September was a pretty unusual month for me. After spending five months traveling around Europe on a motorcycle with my boyfriend, I stopped traveling and came back “home” to Paris. I call it home because I don’t have another place to call home right now. For the moment, I’m staying with my mom for a few weeks, and then my grandparents have kindly lent me an apartment they own, which is empty most of the year.

After all that traveling and having an irregular income for months, I came back with almost no money and faced two unpleasant surprises.

First, I had sold my flat in June, but because of all the paperwork and dealing with a not-so-helpful clerk, the sale wasn’t finalized until August. I was supposed to receive the money from the sale next week, but the buyer backed out, which is legal in France within a week of the sale.

The second surprise wasn’t completely unexpected because, like death, taxes are inevitable. However, I didn’t expect to owe so much, and I have to pay it by the end of this month.

To make matters worse, back in July, when I had $5000 in my account, I decided to overpay on a 7% loan. Even though I don’t regret clearing that debt, I could have waited until the sale was confirmed and wouldn’t be so tight for money now.

Despite these issues, my overall financial situation is fine. It’s just that everything is taking longer than I anticipated. I found another buyer for the flat, and I should get the money in a couple of months. Meanwhile, I needed to find some quick ways to get a little extra money to give myself some breathing room.

Here’s how I managed to find some extra cash in September:

I started by using a cashback site, where I got about $50 back, mostly from hotel stays over the summer.

I tracked down some money I was owed but hadn’t claimed yet. For instance, I was supposed to receive a $100 heating refund that I never got, and an additional $20 from the cashback site that didn’t track correctly. Both amounts will be paid to me soon, and it only took about five minutes to send the necessary emails to claim them. I often delay sending in documents for insurance claims or doctor bills for reimbursement, and I suspect many people miss out on this money due to the hassle.

I sold two old bicycles that had been sitting in my mom’s storage for years and made $140.

I checked my various savings accounts, some of which had small amounts like $35 or $40. I withdrew the money, leaving only the minimum balance in each account. Although I felt good about paying off a 7% debt, I didn’t leave much in my 2% savings account.

I babysat my little niece. While I would never charge for that, I did get free food.

I fixed up my other bicycle and used it for transportation, spending $0 instead of the usual $80 a month.

Typically, “snowflaking” refers to making extra money and using it to pay off debt. In my case, I looked for extra savings and used them to cover my living expenses.

Do you have any ideas for finding unclaimed money, turning junk into cash, or other sources of extra income?