Virtually everyone searches the internet for ways to make quick cold hard cash. Finance is one of the top topics, even on Hubpages.

 The real truth however, and I’m sure you’ve read this as many times as I have over the years: “There is no way to make a million overnight.”

 Unless you win the lottery of course, and the chances of that happening are…let’s just put it this way, you have more chance of being struck by lightning, or dying in a plane crash, or getting eaten by a shark. In fact there may even be more chance of all three happening to you.

 I got this information from a reliable source. He’s the father of an old friend, who teaches mathematics at a local university. Calculating odds is his job and his hobby.

 This is why I’ve decided to provide my two cents (get it?), and do a bit of a case study.

 This isn’t my first article on money. I have written one called ‘The Future of Money’, but this is however the first in, hopefully, a series of articles on quick ways to make cash. I’ve got others lying around that need editing.

 Why Should you Bother?

 First off, if you weren’t even minutely interested in this article’s contents, you wouldn’t have clicked on the link.

 If you weren’t interested in making money or at least finding it, you wouldn’t have searched for it with Google or a similar search engine.

 Here’s a little analogy to put it simply and perhaps it will motivate you:

 I remember this old PC game called Close Combat IV: Normandy, where your squad of soldiers would run out of ammunition. There would be a little flashing alert that said, ‘scavenging’. They were desperate for ammo and they would have been killed for sure if they didn’t at least try to find some bullets; even a few, or one.

 I’m very sure it’s like this in real life too with soldiers, past and present.

 They have their lives to lose if they don’t bother.

 What have you got to lose?

 Where to Start?

 Drama aside, start anywhere in your own house and then do the whole house if you want. The point is to scavenge, search and hunt for money. It’s actually kind of fun. I remember doing it as a kid and I recently revisited those days. It put me in a good mood, and it gave me the inspiration to write this article.

 The Best Spots to Look in and Around the House

 • In your wallet, purse, handbag, or briefcase.

 • In containers specially used for collecting change, like a piggy bank, jar or something.

 • Behind the couch, under the couch and even between the cushions is a good bet. I’ve seen films and adverts where people do this.

 • Your car; perhaps in the cubby-hole, on the dashboard, or on the floor of the car, under the mats, on the back seat.

 • On the driveway.

 • Shopping bags; perhaps you tossed a receipt with some loose change in them.

 • Next to the bed on a dresser.

 • In draws, cupboards and closets. You’d be surprised of what you’ll find. It might even be something else instead of money that you’ve been searching for. It might even be a good idea to clean out your closet sometime. In fact, quite embarrassingly, a burglar who broke into our house a few years ago happened to ‘scavenge’ in my brother’s room, and found a roll of notes, not just change!

 • In the kitchen.

 • In the washing machine or dryer.

 • In pockets of clothes that are in the laundry bin.

 • By the washing line.

 • In the bin.

 • In the pool (there’s an old joke about this that I've put around here somewhere).

 The Best Spots to Look Outside Your Home

 When you’re addicted or you run out of places to look, you might happen to keep an eye out in these places for some cash:

 • The Post Office; someone I knew once found a bank note outside a post office. There’s often change lying around.

 • The Bank, or by ATMs.

 • In Shopping Malls. There are plenty of places to look, like by the doors that lead in and out, on the floors, in the lifts and escalators, etc.

 • In parking lots.

 • In schoolyards.

 • By tuck shops or cafes.

 • Basically anywhere, really. The places where people handle money are usually where you might stumble upon something. Whether you keep it or hand it in somewhere is up to you, but if they really cared about the money, would they have left it there so carelessly? There might be the chance that they'll give you a reward for returning it, but only if you don't live on earth like the rest of us.

 Finders, Keepers

 The best part of this and perhaps the most obvious too, is that this money that you’ve found is your own! And the money that you find out in public might as well be too, unless you know who lost it.

  I’ve tried this, and just by looking in my bedroom, I found enough to buy some much needed airtime for my cellphone.

 Remember when picking up loose change, that it’s just as easy to pick up litter too. That way, you make some money and clean up the city as well. Now tell me if it’s worth it. Wouldn’t it be great to feel that you’re doing your part and that you’re Green as well?

 Hopefully by now, you’ve learned a little, and laughed a little too, haven’t you? That’s why some call it ‘funny money’.

 No beggars were harmed in the making of this article.

Remember: If you pick it up on the ground, it's finding. If it's in someone's purse, it's stealing, and that would be wrong.

 “Never ask of money spent

 Where the spender thinks it went.

 Nobody was ever meant

 To remember or invent

 What he did with every cent.”                                         

                                   - Robert Frost 

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