There’s always a path forward when you adopt a proactive approach to your money while leveraging every available opportunity and possibility.  

Twice a year, I embark on what I’ve come to call the Hidden Treasures and Forgotten Fortunes Challenge, a ritual born out of the necessity to survive financially. This marked the third installment of 365 daily savings challenges I undertook to navigate through turbulent waters in troubling times.

In life, adversity is an inevitable companion, appearing in various forms and at unexpected times. Yet, its presence doesn’t solely dictate our fate; rather, it presents us with choices; a choice to retreat or to test our strength and forge our character while we overcome it.

The global pandemic thrust many into this predicament, myself included. Faced with the daunting reality of financial turmoil, this challenge began with a simple premise: to hunt down every available dollar, whether it lurked under couch cushions or lay dormant in obligations owed to me. It’s in times like these that you don’t just need to find money, but you need to find it quickly to help minimize the crisis at hand.

In moments like this, following the generic advice of the “financial gurus” preaching for the creations of budgets or elimination of simple spending seemed impractical. Survival was paramount, and the immediate focus was on locating the resources necessary to endure.

Just like any desperate person in need of cash, I started by searching every nook and cranny of my home and car; under couch cushions and car seats, I scoured for every single cent, nickle, and dollar bill that I could find. Sure it took a few hours, but it was well worth the search and I counted up $128.38 in assorted bills and coins.

Even today, with a healthy emergency savings account and a stable financial foundation, I still begin this challenge by looking for money languishing in obscurity just collecting dust. It’s a humble reminder of where it all began, during the darkest days of the global pandemic when income was scarce and bills ominously loomed overhead.

Finding more than $100 in a just a few hours was game changing to me. This initial success inspired me to aim for larger sums. I started by simply asking for money owed to me for services rendered to a business a year earlier. Surprisingly, a significant portion of Americans are owed money by various sources, including friends, family, acquaintances, or employers.

Requesting money, even from those who owe it to you, can be daunting. However, in those trying times, the urgency of survival overshadowed the fear of rejection. Surprisingly, within a week, I had $1,000 in my hands—a testament to the power of simply asking.

While it’s true that this doesn’t yield results for everyone, and not every owed dollar will find its way back to you, initiating by simply asking is often the crucial first step forward.

Running out of obvious places to look for money, Google became a wise advisor as my searches for “I need money now” and “how to find fast cash” led me to government-run unclaimed property websites. In just a few hours, I was printing off the necessary forms and gathering all required documents to claim $401 in assets owed to me by the state of Colorado.

In just one day, by reclaiming what was mine to begin with, I uncovered a sum of $1,529.38. While it marked only the start of of my daily savings challenges, in those fleeting moments, I felt like the richest poor man alive.

The money certainly provided relief, yet my genuine wealth stemmed from the realization that I possessed the capability to take action, to overcome the obstacles before me, and to shape my own fate. It marked the first instance in years where I experienced a small sense of financial empowerment; even if it was just a little bit, it was enough to keep me going.

However, the pursuit didn’t end on that particular day. A few months later, I would take on this challenge once more to discover $30 in unused gift cards, $42.49 in forgotten cashback rewards in an app, and $11.75 in additional loose change in my home. By maxing out my employer-matched 401(k) contributions, I added another $1,783 within the year.

This challenge, undertaken twice during my inaugural year, ultimately boosted my savings mission by almost $3,400, accomplished with just two days of focused effort. I was well on my way towards saving $50,000 within a single year.