Unexpected windfall.

£99 on the lottery last week!

£200 in old notes in a carrier bag when selling stuff cleared from MILs flat at a boot sale. Luckily DH checked the bag before putting someone's purchase in it.

Whenever I put on a coat for the first time when the seasons change, all I usually find is, at most, a 10p piece

I once found a £50 note in Piccadilly Circus, we were out with family looking at the Christmas lights so we spent it on Burgers and ice-creams all round..

No such flipping luck, usually the odd coin, British or otherwise

Years ago, £10 under the carpet of a car that I'd had for a few years. I don't think the carpet had ever been lifted! Thanks to someone at the Ford factory! x

Not exactly a windfall but Petplan have paid out on the claim I made for my dogs operation; I'd read my policy and was convinced I didn't qualify. So, a big thank you to them and my credit card bill next month is not going to run into the thousand plus or so that I was expecting to pay #stillcan'tbelieveitthough

no..could fall in a barrel full of jelly babies ..and come out eating my thumb...

This morning I found a dried runner bean seed on the floor when I cleaned my spare bedroom. I had left a tray of them to dry out in there the autumn before last! Does this count as a windfall? Perhaps I should plant it in case it is a magic one!

£25 x5 from premium bonds this month.

Whenever I clear out drawers (which is not very often) I always find some money- usually several £1 coins. Every little helps.

I was in a waiting room a couple of weeks ago and I noticed a man drop a note from his pocket and he did not notice. It turned out to be £50 so he was very grateful to me.

I have regular windfalls - slates off the roof when it's particularly blowy. I need the other kind of windfall to afford a new roof.

Blimey, Charleygirl, a £50 note! What kind of waiting room was that...?

Five premium bond wins this month

My dog – now sadly deceased – quite often retrieved a £5, £10 or £20 note that someone had dropped in the street. One of my cats – also now sadly deceased – retrieved only lettuces, socks, towels and, on one occasion, a fabric Christmas reindeer.

The DWP placed a huge payment into my bank this week. Not a clue what it's for and totally unexpected. Now, should I query it?

Yes, query it because if someone made a mistake and you are not entitled to it, you will have to pay it back, which is a pain if you have already spent the money.

A few years ago I received a tax refund for £200 from the Inland Revenue. I didn't think I was entitled to it so phoned up and was on for ages (at my expense). I agreed to post the cheque back (at my expense again) and I did this straight away. I received an unpleasant demand for the money which annoyed me. The following year I received a cheque for £200 'in relation to previous year's overpayment'. I spent it!

But put it into the bank while you wait for it all to be sorted out. The interest it gathers is yours. Just remember the capital may not be staying there!

I once had payments from DWP for a few weeks. I rang them after the first payment and they said it was the banks fault. I contacted the bank and they passed the buck back to DWP. I tried again. No luck. I wrote to them. No luck. After a while the payments stopped and a few months later the bank contacted me asking for it back. As I had tried very hard to return it I told them I had spent it and no longer had it. They didn't ask again !

There's a rude version of that * downtoearth*! [ grin]

DD found about £2.50 on the floor under a chair this morning!

absent my dog only nicked cooked meat joints and children's toys from who knows where, the cat was utterly useless

I had an unexpected Tax demand, paid it and then received a refund (sadly not as big as the demand though)

Windfalls, Bramley apples from next door's tree, mice, both alive and dead that the cats used to bring in, and years ago ( really, years ago) a bundle of white five pound notes from my Grandmas house, ceased to be legal tender so no good except to chuck on the fire.

I thought out of date notes could be paid into a bank account. I worked in a bank and we used to accept them and send them off to the cash centre.