20 People Who Came Into Easy Money Totally Unexpectedly

We all love a good windfall but we’re not all so lucky as to have that moment. However, we can live vicariously through these tales of folk who got lucky quite unexpectedly and made a fortune through totally legit means when they really needed it.

#1

Image source: ReverendLoveboy, Ari Helminen

Three hundred bucks for my spot in line for the bathroom at McDonald’s. It was new years eve.

#2

Image source: drinksmakememories, chumsdock

Was first in the queue at Apple regents street waiting for the new iPhone (5 I think) sold my space for £3k

#3

Image source: GloomySupport, Marisa Howenstine

Got a Nanny job at a really nice Private Golf Club Baby sat for this family in the past really nice family liked them alot went over at the house at 6 pm Kids Were instructed by parents to go to bed by 7 PM (About 4 Kids). The Parents with friends went out to dinner and to a bar (i’m assuming). Kids were really well behaved, they all went to bed at 7 PM and i just watched TV until parents came back. Parents didn’t come back until 2 AM but they drunkenly paid me over 1000 dollars for “babysitting” the kids. tried to refuse that much for only 8 hours and they insisted. Contacted them the next day and told them how much they paid me and i couldn’t accept it all of it that it was too much. they said no keep it its all yours! but then a few minutes later they texted me and they said okay just come next weekend and baby sit if you can and it will make up for the difference of what we paid. I said okay and went there the following weekend and they said just say here watch for a few minutes ill be right back the guy comes back and says ” thanks for watching the kids for 20 Minutes Were going to head out for the rest of the year we will let you know if we need a nanny when we come back” I laughed and said okay have fun headed out to my car. There was an envelope on my car windshield sat in my car and opened the envelope and there was a letter that said “This is for babysitting and being honest with us when we were under the influence please let this money help you in any way that it can” and gifted me 5000 additional dollars so 6000 all together Cried in my car and left

#4

Image source: bcnorthgirl, Jessie McCall

As a waitress, I served a staff party and just did well. Really connected with one man at the table and told him I was getting married in 3 months. He tipped me $1000 and told me to use it for our honeymoon. I was floored. Reacted like Dr Grant in Jurassic Park when he sees a dinosaur in the flesh for the first time. I was working three jobs at the time. We used the money to buy our wedding bands instead so we had a constant reminder that someone out there was rooting for us & the man who gave us the money heard about it and came to our wedding where he gave us $10,000. He changed our life & made it so we could afford fertility treatment. Still doesn’t feel real to this day & we hope to name our son after him if we ever get the chance.

#5

Image source: anon, Jonas Leupe

Was planning on quitting a job. They told me I had to stay through the year to qualify for a bonus. So I worked a night shift until 4AM on January 1st.

Turns out that if you work at all in the calendar year, you qualify for the bonus. So I got a bonus ($8500) for working 4 hours that year.

#6

Image source: Okika13, Mr.TinMD

$20,000 for a Coca Cola commercial in which I did nothing but sit in a convertible and cheer like I was on my way to a college football game. I didn’t get it all at once, but I added up the residuals over a 2 year period for tax purposes and that was the total.

#7

Image source: Throwlikeagenjimain, Mike Mozart

Drove grandma because she wanted a lotto ticket. She gave me $5 to go in and get it (because it was cooooold outside). Well, turns out she won $4,000, and insisted that we split it evenly because it was a team effort.

Grandmothers gatta spoil, right?

#8

Image source: MrLeHah, Elisa Calvet B.

I’ve found $50 and $100 bills used as bookmarkers in books from Goodwill.

One time, there was a $20 bill in a signed hardcover first edition of William Gibson’s Virtual Light. I bought it for $2.

#9

Image source: nightskypetunia16, JavyGo

My husband just made $1600 for letting a film crew use his truck for 4 days.
They were looking for a very specific truck and it just so happened he had what they were looking for.
We barely had to do anything. We met them once to go over the truck, make sure they could use it for their scenes. They called a few days later, my husband dropped the truck off and they brought it back when they were done

#10

Image source: theangryquokka, Martha Dominguez de Gouveia

i did a sleep study over 2 weekends, just had to stay in a hospital room and basically watched netflix/read all day and just had to do a few cognitive tests on the computer. walked out with $950!

#11

Image source: fblonk, Ben Kolde

Went to a clients (I did computer repair) and he hands me a laptop and says “it’s dead, if you can make it work, i’ll give you $100. It is new.” I look at it, push the power button and it boots. So i figure it is not connecting to the internet or something. He freaks! Cannot believe i got it working. I show him the power button on the side. He says “huh. Didn’t know where it was.” He takes out a wad of cash, peels off 5 $20’s hands them to me and the gives me another $20 as a tip. I was in and out in under 5 minutes.

#12

Image source: paulpaul25, Solen Feyissa

Bought an Instagram account with 110k followers for $300 from a friend, kept posting stuff 4-5 weeks daily and one day a marketing agency offered me $2500 for it.
Later I found out that it was worth more than that but for me was a great deal.

#13

Image source: Buwaro, Martin Katler

We scrapped out a machine at work. I was told that I could take parts off of it if I wanted to, since it was just being sold for steel. I took out 6 Variable Frequency Drives and sold them for over $4000 on ebay. That was a nice little bonus.

#14

Image source: anon, Florencia Viadana

I had a summer job cleaning dorms for event groups at my college. Made 1500 bucks because the university decided to change revisions of all the textbooks they used. The school wouldn’t buy back the books they sold students, so students started to throw away their textbooks because they thought they were worthless. I just sold them all on eBay to people going to the JC the next town over.

#15

Image source: jaysire, Adam

Got a scratch lottery ticket as an Xmas gift from my buddy. His family apparently handed them out to all their good friends. I won 500€. Treated him and his wife to dinner in a restaurant. So we almost blew it all in one sitting. Was nice though.

#16

Image source: RAMI_XXL, Petr Sevcovic

500 euros for an acting job as a waiter, I didn’t have to say anything.

#17

Image source: CaptainWisconsin, allispossible.org.uk

Bought a second-hand jacket from Good Will for $8. There was a $50 in the pocket.

#18

Image source: MyReadStuffAccount, Mick Haupt

As a consultant in Silicon Valley in the late 90s, I had a last-minute engagement which pushed the rate up to around $400/hour. I got there and they weren’t ready for me. I happened to have a yoyo I’m my bag, so I hung out in the lobby for over an hour, getting paid to play with my yoyo. It would have likely gone on longer, but an exec saw me, and asked what I was doing. I explained the situation, and I was at a desk solving their issue within 15 minutes after that.

#19

Image source: letterstosnapdragon, Joe Hunt

Got a 1909s penny in my change from the grocery store. Sold it on eBay for $90.00. Not a bad profit.

#20

Image source: BissoumaTequila, Zane Persaud

I worked as a barman for a few years. A neighbours niece was getting married but needed someone to run the bar at the reception set on a field. The “beer tent” was huge and I was running it with 3 others.

I agreed to be paid “normal rate”. I didn’t ask for their definition but they paid me blind drunk and gave me cash in an envelope.

For 10 hours work I got paid £750 and was under strict instructions from the father of the bride to “help yourself” to any left over booze.

Dom Perignon crates each and we each filled our car boots with booze as a tip.