Author Topic: I found $1!  (Read 10337 times)

solon

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I found $1!
« on: August 28, 2015, 08:32:15 AM »
I was walking down the street, looked down, and there it was! A one-dollar bill, in decent condition. It quickly disappeared into my pocket. Does that count as badass?

forummm

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Re: I found $1!
« Reply #1 on: August 28, 2015, 08:52:22 AM »
I got mailed $1 by JD Power as enticement to complete their survey. I kept the dollar! (and filled out the survey)

Two9A

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Re: I found $1!
« Reply #2 on: August 28, 2015, 10:05:06 AM »
I got mailed $1 by JD Power as enticement to complete their survey. I kept the dollar! (and filled out the survey)
Some would say that ended up as a low marginal hourly rate, since it took you more than a few minutes to fill the survey.

I'd say "screw it, free money". Good job!

FIRE me

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Re: I found $1!
« Reply #3 on: August 28, 2015, 10:36:26 AM »
I was walking down the street, looked down, and there it was! A one-dollar bill, in decent condition. It quickly disappeared into my pocket. Does that count as badass?

I once found five $100 bills in an envelope. Which I had stashed earlier in my own house, and then forgot about. What a mix of luck, stupidity, and forgetfulness that was.

forummm

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Re: I found $1!
« Reply #4 on: August 28, 2015, 10:53:13 AM »
I got mailed $1 by JD Power as enticement to complete their survey. I kept the dollar! (and filled out the survey)
Some would say that ended up as a low marginal hourly rate, since it took you more than a few minutes to fill the survey.

I'd say "screw it, free money". Good job!

I normally hate surveys, but this was about the Leaf and I felt it should get honest feedback so that people know what a great car it is. And it only took me about 5 minutes. It's equivalent to $20/hour before taxes which is OK for unskilled work at home.

solon

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Re: I found $1!
« Reply #5 on: August 28, 2015, 12:18:49 PM »
I keep a jar on my dresser where I put all the money I have found since the beginning of the year. I just thought it would be fun to see how much money I find in a year.

HipGnosis

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Re: I found $1!
« Reply #6 on: August 28, 2015, 12:32:44 PM »
This thread reminds me of the radio ads running for a local credit union.

Their 'tag line' is: With the money I'm saving on fees with XX C.U., I can afford to upgrade.  But all the upgrades they give as examples are about $1; supersize a combo meal,  see a movie in 3D vs 2D...

Fishindude

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Re: I found $1!
« Reply #7 on: August 28, 2015, 12:49:24 PM »
Was mowing the yard last week and saw something shoot out of the mower deck .... oh shit, that's money !
Shut off the mower and pretty quickly found five pieces of bills that put together made two 20 dollar bills.   Hooray !
Looks around a bit more, but no more to be found.

Painter has been working at the house and parked near where I found it, so figured the right thing to do would be to ask him if he'd lost any money.  His immediate response, was "Yes, I lost two twenty dollar bills the other day".   Since he knew the exact amount and number of bills, it was obviously his, so I told him congratulations, it's your lucky day, and gave him his money.   

Up to him to take to the bank and exchange for bills in one piece. :)

MakingSenseofCents

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Re: I found $1!
« Reply #8 on: August 28, 2015, 04:12:57 PM »
Great job! I found $20 on the sidewalk the other day :)

Dollar Slice

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Re: I found $1!
« Reply #9 on: August 28, 2015, 07:29:02 PM »
The absolute only time I will buy a lottery ticket is if I find enough money on the ground to pay for it. I figure: it's clearly my lucky day, and it's not really my money, so let's roll the dice.

I once found five $100 bills in an envelope. Which I had stashed earlier in my own house, and then forgot about. What a mix of luck, stupidity, and forgetfulness that was.
I did something similar when I was traveling abroad somewhere - stashed a few hundred bucks of emergency cash in a secret compartment in my suitcase, then forgot about it for a long time after I came home. I was going on another trip maybe two years later and used that suitcase again, and found it. Obviously this was before I was using budgeting software or I would have wondered where that money disappeared to...

okits

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Re: I found $1!
« Reply #10 on: August 28, 2015, 08:24:42 PM »
Free money is free money!  Good for you!  :)

Bob W

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Re: I found $1!
« Reply #11 on: August 29, 2015, 10:10:54 AM »
My son loves arcades.  He crawls on the floor and finds money.    He is 8.  Usually more than 50 cents.

forummm

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Re: I found $1!
« Reply #12 on: August 29, 2015, 04:25:58 PM »
My son loves arcades.  He crawls on the floor and finds money.    He is 8.  Usually more than 50 cents.

I did that all the time when I was a kid. I probably saved up a few hundred bucks from it.

choppingwood

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Re: I found $1!
« Reply #13 on: August 29, 2015, 04:42:08 PM »
Was mowing the yard last week and saw something shoot out of the mower deck .... oh shit, that's money !
Shut off the mower and pretty quickly found five pieces of bills that put together made two 20 dollar bills.   Hooray !
Looks around a bit more, but no more to be found.

Painter has been working at the house and parked near where I found it, so figured the right thing to do would be to ask him if he'd lost any money.  His immediate response, was "Yes, I lost two twenty dollar bills the other day".   Since he knew the exact amount and number of bills, it was obviously his, so I told him congratulations, it's your lucky day, and gave him his money.   

Up to him to take to the bank and exchange for bills in one piece. :)

Good karma for you. ;)

Cathy

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Re: I found $1!
« Reply #14 on: August 29, 2015, 11:33:54 PM »
Make sure that you include the $1 in gross income on your tax return, being as it is an "undeniable accession[] to wealth, clearly realized, and over which the taxpayer[] ha[s] complete dominion". Commissioner v. Glenshaw Glass Co., 348 US 426, 431 (1955). See also 26 USC § 61(a).

Now, you might say, assuming that the $1 was merely lost as opposed to abandoned, your title to it cannot be defended against the true owner and if she should reappear, you would be obligated to return the money. In light of that fact, have you really realised an accession to wealth? It turns out the answer is "yes", you have, because it does not matter whether your title is good against the whole world; "[q]uestions of federal income taxation are not determined by such 'attenuated subtleties'". James v. United States, 366 US 213, 216 (1961) (internal citation omitted). Indeed, "in the absence of [an] unlikely ... demand for the money's return, [the taxpayer] could enjoy its use as fully as though his title to it were unassailable". Rutkin v. United States, 343 US 130, 136 (1952).
« Last Edit: August 29, 2015, 11:44:49 PM by Cathy »

mendoman

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Re: I found $1!
« Reply #15 on: August 29, 2015, 11:42:28 PM »
Its amazing how much money I find out walking or riding my bike.  All those coins add up.  I ride my bike through a parking lot at a pizza place and find all kinds of money.  I think people walk out at night fish through their pockets for their car keys and paper bills and coins fall out on the ground.  I like the idea of a jar to keep track about how much you can find in one year.

JAYSLOL

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Re: I found $1!
« Reply #16 on: August 30, 2015, 05:04:25 AM »

I was walking down the street, looked down, and there it was! A one-dollar bill, in decent condition. It quickly disappeared into my pocket. Does that count as badass?

It does if you make a point to invest it.

bobechs

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Re: I found $1!
« Reply #17 on: August 30, 2015, 01:08:52 PM »

I was walking down the street, looked down, and there it was! A one-dollar bill, in decent condition. It quickly disappeared into my pocket. Does that count as badass?

It does if you make a point to invest it.

In the state lottery.

solon

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Re: I found $1!
« Reply #18 on: August 30, 2015, 01:12:26 PM »
Based on mendoman's word, I went out early this morning and combed several fast-food parking lots near here. Found 7 more cents!

I'll invest it all at the end of the year.

JAYSLOL

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Re: I found $1!
« Reply #19 on: August 30, 2015, 01:49:20 PM »
I do landscaping and find the occasional coin, but mostly i find cans and bottles which usually add up to around $40 or $50 over the 9 month season.

mr_orange

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Re: I found $1!
« Reply #20 on: August 30, 2015, 02:14:18 PM »
Impossible.  The market would have already optimized for that dollar.  There is no chance you could find one laying around. 

marty998

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Re: I found $1!
« Reply #21 on: August 30, 2015, 03:13:34 PM »
Impossible.  The market would have already optimized for that dollar.  There is no chance you could find one laying around. 

Thats an old economist joke... there's no point to an economist picking up a $20 note he sees on the ground, because logically someone else has already beat him to it.

(Various reasons - theories on competition, efficient markets etc).

Debts_of_Despair

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Re: I found $1!
« Reply #22 on: August 30, 2015, 05:29:30 PM »
I've found  a $20 bill more than once.  Wife found $100 once.  :)

forummm

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Re: I found $1!
« Reply #23 on: August 30, 2015, 07:48:47 PM »
I don't think I've ever found more than a buck. One time I found half a $5 bill, but only had 1 serial number on that half so it was worthless.

DCKatie09

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Re: I found $1!
« Reply #24 on: August 30, 2015, 07:55:15 PM »
We found $40 at the gas station - pretty sure the woman ahead of us dropped it, and I felt a little guilty taking it, but also was pretty sure she wasn't going to come back for it...

Kimchi Bleu

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Re: I found $1!
« Reply #25 on: August 31, 2015, 10:40:20 AM »
My MIL constantly finds change when we are at the store.  I've taken up the habit of looking for coins when I'm out and about.  I think I've only found a few bills when I've been out and about.

3Mer

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Re: I found $1!
« Reply #26 on: September 04, 2015, 07:23:45 AM »
I keep a jar on my dresser where I put all the money I have found since the beginning of the year. I just thought it would be fun to see how much money I find in a year.
Love this idea!

Melf

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Re: I found $1!
« Reply #27 on: September 04, 2015, 12:30:24 PM »
I quite often find cash while doing the laundry.  Unfortunately it's always out of my girlfriends pockets so I give it back to her.  I did find a quarter on the golf course today though.  I'm keeping that!

Dicey

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Re: I found $1!
« Reply #28 on: September 04, 2015, 01:32:21 PM »
Katy over at The Non Consumer Advocate is the queen of found money. Here is just one of many mentions on that topic. Great blog for this and many other reasons. Check it out!

http://thenonconsumeradvocate.com/the-found-change-challenge-total-for-2014-was/

WerKater

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Re: I found $1!
« Reply #29 on: September 04, 2015, 01:35:13 PM »
I got mailed $1 by JD Power as enticement to complete their survey. I kept the dollar! (and filled out the survey)
Some would say that ended up as a low marginal hourly rate, since it took you more than a few minutes to fill the survey.

I'd say "screw it, free money". Good job!

I normally hate surveys, but this was about the Leaf and I felt it should get honest feedback so that people know what a great car it is. And it only took me about 5 minutes. It's equivalent to $20/hour before taxes which is OK for unskilled work at home.
Your hours have 100 minutes? Now that's badass ;)

forummm

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Re: I found $1!
« Reply #30 on: September 04, 2015, 01:46:18 PM »
I got mailed $1 by JD Power as enticement to complete their survey. I kept the dollar! (and filled out the survey)
Some would say that ended up as a low marginal hourly rate, since it took you more than a few minutes to fill the survey.

I'd say "screw it, free money". Good job!

I normally hate surveys, but this was about the Leaf and I felt it should get honest feedback so that people know what a great car it is. And it only took me about 5 minutes. It's equivalent to $20/hour before taxes which is OK for unskilled work at home.
Your hours have 100 minutes? Now that's badass ;)
No, but I do get taxed on my income, so $20 of salary becomes ~$12 after taxes.

Toronto Thirtysomething

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Re: I found $1!
« Reply #31 on: September 05, 2015, 05:10:52 AM »
I was pulling some old loyalty cards out of my wallet and looked in a back pocket I never use and found $43 US dollars stashed in there from a trip to Boston three years ago. Pretty sure I had said something along the lines of "I'll hang on to these for the next trip or at least wait until the exchange rate goes back down" because the dollar would have been around par at that point, but I'd totally forgotten it was in there. Well lo and behold the dollar is down now, so I took it in to the bank last weekend and got about $55 for it. Woohoo!

druth

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Re: I found $1!
« Reply #32 on: September 08, 2015, 02:02:02 PM »
Most I have found was 5$, not very exciting.  My grandparents once found a 200$ macys gift card in a parking lot though.  They tried to return it but Macys said their was no registration system so no way to know whose it was, so they got to have it. woo!

Ricky

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Re: I found $1!
« Reply #33 on: September 09, 2015, 06:50:51 AM »
I got mailed $1 by JD Power as enticement to complete their survey. I kept the dollar! (and filled out the survey)
Some would say that ended up as a low marginal hourly rate, since it took you more than a few minutes to fill the survey.

I'd say "screw it, free money". Good job!

I normally hate surveys, but this was about the Leaf and I felt it should get honest feedback so that people know what a great car it is. And it only took me about 5 minutes. It's equivalent to $20/hour before taxes which is OK for unskilled work at home.
Your hours have 100 minutes? Now that's badass ;)
No, but I do get taxed on my income, so $20 of salary becomes ~$12 after taxes.

$1 for 5 minutes of work is $12/hr, not $20 :P

Kimchi Bleu

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Re: I found $1!
« Reply #34 on: September 09, 2015, 07:30:41 AM »
I was pulling some old loyalty cards out of my wallet and looked in a back pocket I never use and found $43 US dollars stashed in there from a trip to Boston three years ago. Pretty sure I had said something along the lines of "I'll hang on to these for the next trip or at least wait until the exchange rate goes back down" because the dollar would have been around par at that point, but I'd totally forgotten it was in there. Well lo and behold the dollar is down now, so I took it in to the bank last weekend and got about $55 for it. Woohoo!

Very nice!  Once found a $50 bill in a pocket.  Had tucked it away and hadn't worn the item in years.  I was getting ready to donate it and searched the pockets before I did.

 

Wow, a phone plan for fifteen bucks!