Right now you might be realizing you should have built an emergency fund instead of hitting Starbucks and Chick-fil-A every time you got a little busy running the kids around town. Maybe you overspent on your epic grocery store run last week and now you’re strapped for cash. Here’s how to find a mini emergency fund in your home in 2 hours. It sure beats waiting for the federal government to send you a check—and it’s a little fun too.

Go to my All Day Mom Free Printables page here (direct link, no email needed!) and print out the Found Money Fund Quick Cash Roundup PDF under New. It’s not pretty but it works. The first page is a worksheet and the second page is a copy of the tips below.

I found more than $1400 when I did this Found Money Fund Quick Cash Roundup today!

Found Money Fund: Quick Cash Roundup

How to find an Emergency Fund in your home in 2 hours!

Look Here for Cash Money:

Credit Card cashback and points

• Check accumulated points/cash back for each credit card.
• Decide best use of points/cashback: statement credit, cash in as gift cards, shop on Amazon with points, etc.

Coins

• Check usual place you put coins, plus laundry room, drawers, pockets, couch cushions/under furniture, car.
• Exchange for cash at your bank if they have a coin machine they’ll let you use, or
• Use a Coinstar machine but choose Amazon or other useful gift card so you don’t pay the 10% fee to exchange coins for cash.
• Use coins for small purchases but be organized (put $5 in quarters in a labeled sandwich bag, not a handful of mixed coins) so you don’t hold up the line.
  • Cashiers will have to bust open rolled coins because some people fill the center of the tube with things that are not money.
• Your bank will take rolled coins if you write your account number (write it on before filling the coin sleeves). That way if you miscounted they can contact you.

Cash on hand

• Check wallet plus all other places you ever stash cash, including extra purses and luggage.

Ibotta and rebate apps

• Check accumulated total and transfer to Paypal as cash or buy gift cards if your balance is $20 or more (Ibotta).
• Check Paypal balance, transfer to bank if you have a balance.

Checks not cashed

• Birthday checks, rebate checks, Rakuten (Ebates) checks, etc. If you don’t remember whether you’ve cashed a check, go to your checking account history and search for that amount from check date forward.

All bank balances

• Transfer any amount from checking and savings accounts to consolidate available cash.
• Note savings accounts allow only 6 withdrawals a month.
• Make sure you stay within minimum balance in each account to avoid fees, if any.
• Make sure to leave available funds in any account that bills come out of via autopay.

Gift Cards

• Check the balances on all gift cards you find. Use them up before using available cash. Be creative:
  • Staples sells food, coffee, cleaning supplies, and all-important toilet paper.
  • Use Starbucks cards to buy bagged coffee instead of individual drinks.
  • You can buy pool chlorine at Home Depot (if you can’t find bleach) and dilute it by about half (6% household Clorox vs. 10% pool chlorine).
  • Buy birthday and other gifts using your leftover retail gift cards/store credits.
• In some states you can get cash back on small gift card balances (for instance, in CA you can get cash back if gift card balance is under $10).
• If the store doesn’t sell anything you need, sell the gift card at a loss. It takes several days to get paid out if you use an online gift card broker. If you need cash today, post your card and offer in a Facebook “Swip Swap” group, and meet the person at the customer service line at the store/restaurant to have gift card balance checked officially. (I’m more trustworthy than trusting, so I wouldn’t buy a gift card this way, but I have sold gift cards to people in my Facebook moms’ group without issue.)
• Check Amazon to see if you have a gift card balance.

 I don’t do sponsored posts so All Day Mom runs on affiliate links. If you’re shopping Amazon today please consider starting your shopping from one of the links below, your price stays the same! Thank you!

Check here to see if toilet paper is in stock on Amazon:

• Scott toilet paper on Amazon (My favorite, because it lasts the longest, is Scott 1000, currently in stock with Amazon Fresh.)
• Fancy toilet paper on Amazon (Charmin, Cottonelle, Quilted Northern)
• If you’re not a Prime member go here to get Prime free for 30 days while you’re stuck at home.

Read all posts in this series: Advice from a frugal mom during coronavirus

Related: When Should Kids Wash Their Hands? 10 Handwashing Tips for Kids in the Kitchen!

Read all Found Money posts here

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