Jasmine Birtles
Your money-making expert. Financial journalist, TV and radio personality.
How there REALLY IS money down the sofa
Moneymagpie Team
2nd Sep 2019
We’ve all had that moment, or at least dreamed of it, the one where you reach down the back of the sofa and find a stray £5. If you’re really lucky you may even have found more – that tv remote you thought you’d lost, or the earring that disappeared years ago.
£4 million hidden down UK sofas
The amount of cash found down the nation’s sofas every year is well into the millions, with two thirds of Brits (65%) finding money in the last 12 months. The total amount found in the last year works out as £4.1m. Surprisingly, men find 71% more money down the backs of their couches than women, perhaps suggesting men are looser with their change or more willing to delve behind the cushions for emergency cash.
Off the back of these discoveries, the research of over 2,000 people, by sofa and carpet specialist, ScS, revealed that six out of ten (57%) clean their sofas less than once a month, whilst one in six (16%) clean theirs once a year or less.
Weirdest items found behind the sofa
So what do you think are the number one items people find behind their sofa? Actually scrap that, it’s probably money isn’t it. What about the weirdest things? Well, we’ve got you covered, some of these are seriously dodgy!
- A snake. Wow, this really is the stuff of nightmares. Unless it’s Gary your pet snake and you’ve been looking for him for hours. What a relief.
- A dead frog. Disgusting. I mean how did that get there?!
- A random person’s false teeth. Okay this is even more disgusting…
- A hedgehog. CUTE. We would love to find a little hedgehog behind our sofa. Although it could be a painful discovery if you’re reach down for it…
- An explanation, in Sanskrit (a 3,500-year-old Indian language), of the workings of the first gas-powered vehicle. Educational… This is a seriously cool discovery. And it sounds valuable… 10/10.
- A 50-year-old vintage adult magazine. Naughty. It must have been through a lot. Better not to think about it.
- A pet hamster. Little Bertie finally returns! Because all pet hamsters should be called Bertie.
- Someone else’s wedding ring. Try explaining this to your partner. No thanks.
- Thawed peas. Better than fish and chips we suppose…
- Drugs. Let’s hope it’s not the police who found it.
Wow. Quite a list.
Commenting on the research, Dale Gillespie, Head of Acquisition at ScS, said: “It’s fascinating to see how much money people have found in sofas that they’ve been sitting on for such a long time. I can imagine people reading this, while sitting on their sofa, and immediately uphauling the cushions to find who knows what!
“It’s also intriguing, and frankly, a little frightening to think what is lurking down the back of some people’s furniture.”
Just fluff and dust…
Shame, I didn’t find any money in mine.