You hear me use the term “found money” a lot. But what exactly is found money?
- Found money is money you literally found. Like a quarter on the ground or a dollar in the dryer.
- Found money is money you didn’t know you were going to receive – like a refund check, a gift, etc.
- Found money is a discount you were given when you expected to pay full price (the difference goes into the fund).
- Found money is the difference between what you budgeted for and what you actually paid .
- Found money is money you intended to spend and resisted. (If you were headed out the door to spend $3 on a coffee and resisted at the last minute, you could put that $3 in the fund because it would of been spent!)
- Found money is money you received for returning an item you bought with the previous week’s budget
I could go on and on and on. Found money is anything that you want it to be!
Be sure to check out all the ways you can add to your fund as you Coupon to Disney!
{ 25 comments… read them below or add one }
Found money for me is finding money on the ground. Last week I found a five dollar bill by the trash can!
Awesome! :)
I love the idea of found money!! I also include what is left out of out bi-weekly budget as “found” money.
I loved that last line as an explanation :) B4 Christmas I had ordered a pj set from kohls that had 2 pairs in it. Well, 1 set showed up but it was missing the other half. After several calls to kohls they assured me I’d receive the missing parts- but then I got an email saying that they were out of stock and were refunding my money to my card. So that $17 refund I immediately transferred to my Disney fund :)
Good deal! :)
Well then I guess I just “found” $263. Just got a yearly statement in the mail from our maintenance company and somehow we have a $263 credit! :) that’s pretty cool! That with the 2 day Disney tickets we have from our last trip (we haven’t used them yet) will renew 2 of our 5 passes!
That is awesome! Great find. ;)
A year ago I started picking up ANY spare change I saw, even a penny in a parking lot. I also have been trying to work on a cash only basis for shopping. Any loose change I have at the end of the day goes into a jar. I will also stick a dollar bill in if it is the only one left in my wallet. I just counted my jar and it’s up to $60. I was tempted to spend it but decided to carry it over for another year. I call it my retirement fund.
I’ve been using the rebates for found money. I love that picture of your daughter. Did you put on a hat for each country you visited. We want to do that sometime.
I found a penny today on the lunchroom floor. In my pocket it went. Any money found in the dryer goes in the Disney fund. I can figure who it belongs to. But, their carelessness is our Disney gain!
I do the same thing with dryer money, if I find it, I drop it into our Disney penny bank (that I won here!).
I made a single exception for my husband because he left the cash we saved for new tires in his pocket one day. I would have loved have the extra 900.00 in the Disney fund but we wouldn’t have been able to drive there, lol. :)
That’s hilarious about the tires!
I was sitting at home dreaming of our disney vacation and ways to save money (I am a stay at home mom of 2 kids, ages 7 and 3) So on one income, I was racking my brain for ideas, and here is what I had, as Oprah calls it, her-ah-ha..moment. We live 3 miles from Oregon, on the border in Idaho…well Oregon is a state that recycles.you turn in your items for 5 cent refund… I have been keeping all, cans, glass bottles, & plastic water bottles that are stamped with the recycle signature on the item.. ( along with friends and family’s help saving too ).It was a slow start, but since July of 2009, we have saved over $150.00, of what I call FREE money, it takes a little time and effort, but it will be worth it. Were saving the environment along with Money for Disney!!! IF YOU LIVE IN A STATE THAT RECYCLES, you should do it! I cant wait to see my kids have a blast with their own “free” money! We also save all our “found” money as well our bank will count it for us with their coin counter too since we have a checking account for free! another thing to ask your bank about ;)
Not exactly “found” but, as I clean out my change for the change bucket (A WDW pop corn bucket of course!) I check for one dollar bills. If I have more than five, the extras go in an envelope. I use them for tipping on my vacation. I always tip the bus driver at the airport parking lot, the housekeeper and I sometimes valet park my car for meals. All these tips would add to the vacation budget, but generally, I can cover them from my envelope and I do not have to even include them in my vacation budget.
Sounds like found money to me! :)
What I love about “found” money is it can be whatever you designate as “found”!! We do the laundry money, money laying on the ground, etc, but we also do the recycle thing with our pop bottles. I budget the 10 cent fee I get charged at the checkout into my grocery budget, so when we take them all back, that is “found” money. The kids love it…especially after a holiday or a party where the returnables have built up and we have a big return!!
When my kids want to spend their allowance, but their $ is at home I’ll pay for the item with the understanding they’ll repay me from their piggy banks. That money goes right into the Disney Jar.
Kristin I just love all your ideas, thanks for the awesome, awesome website!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I could really use the extra $ for holiday gifts!
I literally found $120 in the road last week- best find I’ve ever had! Then I was cleaning out the linen closet and found $20!
Many years ago (my now teenagers were babies) I was walking across a mall parking lot and saw something shiny. I went closer and said, “Holy, moley, somebody lost an expensive bracelet.” The small voice was telling me to keep it but the bigger voice kept thinking, “What if I lost something like this?” So, I turned it in, but I did ask if nobody claimed it if it would be mine. A month later I got a call that nobody had claimed it and I could come get it. At the time, late 1990′s, gold wasn’t very expensive. But now, I could sell it for around $500. I’m waiting for gold to go up again.
My advice for finding money is to look on the ground in parking lots. My mom was with me, she didn’t see it. I’m sure other people had walked right by it.
This is one of my favorite tips. It’s so simple yet for some reason I didn’t think of it. Haha. Now, I think of you every time I find change! You, and Disney of course!!
we put all our loose change in a shoe box and on the 1st of every month we bring it to the coinstar machine. Then its off to the bank to deposit it in our Disney account. My kids love watching it grow
You know, I even THINK of it as “found money” now… My in-laws just sent us $10 to buy Easter Candy….FOUND MONEY FOR THE FUND! :D Like our waistlines really need the chocolate anyway.
I was cleaning out purses (what a dreaded job!) and I found a five dollar bill, over $7.00 in change and a bookstore gift card with $10.00 on it! Needless to say all of it went into our Disney Fund!