My mom always told us kids that after she died, not to throw any books out, because there might be some money hidden in them. In fact, she told my sister about a couple of books that she should specifically look out for.
Mom died last month, and while we haven’t found money in books*, we have found some stashed away in other places. My SIL was at her apartment a couple weeks ago packing up clothes to donate to Goodwill, and found a bank envelope full of ones in the bottom of a drawer.
Yesterday my wife and I, brother and SIL, sister and BIL, and two of my aunts were at mom’s apartment, packing up and scavenging anything we wanted to keep. My sister found another envelope full of ones somewhere, and my brother found a couple of coin collector albums full of old silver dimes that had belonged to my dad, tucked way back in the back of a closet.
As we were finishing up our day’s activities, my SIL was getting ready to throw out a small box that had held a piece of Waterford crystal. My sister saw it and said “Wait a minute…”, opened the box, pulled the layer of foam padding out of the bottom, and pulled out a stack of twenties! Over $400 almost got tossed in the trash. :eek:
We spent the next five minutes seriously debating whether we should go through all the trash we had already thrown in the dumpster, but in the end decided it was probably unnecessary.
The books my sister was warned about, and many others, we’re checked a couple years ago when mom moved out of her old house and we were boxing stuff up.
Children raised during the great depression have a different view of money. It’s precious and can be gone in a second. The bank failures and financial ruin scarred many people and their children for the rest of their lives
Never waste anything. Rinse that tomato paste can out and get that last hint of flavor into the pot. You don’t need 4 eggs in that cake, use three.
Turn off the lights when you leave a room.
Keep money in the house in case the banks fail.
This should all be familiar to most of us with older relatives. I heard it every day of my childhood.
I know my mom has money squirreled away in the house. Just in case…
I respect what she went through. Growing up with practically nothing isn’t something you ever forget.
Years ago when I was living in Pennsylvania I read a story of an oldster who’d won the PA lottery.* The drawing was on Saturday and he couldn’t cash it until Monday so, being paranoid, he hid it someplace. Then he couldn’t recall where he’d hidden it. His relatives had gone through all his stuff and were working on dismantling the house when it was found, tucked behind the wallpaper in a closet. By then it was like Wednesday so they took him and the ticket immediately to the lottery office.
*This was one of the earlier lotteries started, log before multi-state lotteries.
It even comes to bite you in the ass as I used to do so. I put some away in a old jacket pocket that I forgot about and may have given it away or thrown it out, not sure I would have ever wore it or checked the pockets but a friend was over and didn’t have a jacket and it got colder so I let them wear it, they put their hands into the pockets and pulled out a wad of bills, several hundred IIRC.
My grandfather used to put silver coins in coffee cans in their basement. Fortunately, everyone knew about them, and before he died, he said those cans of money were to be divided among the great grandkids for their education. The three of them ended up with just over $5K each.
My dad used to keep a wallet full of cash in a dresser drawer. Unfortunately, one of my sisters’ boyfriends knew about it and helped himself. I think after that, Dad quit hiding money.
My husband’s uncle used to bury coffee cans of money in various places on his farm. But his rotten kids dug it all up and stole it - pretty much screwing over their widowed mother.
My MIL has money squirreled in a variety of accounts that she keeps reminding her sons about. I just hope she wrote it all down, because we’ll never track it down otherwise. Tho I’d rather she spent it and enjoyed it while she’s alive.
The most anyone will find in our house is assorted bowls full of pennies, unless I happen to have recently gathered them all and hauled them to the credit union.
Yeah, bad idea. We keep a few hundred in the fire safe in case of whatever, but our other assets are clearly listed. My nephew went through this mess when his asshole father finally did the world a favor and croaked. He had insurance policies and the like that he never told anyone about. It was sheer luck that they discovered their existence. Also, his will had never been updated, so there was an executor that had died many years before and beneficiaries who had also died, including his wife. One final “fuck you” from the master of "fuck you"s.
My Daddy was the worst about money in pockets. He hated wallets, used a Money clip. When he died, knowing his habits, I put my hand in every jacket or sport coat pocket. I found over a 500 bucks, that I promptly put in my pocket. My sibs all left the state after he was buried, and I was left with the job of clearing and cleaning, plus dealing with all his leftover business. I deserved it.
When a friend of mine’s grandmother died a few years ago they had to go through the pockets of every piece of clothing and the pages of every book in the house to find the money she had stashed. She also had a Tupperware container full of money in the freezer and a couple of envelopes full of money stuck under a loose floorboard. My friend said they seriously considered pulling up the rest of the floor just in case but that was the only loose board they found.
That’s not from the Great Depression. Or at least, not alone.
For a few years, Dad would give me my allowance while I was reading and it was a bill. I spent a year never having any money, then next year finding money in books as I re-read them.
My father was like that, only he’d squirrel away things like $2 bills, which are worth a whole $2 unless flawed or mint. Which means he wouldn’t have gotten them in his change to begin with.
On the upside, he collected silver coins, and after he died I was set to the task of emptying out the safe and cashing everything out. Turned out to be quite a bit, since at the time silver was going for $42/oz.
Extremely fortuitous for you, as silver has only hit that price twice in the last 100 years. I sold off my coin collection a few years ago, when gold was doing well, just so nobody would have to deal with it. The $15K in cash was nice.
My wife’s cousin was cleaning out his mother’s house after she’d checked herself into a retirement (or maybe nursing) home.
At one point, he reported that he’d found cash and stock certificates worth over $100,000. “Keep looking”, his mom told him.
There were also three Depression erra spinster sisters living in the same house in what was no longer a nice neighborhood. When one died, her sisters were cleaning out her belongings to donate. When they got to $5,000 in cash on the bed they called some of their larger nephews over to provide peace of mind while searching the rest of her stuff.
Yep, mom was born at the tail end of the Depression, so I’m guessing that’s where some of those hoarding sort of tendencies come from. Not extreme hoarding, but for example for the 20+ years after dad died, she always had a refrigerator and freezer jam-packed full of food, like she was still feeding a family of five instead of just herself.
This past year at the church rummage sale, we got a donation of a bunch of books from a parishioner who had died. I think it was over $100 that we found tucked into the pages. Mom (who runs the sale) just chalked it up as another donation to the church.
My Uncle’s apparently done this deliberately. He says he’s left a treasure trail to the will, with clues around the house. Said he doesn’t want anyone to be upset at the funeral, so he figured he’d make everyone pissed off instead.
He’s also left something about his ashes and the South China seas in the will. No one’s quite sure what, but as well as an evil sense of humour, he also has a law degree, so it might be interesting.
Yep, my mom was another Depression-Era kid, when she passed away, we found over $1,300 in various envelopes she had tucked away in the drawers. My Dad, who had let Mom run the family finances during their marriage, was completely astounded.
When my MIL died, FIL called all the kids and spouses into the basement. Old upright freezer chest from the 1950s. Pulled out frozen food, most of it in there for years. But pulled out old freezer plastic containers(the kind we used in the 50s, and pulled out what appeared to be food wrapped in aluminum foil. Nope. $500 in cash.
Said we didn’t have ATMs back then and figured if we had to bail you out of jail, cash would be there. Depression mentality.
Yep, we found money in various envelopes and books after she died. Money long forgotten about, too. Old currencies and relatively small amounts.
We also learned in the final 10 or so years of her life that she was still contributing to tons of causes. I mean, like she was still sending $2 a month to anti-communist groups and some other pretty obsolete stuff. Someone was cashing those little checks, too. Must have been disappointed when we canceled everything in order to help her out financially.
She was a great lady. I don’t remember how much money my Dad and his sister found, but there was stuff stuffed everywhere.
I heard it every day of my childhood.
