Mummy Buzz

May
19
2014

What Would You Do If You Found $40K In An Old Couch?

At the end of the day, it wasn’t ours

money hidden in couch

What would you do if you found some money stuffed in an old couch? I'm not talking about the odd Loonie. I mean, A LOT of cold hard cash. That was the quandary faced by a bunch of house-sharing students.

According to an article in Global, the three roommates from New York state stumbled across $40,000 in a couch they rescued from the Salvation Army.

Social worker Cally Guasti claimed that she and her friends had purchased a used chair and couch for $55, and eventually noticed the "arm cushions were weirdly lumpy."

Inside the zippered cover, student Reese Werkhoven discovered $4,000, while her roomie Lara Russo came across more money. The stash totalled a staggering $40,800.

“We put it all on a bed,” Guasti said. “We laid it all out and started counting. And we were screaming. In the morning, our neighbours were like, ‘We thought you won the lottery.'"

Sort of. Except that Guasti also found a deposit slip with a woman’s name on it. When they contacted the 91-year-old woman, she admitted that she had forgotten about the money in the couch, and really needed it.

When the roommates met the elderly woman, she was so grateful that she cried.

In this case, there was no question of "finders keepers." To the students, keeping the money was simply unfathomable. 

“At the end of the day, it wasn’t ours,” Guasti said. “I think if any of us had used it, it would have felt really wrong.”

Bet business was booming at the Sally Ann this past weekend...

Ever find something of value that wasn't yours? Did you keep it or give it back? 

This mom did the unexpected. And she was unemployed and pregnant at the time...