Not sure if found money is mine

[Hollanda]

I have a terrible habit of putting money into my coat pocket (paper money) rather than in my bag or a wallet.  This has never been an issue before as I have never dropped or lost money (as far as I know) whilst getting something else from my pocket.  More often than not, it goes into my bag - putting it into my pocket is just easier at the time and hey, I'm lazy.
 
This morning we received an email from office manager saying some paper money was found in the corridor at around the time I was walking to my office.  The money was neatly folded (something I would do) but I am not 100% sure the money was mine.  Therefore I have not said anything.  There is a possibilty it is my money - I remember thinking this morning "I'm sure I had another £5 note somewhere?" and then discounted it, thinking I probably spent it and forgot about it.   The office manager said if the money is not claimed by the end of the day, it will go to the work charity. 
 
Part of me thinks hey, well if it was mine, maybe this will teach me a lesson to be more careful with money and spend just two minutes putting it in my bag.  I know that at as of 5 minutes ago, the money had still not been claimed.  Because I am so unsure whether it really is my money or whether someone else has dropped it and just has not yet realised, I am very loathe to come forward.  I am happy for the money to go to charity if nobody else claims it.
Should I be honest with the manager about why I am unsure about this or should I just leave it for her to give to charity? I would definitely not forgive myself if the money was given to me and it turned out at a later date to be someone else's.  You could argue it is *only* £5..  But that *only* £5 could mean the world to someone who really needs it.
 
I just want to do the right thing here.
 

[onyonryngs]

If you're not sure it's yours, don't claim it.

[CaptainObvious]

If you're not sure it's yours, don't claim it.

Yep, it is actually very simple.

[Hollanda]

If you're not sure it's yours, don't claim it.

It's all sorted now.  Manager mailed us all and advised the money is going to charity as if anyone had definitely lost it, it would have been claimed by now.
 
I would rather that than claim something I am not 100% about.  And as I said it has taught me a valuable lesson to be more careful.   

[sourwolf]

Glad to hear it was all sorted and you didn't have to do anything.

My advice was going to be the same as PP, don't claim it since you couldn't know if it was yours or not.

[Hollanda]

I kind of knew that anyway.
 
If I had been 100% the money was mine, you bet I'd have reported it lost before the email even came round.  My money is now safely in my wallet in my bag! I will not be making that mistake again.

Thank you for confirming what I already knew to be right.  If there is even a shred of doubt, I like to err on the side of caution.
 
 

[stargazer]

If you like to err on the side of caution, why would you even have considered going to the manager in the first place?  If you're erring on the "not sure it's mine" side, then there is no point in telling him.  Honestly, all it looks like if you told him what you said in your OP is that you're patting yourself on the back for letting possibly your money (but also possibly not) go to charity.

[Moray]

Good point, stargazer. There really is no benefit to speculating at this point.

[Miss Unleaded]

Something similar happened to me once.  Except it was a lot more than £5 and it went to another person in a shop instead of to charity.  I had a bunch of money fall out of my pocket and the guy in line behind me asked if it was mine.  I said no because I thought I didn't have that much cash on me but a couple of minutes after that I remembered that I'd been to a cash machine earlier that day and put it in my pocket.     By then I knew that it was much much too late to change my story and ask the guy for the money because it would have looked really suss.

Like you, I chalked it up to a lesson learned and bought a jacket with zip up pockets.

And like stargazer, I think you did the right thing not to take that story to the boss. 

Look on the bright side: sounds like you have honest coworkers!

[YummyMummy66]

My father passed away in 2006.

He had this little "lip" stamp.  It is a set of lips in a smooch position.

He would always stamp his money with these lips.  He told us, "he was kissing his money goodbye!".   

This worked well in many cases.  My mom was paying for something one day and she was shorted change. The teller was sayiing something about having to now count her drawer, etc, and my mom said, "No, you don't.  Look in your drawer at your twenties.  I bet the one on top has a set of lips."  It did and my mom got her correct change.

My father always knew his money by this stamp and we have actually gotten some of our own money back!

We still continue the tradition to this day.

[Moray]

You know, Yummymummy66, although it's hardly every prosecuted, that's actually considered "Defacing Currency". Just an FYI

[magicdomino]

You know, Yummymummy66, although it's hardly every prosecuted, that's actually considered "Defacing Currency". Just an FYI

Yet hundreds of members of Where's George do it every day.      The originator of the site did get a visit from the Secret Service when someone got a hundred dollars worth of ones from the bank, marked and registered them, then deposited them back at the bank.  Where's George now specifies that bills must be marked and distributed in the natural process of commerce (that is, getting bills as change, and spending them at stores as opposed to mass dumpings).

It has crossed my mind that I not only can identify a Where's George bill as mine, I can even pull up the number on the bill from the website.

[blarg314]

You know, Yummymummy66, although it's hardly every prosecuted, that's actually considered "Defacing Currency". Just an FYI

Yet hundreds of members of Where's George do it every day.      The originator of the site did get a visit from the Secret Service when someone got a hundred dollars worth of ones from the bank, marked and registered them, then deposited them back at the bank.  Where's George now specifies that bills must be marked and distributed in the natural process of commerce (that is, getting bills as change, and spending them at stores as opposed to mass dumpings).

It has crossed my mind that I not only can identify a Where's George bill as mine, I can even pull up the number on the bill from the website.

I think that falls under the category of a cool idea as long as you're the only one doing it. If everyone decided it was a great idea and started stamping their bills, you'd very quickly have money that was so coated in stamps of lips and stars and flowers that it would need to be removed from circulation.

[YummyMummy66]

You know, Yummymummy66, although it's hardly every prosecuted, that's actually considered "Defacing Currency". Just an FYI

Yes, technically I do know this as I have worked in banking.  I do not do it as often as my dad did, but sometimes still do.  Usually for special occasions like holiday money and gifts, etc.

Now, don't you all go out there and steal my dad's idea!