

cookingteaforsix · 18/10/2018 00:15

I once found about £15 in change scattered on some deserted beach sand dunes in 1978.

It was a small fortune to a 9 year old.

I (much) later realised it was probably due to people 'rolling about' in the sand dunes.

It was in silver change and I very excitedly filled my plastic bucket. It was put into a savings account.

Skittlesandbeer · 18/10/2018 00:36

5 years after our dad passed away, my siblings and I were finally throwing out the mountain of paperwork & office docs from his estate. My eagle-eyed bro double-checked 2 identical life insurance docs before tossing.

Turns out they were different policies (one number different, in a string as long as your arm!). A few phone calls later, we discovered we had about £6500 each owing to us!

A very nice surprise after a difficult & exhausting 5 years of accounting & legal nightmares that dad left behind.

HemlockStarglimmer · 18/10/2018 00:41

I found a pay packet years ago with about £70 in it. (More than I earned a week back then). The envelope was torn and the name illegible.
I handed in to the police station.
My then boyfriend had a go at me for not keeping it.
But I had the last laugh as it wasn't claimed. So I was £70 richer and have a clear conscience.

QuestionableMouse · 18/10/2018 00:46

I got £60 from the daily mail after they used a pic I posted on here.

user1471553214 · 18/10/2018 01:44

I found a massive roll of notes on the floor in a diy shop a while ago, in an elastic band. Must have been many hundreds. I handed it in, hoping the shop staff would do the moral thing if it wasn’t claimed. Carried on shopping and a couple of minutes later a buildery type found me and thanked me. He peeled off a note and offered it as thanks and I refused.
So, er...actually I didn’t come into any money

flumpybear · 18/10/2018 03:05

Found £20 note in a pile of leaves in my garden once!
Also got paid twice by accident - I had worked for them as a temp briefly one month - the third month I got the same amount again I fessed up .... otherwise I'd still be paid now im sure 20 years later

sansouci · 18/10/2018 03:47

I found 10p on the ground yesterday.

Wellthatsit · 18/10/2018 05:59

Found a wallet with just shy of £1000 in it. Handed to police who traced the owner; the owner then left me £100 reward.

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