What is lurking in your closet?

Cleaning out a closet can be an interesting project around here. I do keep up with the hanging clothes, but the shelves and the floors are another story. You never know what you may find. Often it is a lot of junk that needs thrown away, but sometimes our long neglected closets hold valuable surprises.

It is kind of a long story, but the short version is that about a month ago Tim brought home some petty cash from work. Petty cash in the form of a $100 bill. It was a Friday. He laid it on top of his dresser to remember to take it back to work on Monday. Monday morning it was gone.

We searched high and low around his dresser. We went through the trash in our bedroom. We looked in the drawers, under the bed, and in the jar we put spare change. We questioned the kids and no one seemed to know anything about it. (Nobody did it!) We even checked through the paper shredder that our two year old likes to see work.

For the next few days we expanded our search and looked everywhere we could think of. It was no where to be found and none of the kids remembered anything about it. Obviously we had to replace that money. We took a $100 out of our savings to replace it, hoping it would turn up sometime.

The other day Tim and I were picking up the house. He went to put an item in my closet, an item that I just usually put on top of other things on my closet floor. Apparently, he was tired of the mess in my closet, and he decided to organize the floor. I'm so glad he did because lurking in the corner of my closet was the missing $100 bill. How did it get there? Nobody knows.

I doubt that we will ever again find $100 while cleaning out our closet, but the truth is cleaning out your closet is a smart thing to do and can make you money. Getting rid of the old maternity clothes, shoes, and clothes that are two sizes too small helps keep you organized. Keeping organized helps you to use your resources efficiently. Many of the items you no longer use can be sold on eBay, Cragslist, or in your local classifieds to make you a little extra cash. Clean out those closets. (I am speaking to myself too.) You may just find something valuable.

Photo credit: The Alieness