Most graves are rather sedate affairs. Memorial stones typically contain the names, dates of birth and death, and brief and respectable epitaphs that tell you nothing about the person buried beneath them.

The meaning behind some memorials may never be known, particularly when those who knew the deceased are dead and gone themselves. For some people, however, their final resting place is a chance to have the last word in an argument or to celebrate their achievements in life.

Whatever the reason for their creation, some gravestones make for very interesting reading.

10 Sir Jeffrey Hudson

Born in 1619, Sir Jeffrey Hudson had a unique claim to fame when he was alive and his memorial ensures that he will remembered for it in death. Hudson was a dwarf in the court of Queen Henrietta Maria. He was a court jester, an explorer, a soldier, and a slave. He was even captured by pirates.

But his finest hour came when he was hidden inside a pie which was then presented to King Charles I. At some point, Hudson burst out of the pie, presumably to cries of “Surprise!” He was dressed in a miniature set of armor made especially for him. Along with a monkey and a giant, he became a kind of pet of the royal family. The giant and the dwarf developed an act for the entertainment of the royal court.

Hudson was often used to deliver messages for the royal family while they were in the midst of civil war. He was promoted to the position of Captain of Horse, supposedly for being a crack shot and a good rider.

In 1644, Hudson challenged a man to a duel and shot his opponent dead, which was unfortunate as his enemy had armed himself only with a water pistol. Hudson was sentenced to death. But after the queen’s intervention, he was exiled instead.

Soon after, he was captured by Barbary pirates and sold into slavery in Africa. Hudson spent 25 years as a slave, during which time he grew 56 centimeters (22 in). He claimed that his growth spurt was caused by the constant “buggery” he was subjected to. Eventually, he was rescued, only to be brought home and thrown into prison for being Catholic. He spent the next 14 years there.^[1]

Though Hudson’s life was full of adventure, his memorial contains only the line, “A Dwarf presented in a pie to King Charles 1st.” However, if you wanted something that summed up the strange nature of Jeffrey Hudson’s life, that line is probably as good as any.

9 Jules Verne

The author Jules Verne is considered to be one of the founders of modern science fiction writing. The author of Around the World in 80 Days and 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea wanted to create a new genre that combined fiction with scientific fact—or as he called it, “scientifiction.”^[2]

So it was natural that Verne would want a memorial at his death that was both remarkable and challenged the imagination. The grave seems perfectly conventional at first. It has a headstone giving details of his birth and death.

At the base of the gravestone, however, a statue of a naked man emerges from the ground. Presumably, it represents Jules Verne or possibly Christ pushing back the tombstone and climbing out of the grave with his hand stretched toward the heavens. The piece was designed by Albert-Dominique Roze and is entitled Towards Immortality and Eternal Youth.

The statue is certainly memorable and challenges the imagination, though the purpose is not clear. It is also likely to scare the living daylights out of families visiting the cemetery at dusk.

8 Charles Pigeon

Charles Pigeon seems to have been proud of two things—his family and his invention. Pigeon had invented a gas lamp which did not explode. That would have been handy in 1884.

The lamp won a silver medal at the 1855 Paris Exposition. He sold the lamps in a variety of styles in his own store in Paris and patented the design. He must have made a good living from the lamps because he was able to have a remarkable memorial built on a plot large enough to hold 18 members of his family.

The gravestone takes the shape of a double bed and contains effigies of his wife in evening dress and Pigeon in a business suit. He is reading from a book while his wife listens to him. As if that weren’t grand enough, an angel hovers over them while holding a Pigeon lamp.^[3]

7 Jerry Bibb Balisok

The memorial to Jerry Bibb Balisok is as strange as it is misleading. The plaque declares that Balisok was murdered in Guyana in 1978 and includes the epitaph “Damn The State Dept.”

Balisok’s mother had erected the memorial after seeing what she believed to be the body of her son on TV after the Jonestown Massacre in Guyana, in which more than 900 religious followers of Jim Jones were killed in a mass suicide/murder in their compound-cum-temple. It is unclear why she thought Balisok was there.

Balisok, a one-time professional wrestler known as Mr. X, fled the US with his girlfriend after being charged with check fraud. The bodies recovered after the Jonestown Massacre were so badly burned that they were unidentifiable. But Mrs. Balisok was convinced that her son was dead and erected the memorial stone over an empty grave.

Balisok’s mother died in 1983, maintaining to the end of her life that her son had been killed in the massacre. Perhaps it was just as well that she died when she did. In 1989, Balisok resurfaced after being charged with the attempted murder of his business partner. It turned out that Balisok had assumed a stolen identity when he first absconded and had left a trail of criminal carnage behind him ever since.^[4]

6 Jonathan And Mary Reed

They say true love is hard to find. So when you do find someone you are happy with, why let a little thing like death come between you? When Jonathan Reed’s wife, Mary, died in 1893, he laid her to rest in a mausoleum in Brooklyn and placed an empty coffin next to it for himself.

Reed decorated the tomb “like a living room in a fine house,” with a stove, paintings on the wall, a clock, and pictures of Mary. He even included his wife’s half-finished knitting and their pet parrot. When the parrot died, he had it stuffed and returned it to its perch.

Jonathan Reed visited his wife in the mausoleum every day until his death over 10 years later. He would arrive just as the cemetery opened and only left when they were locking the gates each night.

Soon he was joined by friends and then visitors from around the world, including seven Buddhist monks who traveled from Burma specifically to visit the mausoleum. Several ladies made it their mission to try to cure Jonathan Reed of his grief, although they were not successful.

In 1905, Jonathan Reed was found dead on the floor of the mausoleum. It is said that his arm was outstretched toward his wife. He was finally laid to rest beside her.^[5]

5 Giles Corey

Giles Corey was a farmer in Salem when he was accused of witchcraft in 1692. An unpopular man, he had a reputation for violence, having once been charged with beating his farmhand to death. Corey’s wife was initially charged with witchcraft, and Giles Corey even testified against her.

Then a number of villagers accused Corey of using witchcraft against them. When his accusers appeared to suffer fits in the courtroom, Corey’s hands were bound to prevent him from casting spells on them. After his arrest, he refused to testify further against his wife.

Giles Corey refused to enter a plea at the trial, and he was tortured in an attempt to make him speak. He was stripped naked and laid on the ground. Then a board was placed on top of him. Heavy stones were positioned on the board to crush him. More stones were added over several days of torture to try to compel him to speak.

Despite the torture, Corey supposedly refused to speak, except to urge his tormentors to add “more weight.” His body was ordered to be buried in an unmarked grave on Gallows Hill.

Two days after Giles Corey’s death, his wife was hanged in the same place. A simple gravestone was added at a later date with his name, the date of his death, and the legend “Pressed to Death.”^[6]

4 Robert Clay Allison

Robert Clay Allison was a gunslinger of the Old West. Having fought for the Confederacy, he became a cattle herder. In 1870, he killed Charles Kennedy by breaking into the jail where Kennedy was held, putting a rope around his neck, and dragging him behind his horse up and down the main street until he was decapitated. It wasn’t Allison’s first killing. Or, sadly, his last.

Allison was not killed in a gunfight. Instead, a freak accident took his life when a sack of grain fell from a moving wagon. As Allison reached for it, he fell and the wagon wheel ran over his head.

He is buried in Reeves County, Texas. Allison was said to have disliked his reputation as a shootist and did everything he could to live it down. Perhaps, then, he would not have been too happy with his headstone. It reads: “He never killed a man that did not need killing.”^[7]

3 Lilly E. Gray

The grave of Lilly E. Gray is perhaps the most interesting thing about her. Born in 1880, she seems to have led a fairly humdrum life until she married Elmer Gray, who had served multiple prison sentences for burglary. Elmer Gray seems to have been something of a conspiracy theorist. During one of his parole hearings, he alleged that he had been “kidnapped by five democrat officials.”

Elmer and Lilly married when she was 72 and he was just a year younger. She died of natural causes six years later.

Her life would have been entirely unremarkable, except to her family, had it not been for the headstone which Elmer Gray erected over his wife’s grave. It read: “Lilly Edith Gray, Victim of the Beast 666.”^[8]

There is no clue on the grave as to the meaning, but its ominous words have spawned dozens of theories. Most of them, shall we say, are incapable of proof. It is known that Elmer Gray in his last years had some mental health issues, so the most likely explanation is that he ordered his wife’s stone while delusional.

Still. It makes for a good story.

2 Rosalia Lombardo

Rosalia Lombardo was born in 1918 in Sicily and died just two years later. Devastated by grief, her father approached the famous embalmer Dr. Alfredo Salafia and asked him to preserve her body. Hers was one of the very last corpses to be placed in the Capuchin Catacombs of Palermo.

Dr. Salafia did such a good job that Rosalia looked as though she were sleeping. Her body was placed in a glass tomb in a small chapel at the end of the catacombs. She is so lifelike that many locals believed that she was a doll. Although the body has begun to decay in recent years, Dr. Salafia’s skill was highly regarded and his embalming technique is a closely guarded secret.^[9]

Quite why Rosalia’s father wanted to preserve his daughter forever is not known. But thanks to the skills of Dr. Salafia and the Capuchin monks who guarded the tomb, Sleeping Beauty, as she came to be called, sleeps on.

1 Timothy Clark Smith

Timothy Clark Smith must have been a careful man. The sort of person who looks twice before crossing the road. During the 17th century, it is true that a large number of cases of apparently dead people narrowly escaped being buried alive. There is no way to tell how many more failed to wake up in time.

Smith was a teacher, merchant, clerk, and finally a doctor. He took a position as a staff surgeon in the Russian army and probably saw a number of disturbing near misses as part of his job. He was said to be mortally afraid of contracting sleeping sickness and waking in his grave.

So when he died in 1893, it was perhaps inevitable that he would take steps to make sure that he could attract attention if he needed to. He installed a viewing window in his coffin and ensured that the window was positioned at the bottom of a cement tube that led to the surface. It is also believed that he was buried with a hammer and chisel and held a bell in his hand to attract the attention of rescuers.^[10]

Smith’s grave can still be seen in the cemetery in Vermont, and the viewing window is still there. Unfortunately—or fortunately, depending on your point of view—Smith did not take into account the effect of condensation on the glass. It is now almost impossible to see anything in the grave below.

Ward Hazell is a writer who travels and an occasional travel writer.

Art is a difficult profession. You can spend decades learning the skills of drawing, draftsmanship, and composition. Still, you will be no good if you lack natural aptitude.

Of course, you can always go another way: Slap some paint on a canvas, and sell it for millions. Here are 10 artists who created works with a single color. Whether they are great works or not depends on your interpretation of their meaning.

See Also: 10 Pop Culture Versions Of Famous Paintings

10 Abstract Painting
Ad Reinhardt

Adolf “Ad” Reinhardt was an abstract painter from New York who was an early proponent of abstract expressionism—the subconscious application of colors and shapes. His early works included geometric forms and other traditional techniques. After the 1940s, however, he moved into works composed of entirely one color.

For the last 10 years of his life, he only produced a series of square canvases painted entirely black. These were described as his “ultimate paintings.” After he had painted these black squares, he believed that there would be nothing left for anyone to paint.^[1]

At first glance, they may appear entirely featureless. But there are subtle variations. To notice them demands a lot of time and effort that not everyone is willing to give. When they were first displayed at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, one visitor canceled his membership in protest.

9 Black Square
Kazimir Malevich

In 1913, the year that Ad Reinhardt was born, Kazimir Malevich prefigured his ultimate paintings with his own black square. While Reinhardt filled his canvas with black, Malevich simply painted a black square in the center of his creation. He wrote, “In the year 1913, trying desperately to free art from the dead weight of the real world, I took refuge in the form of the square.”

Black Square was described by some as the “first time someone made a painting that wasn’t of something.” It was also called the “zero point of art” by Malevich himself to mark everything that came after it as modern.

Although the painting was once a uniform black, age has made a crazed path of cracks across the surface to reveal the white beneath.^[2]

8 White Paintings
Robert Rauschenberg

Yet another series of black paintings was produced by Robert Rauschenberg in the early years of his career. Painted over newspaper glued to canvas, they look like peeling bark. But he also produced a series of white paintings.

The five paintings in the White series are actually collections of one, two, three, four, or seven identical white canvases to be hung together. When first exhibited, they were considered a cheap trick, but they can now be found in galleries around the world. As the paint degraded with time, they had to be repainted various times by Rauschenberg’s friends to maintain them.

Rauschenberg was a friend of the composer John Cage. He famously wrote a piece of music called 4’33”, where a pianist or other instrumental performers sit silently for 4 minutes and 33 seconds. As a result, the piece is composed of sounds of the environment. Perhaps, this is an ideal accompaniment to these paintings.^[3]

7 Monochrome White Painting
Li Yuan-chia

Li Yuan-chia, one of the most noteworthy Chinese artists of the 20th century, worked in painting, sculpture, furniture, and hanging mobiles. He created Monochrome White Painting in 1963. Although casual observation presents a blank white surface, there are features which can be detected at close range.^[4]

Cardboard circles have been attached to the canvas and painted over in the same white as the background. Li described the circles as “cosmic points.” He considered the dots to be the beginning and end of all things. These points were related to the position of things within the boundless space of the universe. The painting was originally titled 2=2-2.

6 The Dylan Painting
Brice Marden

Brice Marden named The Dylan Painting after his friend Bob Dylan because Marden was creating it to help the singer’s career. However, by the time the artwork was completed, Dylan, a future Nobel Laureate, was already more famous than Marden. So the painting remained with Marden.^[5]

The canvas was painted with turpentine and beeswax, a combo to which the gray color had been added. Then the artist used a spatula to flatten the surface while leaving marks to add evidence of his work. There was also a strip of unpainted canvas left bare at the bottom of the artwork. Paint was allowed to drip there, and other marks remained to show the process of creation.

5 Achrome
Piero Manzoni

Piero Manzoni is best known for his ironic take on art. His greatest work was titled Artist’s Shit. Ninety cans were supposedly filled with the artist’s waste and sold at the price of each can’s weight in gold. However, he worked in slightly more traditional media as well.

His series of works called Achromes look white but were described by the artist as colorless. He began the series with simple white canvases. Sometimes, they were heavily painted to show the texture of the paints. Later works were gouged and crossed with lines.

Toward the end of the series, Manzoni stopped using canvas and began using cotton, acrylic resin, fiberglass, and painted bread rolls. He also started to tint his works with pigments that would change color over time.^[6]

4 Surrogate Paintings
Allan McCollum

Allan McCollum has reduced paintings to a generic form. His works are placeholders for paintings. Although his pieces look like paintings in frames, they are actually plaster casts which have been painted to look like that. There isn’t any difference between the painting inside and the frame. No two are identical. They are mass-produced yet handmade works.^[7]

The painting inside each “frame” is perfectly featureless with no trace of the artist’s hand. His studio is set up like a production line, with his assistants taking roles in each stage. The Surrogate Paintings bridge the gap between art and automation.

3 Grey
Gerhard Richter

Gerhard Richter’s paintings range from richly detailed, almost photo-realistic portraits to brightly colored abstracts. He has even designed a stained glass window for Cologne Cathedral which is formed of squares of vibrant glass. In addition to these works, he has created a series of “grey paintings.”

In varying shades of gray, the paintings run from featureless matte works to complex patterns. The majority were created in the 1960s and ’70s. Richter considers “grey” to be the perfect color to represent nothingness. He explained, “It does not trigger off feelings or associations, it is actually neither visible nor invisible.”^[8]

2 Veil
Shirazeh Houshiary

Shirazeh Houshiary is an Iranian artist and former nominee for the prestigious Turner Prize. Her works in conceptual art hang in the New York Museum of Modern Art and the Tate Collection.

Her 1999 painting Veil appears to be a simple painted black square. She considers Veil to be a self-portrait. The artist wrote Sufi phrases in Arabic on the black painted canvas in graphite. Even at close range, these are almost impossible to see. Houshiary considers her works as somewhere between painting and drawing.^[9]

1 IKB 79
Yves Klein

Traditionally, blue was a rare color in art. The sources for blue paint were often expensive because it was hard to produce. Lapis lazuli, the pigment in ultramarine, had to be imported from Afghanistan. Yves Klein decided that blue would be the medium of his life.^[10]

In 1946, while lying on a beach with his friends, Klein stared up at the blue sky. He took his hand and signed his name on the sky, claiming it as his own. As he described the event:

“That day, as I lay stretched upon the beach of Nice, I began to feel hatred for birds which flew back and forth across my blue sky, cloudless sky, because they tried to bore holes in my greatest and most beautiful work.”

Working with a pigment maker, he created—and trademarked—his own version of ultramarine called “International Klein Blue.”

The thrill of searching through thrift shops and flea markets is that you never know what you will find. Chances are that you will find something that catches your eye for a couple of bucks and go home happy. Of course part of the allure is that you might grab a bargain. One person’s trash is another person’s treasure after all. Sometimes that trash really is treasure.

Here are ten things found at flea markets that were secretly worth a fortune.

Top 10 Accidental Discoveries

10 Alexander Calder Necklace

Alexander Calder was a 20th century American sculptor from a family of famous artists. His wire and metal mobile sculptures can be found in galleries and museums across the world. As well as paintings, prints, and a range of other art forms Calder also turned his hand to jewellery.

His rings, necklaces, and earrings were usually made of brass and steel. They were not commercial items and he usually made them specifically as gifts for his artistic friends. Joan Miro got a ring, Peggy Guggenheim received earrings, and Georgia O’Keefe was given a Calder broach. When a piece of Calder jewellery turns up at auction you can expect it to make big bucks.

Norma Ifill got a great bargain then when she picked up a necklace for just $15 at a Brooklyn flea market. Once the Alexander Calder estate authenticated it the necklace made $267,750 at auction.^[1]

9 Martin Johnson Heade Paintings

The art usually found at rummage sales is either bad, creepy, or a reproduction. When a man from Wisconsin found a charming little painting of some flowers for a low price he snapped it up. He had a pressing need for the picture too – he used it to cover up an annoying hole in his wall. One day while playing an art based game he recognised a painting similar to the one on his wall. Contacting a museum its value was realised and it subsequently sold for $1.25 million.

Oddly this was not the first time a Meade painting was picked up for a bargain. “Two Magnolias on Blue Plush” was bought for just $29 but later sold for $882,500. One person was lucky enough to get two Heade paintings for just $100 at an estate sale. The larger of the two, “Magnolia Blossoms on Blue Velvet,” was auctioned for $937,500.

If you live in the United States and happen to have a painting of flowers resting on fabric it might just be worth getting it valued.^[2]

8 Chinese Bowl

Lots of the stuff found in thrift shops will have ‘Made in China’ stamped somewhere on them. One Chinese item that did not turned out to be 1000 years old and worth more than you might expect.

Picked up for just $3 the white bowl is not immediately striking. It is only five inches in diameter and plain white in colour. It had a pretty pattern on the inside though that attracted the buyer enough to part with their dollar bills. The owners put the bowl on display in their living room and at any moment they might have knocked it over. Still, they would only have lost $3.

After a while however the owners became interested in the history of their bowl and took it to an auction house. After realising it was from the Song dynasty of Chinese history and one of the most valuable types of ceramic produced at the time – Ding pottery.^[3]

When sold at Sotheby’s it raised $2.225 million.

7 Declaration of Independence

There is no more uniquely American document than the Declaration of Independence. Children learn about it, politicians refer to it, and Nicolas Cage tries to steal it in movies. You might expect then that all the copies of it are located and kept in secure locations. Yet only a few of the copies originally sent out in 1776 are still known to exist.

In 1989 an old painting was bought for $4 at a flea market. The painting however was not what the buyer was after, he liked the look of the wooden frame. When he pried the painting from the frame something slipped out of the back – a Declaration of Independence. In pristine condition the document was taken to an auction house who immediately realised what it might be worth.

The copy that was found was one of just 24 known to exist that were printed for July 4th, 1776 in Philadelphia. When sold at Sotheby’s the surprise find made $2.42 million.^[4]

6 Constable Painting

John Constable is one of Britain’s most famous painters. His ‘The Hay Wain’ is often voted as the nation’s favourite paintings. When one person bought a job lot of trinkets for £30 he never expected that one of them would turn out to be a painting by Constable.

One of the paintings found in his collection was no bigger than a postcard but was in a large and gilded frame. When the original buyer gave the picture to his son Robert Darvell he decided to investigate the little masterpiece. A faint signature on the back of the painting was the only clue that it might be more than it seemed.

Turning the painting over to a British television show that investigates whether art works are real or forgeries it took a year of study to confirm the painting was by John Constable. With that attribution the painting suddenly leapt up in value – experts suggested a valuation of £250,000.^[5]

Top 10 Times Hurricanes Left Strange Things Behind

5 Renoir Painting

Mixed boxes at junk sales generally contain stuff that could not be sold on their own. One buyer took a chance though and came out with a valuable Impressionist painting. Usually the clues to whether a painting is worth a lot can be quite subtle but in this case they were written right on the frame.

It was only after the painting was bought for $7 that the new owner spotted the name on the frame – Renoir. Of course you can’t just trust everything written on a frame so the owner looked at a note on the back referring a gallery. By checking the number on the note against a catalogue the owner found a picture that looked exactly like the one she bought.

‘Paysage Bords de Seine,’ as Renoir called the painting, dates from 1879 but had not been known to the art world since 1926. With its authenticity confirmed it is thought to be worth at least $75,000.^[6]

4 Andy Warhol Sketch

If you learn one thing from this article it is that you should always take a peek behind the frame of any paintings you pick up in a thrift shop. When Andy Fields bought 5 paintings for $5 in Las Vegas he already thought he had got a bargain. It was only when he reframed them that he discovered a sketch hidden behind one of them.

A colourful face was staring back at Fields and there was a subtle clue as to who the artist might have been – the name Andy Warhol. It is now known that the sketch is of 1930s singer Rudy Vallee and was done when Warhol was just ten years old. The bright colours already show some of the themes Warhol would adopt in his later artworks.

Though Fields does not want to sell the work yet some experts think it could be worth up to $2 million. Andy Warhol’s brother on the other hand considers the work a fake. The picture went up for sale on eBay for £1.25 million.^[7]

3 Chinese Libation Cup

For $4 you would not expect a cup to be made from anything other than the cheapest plastics. One intricately decorated cup picked up in an Australian charity shop looked like particularly stained plastic at that. But when the cup was examined by experts it was realised that it was carved from rhino hand and was a rare Chinese libation cup.

Libation cups in China were often carved from rhino horn and were given to scholars who had done especially well in examinations. The cup would have been used at communal and special events. The one picked up for a few bucks in a charity shop was decorated with magnolia flowers and dated from the 17th century.

Because of a small chip in the rim of the cup its value was reduced. It made a mere $75,640 at auction.^[8]

2 26-Carat Diamond

All that glitters at a car boot sale is not gold. Boxes piled high with jewellery are a common sight at yard sales but it is usually a safe bet that none have any gold or diamonds in them. When one person saw a ring with a large stone in the middle they assumed it was just a chunk of glass. They paid around £10 ($13) for it and enjoyed the ring as a piece of costume jewellery.

Now known as the Tenner Ring for its price the owner wore it as she went about her daily tasks. It was only after thirty years of enjoying her ring that she suspected it might be real. An auction house confirmed that the stone in the ring was actually a large and important diamond cut in the 19th century. In total the diamond weighed in at 26.27 carats.

The diamond ring fetched £656,750 (850,000 USD) when put up for sale.^[9]

1 Fabergé Egg

If you go to a flea market it is not likely that you will end up spending $14,000. One dealer in scrap gold however was there looking for objects he could melt down and sell off for their weight in gold. When he spotted a highly decorated egg with a hefty amount of gold in it he was prepared to pay a hefty price for it. He almost lost the real value of his investment however when he nearly melted down a Fabergé Egg.

Karl Fabergé was one of the most famous jewellers in 19th century Russia. Each Easter he was tasked with producing gifts for the Russian Imperial family. Often these took the form of elaborately jewelled and decorated golden eggs. After the Russian Revolution this collection of eggs was scattered across the world.

The one found at the flea market was probably made for Czar Alexander III to give to the Empress Maria Feodorovna in 1887. The last time it had been sold was in 1964 for just over $2000. When the egg was reappraised after its discovery it was valued at as much as $33 million.^[10]

10 Accidental Inventions That Changed The World

The key to boosting your net worth is simple—spend less than you make, but doing it can be challenging.

Capitalism has brought us many benefits—we have more choices than ever before, and everything we might want is available for a price. But if we are being cynical, we could say that capitalism thrives best when everyone is in debt but has sufficient resources to pay back the money they owe and ideally get to a position where they can take on more debt.

With our desire to increase our spending, here are 10 habits that can boost your net worth.

Related: Top 10 Tremendous Wastes Of Money

10 Make Every Dollar Count

You can cut your day-to-day expenses with careful planning and shopping. Groceries are the best example. Before you go to the store:

1. Make a list and stick to it.
2. Look for offers and buy more things you regularly need when the price is right. You can always freeze or store extra products.
3. Buy store-brand goods instead of name-brands that often sell at a premium.

The other ways to save money on your shopping expenditures include:

• Don’t be tempted by extras you don’t need. There’s nothing wrong with a treat now and again, but the cost should come from your regular budget.
• Try using cheaper cuts of meat than you usually use.
• If you are making a meal for two or four, make extra and freeze it to make another meal.
• Look for offers, and haggle over more expensive items. For example, if you need a new freezer, the store will often offer a discount on display models.
• Cancel unused or unneeded subscriptions such as Spotify or HelloFresh.

One other area where you can save a lot of money is by pooling resources with your neighbors. Why does every house with a lawn have a lawnmower? Why not come together and share one for the block?

9 Invest in the Future

If you’ve got money to spare, you may be willing to gamble on the stock market. It’s unlikely that you’ll find the next Microsoft before anyone else, but some investors make a lot of money from the market. But, to do this, you need to know about market trends and predictability.

You can build a reasonably safe portfolio of shares. If you think the stock market is for you, you can research low-risk options on the internet, but beware of hidden trade fees. Possible investments include treasury bonds offering solid, if not exciting, rates of return. Gold, and other precious metals, are a traditional standby.

You don’t have to spend a lot of money on your original investment, but this should be money that you can spare and leave to accrue earnings.

8 Keep Learning

Lifelong learning might seem to have little to do with net worth. However, if you study the habits of the rich, you’ll find that most of them are keenly aware of the world around them and keep up to date on trends and tendencies.

You can check out online platforms such as Coursera or edX to find various online courses that keep your brain active. There are courses on every subject under the sun, from astrophysics to zoology, and many that help students understand finance. On both platforms, there are many courses that you can take for free.

We know that a good education is a solid investment, yet many of us stop learning once our college days are over. We shouldn’t stop.

7 Build a Nest Egg

If you squirrel money under your mattress, it will be handy in an emergency, but inflation will gnaw at its value. A better option is to open a savings account. As you explore various banking systems, check the interest rate and if the institution charges you for your account maintenance.

Once you have found an account that suits you, try to get into the habit of putting a small sum into it every week or month. Getting into the habit of saving a small sum regularly is better for your current budget. When you feel ready, you can increase your weekly/monthly savings. You should also encourage your kids to put money in their own savings accounts.

You will come across some financial advisers who suggest that your savings should hurt. They mean that you should save more than you feel comfortable with and that making this a habit will curtail your usual expenses. There’s some truth in this, but if you save more than you can afford, you will probably find that you are dipping into your savings account to meet regular bills. This is not ideal.

6 Look for Alternative or Additional Income

All of us have skills, and often those skills are underused. Whether you already have a job or not, you might want to develop an extra source of income. Why not use your skills to make a little extra cash?

For example, you could look at Craigslist and advertise your dog walking services there. The age of the internet has brought opportunities to turn your skills into money-making ventures. Even if your local economy is in the doldrums, you might find opportunities in areas you hadn’t considered.

An extra revenue stream is a great way to boost your net worth and goes toward reinforcing your income should you hit troubled times.

5 Network to Gain More Opportunities

A proverb tells us: “It’s not what you know but who you know.”

It may sound cynical, but it’s how most of us operate. You’re more likely to turn to someone you know for help than a stranger. If you have abilities and are looking for a way to make some extra cash, you might need to broaden your range of acquaintances. Let people know that you are available and good at what you do.

At first, you might find yourself doing favors for friends and then friends of friends. There’s nothing wrong with that, but make sure that they know that you expect them to pay for jobs that take up your time. Ideally, they know this in advance—it’s embarrassing to ask someone for money when they thought you were helping out for free.

Our short video gives you some ideas on how to extend your network.

4 Look after Your Body

If you are out of shape and live on a diet of pizza, consider changing your lifestyle. Physical fitness and good nutrition make you feel better and stay sharper. You will have more energy and be able to spend more quality time working on building your net worth.

Keeping fit and watching what you eat soon becomes a habit and can significantly cut your medical bills and even fast food spending. Once you start a routine, you will quickly get used to it. Start slowly—maybe a short walk after lunch. You will soon see the benefits.

3 Catch Some Serious ZZZs

Many successful people stick to a routine. And an important part of that routine is a regular sleeping pattern. Matthew Walker, a neuroscientist from UC Berkeley, said: “Human beings are the only species that deliberately deprive themselves of sleep for no apparent gain. Many people walk through their lives in an underslept state, not realizing it.”

Like keeping fit, getting into the habit of regular sleep will make you feel more alert and healthier. You will feel better able to meet the challenges of the day and work more efficiently. Quality work can lead to improved earnings and a better net worth.

2 Plan, Plan, Plan

Another habit that successful people cultivate is planning. You don’t need to have every minute accounted for; you will need some flexibility. But you should have a rough idea of how to use your time. This will allow you time to make space for activities that may increase your net worth while spending less time on activities such as watching the latest must-see show on Netflix.

1 Debt Be Gone

The main drag on most people’s income is debt. The average household debt in the United States is around $165,000. For most people, this is a weight that seems to pull them backward, causes a lot of worries, and stops them from increasing their personal wealth.

Debt is a double-edged sword. It’s difficult to manage modern life without it. The problem is that many of us take out debt—usually on credit cards—to cover purchases we don’t need to make. Marketers spend a lot of time, money, and effort trying to persuade us that we don’t need to save. What we want, we can have now. It’s a trap that many of us fall into.

Our video gives us some ideas about how to cut our personal debts. Debts are expensive and should be cut whenever possible. We don’t like to think about our debts, but we should—they won’t go away of their own accord. If you are having trouble with personal debt, you can contact your local credit counseling organization for help and advice or visit the website www.debt.org.

Off the beaten track is one thing, but there are places in the world that the hardiest, most intrepid adventurers would think twice about traveling to. Whether because the climate is so harsh, or the place is so remote, some destinations just don’t seem to be worth the effort.

Here, we look at ten locations you probably would not want to choose for your next holiday. That is, unless you like long trips, frostbite, and very few amenities upon arrival. These places push the adage, “It’s the journey, not the destination,” to its absolute limit.

10 Pitcairn Island

Lying halfway between New Zealand and the Americas, Pitcairn Island is one of the most remote places on Earth. Only 10 kilometers (6 mi) long and 4 kilometers (2.5 mi) wide, Pitcairn was first discovered in 1767. The island was famously settled by mutineers from the HMS Bounty, led by Fletcher Christian. The inhabitants of Pitcairn today are descendants of this crew.

Today, there are only a few islanders left, despite efforts to recruit incomers. It appears that no one wants to move to an island with one shop, where orders need to be placed three months in advance. Though the island now has electricity and even the Internet, it is so isolated and barren that its major export used to be stamps. But who uses stamps anymore?^[1]

If you fancy a visit, you can either try to hitch a ride with a passing container ship or fly to French Polynesia and then take a 30-hour boat ride. However, even if you do want to visit, you need to fill out an application, which will probably be refused. It seems that the Pitcairn residents are determined to remain cut off from the rest of the world and have adopted their own, sometimes peculiar, way of life.

9 Ittoqqortoormiit

Ittoqqortoormiit is the most isolated town in Greenland, a country not known for its accessibility. The area’s inhabitants are mainly reindeer, musk oxen, and walruses, with only the occasional human. It is hard to reach, being cut off from shipping by ice for nine months of the year, and the land is crisscrossed by fjords.

The 450 locals survive mainly by ice fishing and hunting, as well as some tourism during the three months that ships are able to dock. They also seem to spend a lot of time painting their homes in bright colors.

Those visitors who do make it in come for the wildlife and the scenery. Ittoqqortoormiit is surrounded by national parks and magnificent fjords.^[2]

Ittoqqortoormiit is completely dark for two months from mid-November to mid-January; the Sun does not rise at all. During this time, locals mostly sit in their homes and look through color catalogues to decide what color to paint their house next year.

8 Edinburgh Of The Seven Seas

In the middle of the South Atlantic Ocean, on the volcanic island of Tristan da Cunha, you will find a settlement named Edinburgh of the Seven Seas. Its nearest neighbor, Saint Helena (the island where Napoleon was imprisoned) is 2,173 kilometers (1,350 mi) away.

Getting to the island is difficult. Few ships pass that way. Visitors usually catch a lift with polar explorer vessels from Cape Town, which pass around nine or ten times a year. There are around 250 inhabitants on the island, along with a load of penguins, its very own albatross, and a nine-hole golf course that was built by a homesick British official once stationed there. However, the fierce winds and steep slopes make play somewhat tricky and are unlikely to improve your handicap.

The inhabitants of Edinburgh of the Seven Seas are all descendants of the original garrison, stationed on the island to prevent it from being used as a staging post in a rescue mission for Napoleon. After the garrison withdrew, a few men chose to stay behind and started a community founded on cooperation and equality.^[3]

However, the community is shrinking, and the islanders have begun to try to recruit newcomers to boost their numbers. They have recently advertised for farmers to join the community and help grow its staple crop of potatoes. Applicants must enjoy their own company and be prepared to give it a good try.

7 Changtang

Changtang is situated on the Roof of The World. With an elevation of over 4,000 meters (13,000 ft), it covers a large area of Tibet, on the border with India. The area is vast but mostly uninhabited except for the snow leopards, brown bears, blue sheep, and wild yak.

Changtang is home to a few nomadic people who make a living from herding animals through the land. At one point, there were up to half a million people eking a living on land too barren for crops. The weather in Changtang is unpredictable at best, with short summers, bitter winters, and frequent storms, but those who brave it are rewarded with spectacular views and amazing wildlife.

Those inhabitants that there are have managed until recent times without the need for money, having established a sophisticated barter system. However, this is changing due to government regulation and taxation. Ah, progress.^[4]

6 Utqiagvik

Formerly known as Barrow, Utqiagvik, Alaska, is the northernmost town in the United States. It occupies 55 square kilometers (21 mi²) and is 515 kilometers (320 mi) north of the Arctic Circle. Its population totals roughly 4,000 people, mostly Inupiat Eskimos. There are few attractions for visitors who do make the trip, unless they are particularly fond of ice and snow, although there is always the possibility of catching sight of a polar bear scavenging for food around the municipal dump.^[5]

However, changes in global temperatures are affecting the region, and sightings of animals previously unknown in these areas are being reported. There are even reports of polar bears and grizzly bears mating, producing hybrid “grolar” bears. It is believed that this is not the first time that these species have interbred. Scientists have noticed similarities in the bears’ DNA structure which leads them to believe that the two species have crossbred in the past when the destruction of their habitats has threatened their continued existence.

Though the wildlife may have adapted to the changes in habitat, the Inupiat Eskimos have sometimes struggled to adjust to the growing economic development of the area, and rates of depression and suicide have increased as a result.

5 Easter Island

One of the most famous and mysterious places on Earth, Easter Island, well off the coast of Chile, is still one of the most inaccessible. It was “discovered” on Easter Sunday 1722 by a group of Dutch explorers, thus ignoring the island’s indigenous population, such as it was. The island once boasted a population of 12,000, but this had dwindled to 111 by the time the explorers arrived, and to 101 ten minutes later.

In 1722, the inhabitants of Easter Island were slowly starving to death. The population had dwindled over the last few centuries, it seems, from starvation due to the felling of the trees on the island. Some of the trees would have been cut down to transport the stones, while others would have been burned for firewood or cleared for growing crops. It is also believed that the seeds of the great palm trees were eaten by rats, which prevented further growth. Unfortunately, the explorers were not to be the islanders’ salvation. Those of the natives who were not shot as the incomers landed mostly succumbed to smallpox and syphilis, and soon, the native population was completely wiped out.

How the original settlers arrived there is a mystery, as is the reason they populated the island with stone carvings that perpetually looked out not to the sea but over the island. There are nearly 900 moai (the local name for the statues) on the island, some of them unfinished. The stones weighed up to 80 tons and were somehow moved from the quarry to their lookout posts around the island.^[6]

4 The Kerguelen Islands

Once called the Desolation Islands, the Kerguelen Islands’ rebranding doesn’t quite disguise the fact that the islands really are among the most desolate places in the world. Situated in the Southern Indian Ocean, Kerguelen is made up mostly of inhospitable peaks and active glaciers.^[7]

The islands are home to large penguin and seal populations, though not many people. Most of the residents are French scientists who are studying the weather and climate change. The islands contain no native mammals, though the marine ecosystems are teeming with life. The whaling ships that were once a common sight in the area have now been banned, and the numbers of whales and seals are increasing every year.

Unless you are a marine biologist or a meteorologist who speaks fluent French, it is unlikely that you will ever visit the Desolation Islands, but as there is little there but marine biology and weather, you probably wouldn’t miss it.

3 McMurdo Station

McMurdo Station is built on Hut Point Peninsula on Ross Island. This is the most southerly piece of solid ground accessible to ships. The station was established in 1955 as a hub for the US Antarctic Program. It boasts a harbor, a landing strip, a helipad, and all the facilities needed to provide year-round support for scientists and researchers working in the area.

The inhabitants number around 250 during the winter but can rise to over 1,000 during the summer months. Ross Island itself contains a number of research stations, a large penguin population, and Mount Erebus, an active volcano.

Hut Point gets its name from the wooden hut erected by the famous explorer Captain Robert Falcon Scott. The hut was later used by Ernest Shackleton in his 1907 Nimrod expedition. It is now protected by the Antarctic Treaty as an Area of Special Protection. The area also contains a number of memorials to Scott’s ill-fated expedition, including a cross on Observation Hill to commemorate the explorers who didn’t make it home.^[8]

2 Socotra

Socotra lies off the coast of Yemen. The island has been isolated from its neighbors for millions of years and has developed its own unique species of flora and fauna. One of the most startling-looking plants found on the island is the dragon blood tree. It was said to have first grown on the spot where two brothers fought to the death. The blood of the two brothers was said to have nourished the tree, which explains why its sap is a crimson red color. Where dragons come into it is anyone’s guess.

The island, known as the Galapagos of the Indian Ocean, is home to over 700 endemic species. Nomadic Bedouin tribes still roam the island, sleeping under the stars in the summer and sheltering from the rain in the winter. However, recent influences from the United Arab Emirates have begun to change Socotra, and the once-remote island is fast becoming an outpost of the UAE.^[9]

1 Oymyakon

Oymyakon is officially the coldest permanently inhabited place on Earth. Situated in Siberia, temperatures at Oymyakon have been recorded as low as –67 degrees Celsius (–80 °F), the lowest temperature ever recorded outside the Antarctic. It is so cold that the town’s official thermometer, installed by some misguided official as a tourist attraction, broke when the mercury inside it froze.^[10]

Oymyakon, meaning “water that never freezes,” is home to a thermal spring, which is probably just as well. Originally built as a stopover point for reindeer herders, who watered their animals at the spring, Oymyakon now has around 500 permanent residents, a shop, and even a school, although this will close if the temperature drops below –50 degrees Celsius (–58 °F). Big softies.

If you travel to Oymyakon, and why wouldn’t you, you can expect to see a lot of snow and not much else. Except, of course, a thermometer. Slightly used.

Ward Hazell is a writer who travels, and an occasional travel writer.

One of the best things about science fiction is how broad a genre it is. Sci-fi movies can be about the exploration of space and distant planets, aliens and monsters, time travel, advanced technology, alternate dimensions, and many more imaginative things. If you’ve seen all of the classic and most popular sci-fi movies, but you’re still hungry for more, then this is the list for you.

Encompassing many of the sub-genres listed above, these hidden gems were all released within the ten-year span between 2011 and 2021. All of them score above 80% on Rotten Tomatoes but were box office bombs, indie films shown at festivals, or have been lost to the murky depths of streaming services. However, these 10 films all deserve wider recognition and are worth a few hours of your time.

Related: 10 Times We Thought We Had Found Proof Of Aliens

10 Prospect (2018)

Prospect is the low-budget feature-length debut of the writing and directing team of Zeek Earl and Chris Caldwell. Developed from a short film of the same name, Prospect follows a father (Jay Duplass) and his teenage daughter (Sophia Thatcher) searching for gemstones on an alien moon and encountering other prospectors (one of which is played by Pedro Pascal). The moon is blanketed by a toxic forest (like Endor from Star Wars but deadly), and the gems look like they come from the mind of David Lynch.

The characters are attempting to make a living on the fringes of their known universe, and this informs the look of the film. A Variety reviewer explains that the visual style “is the antithesis to your typical interstellar blockbuster, from 2001: A Space Odyssey to Passengers, where everything looks new and sleek, as if it were designed by the engineers at Apple.” It feels analog, rather than digital, with spaceships, spacesuits, and weapons looking cobbled together. Earl and Caldwell are now creating a sci-fi TV series for Amazon with the same handmade retro feel.^[1]

9 Attack the Block (2011)

Attack the Block was the writing and directorial debut of Joe Cornish, which stars John Boyega (before his role in Star Wars) and Jodie Whittaker (before her lead role in Doctor Who). The film is set on a council estate in South London and follows a teenage street gang as they defend themselves from an alien invasion. This setup means Attack the Block feels more original than a typical first contact with aliens story.

Den of Geek praises the great cast, the “interesting textual twist on the Amblin-style kids-team-up genre, and the smart use of class politics,” as well as “how authentically London it feels.” Despite being a box office flop, Attack the Block was well received by critics. Now, ten years after its initial release, a sequel has been announced, with both Cornish and Boyega returning. If this one passed you by in 2011, then now is the perfect time to catch up.^[2]

8 Midnight Special (2016)

Midnight Special is a blend between a chase flick and a smart sci-fi film. Directed by Jeff Nichols, the movie focuses on a father (Michael Shannon) on the run from a religious cult and the FBI with his son (Jaeden Martell), who possesses supernatural abilities. While that sounds like it might be in the style of a flashy X-Men movie, Nichols manages to create a pervasive feeling of gritty reality. The film is a breath of fresh air in an oversaturated genre, but despite offering an alternative to mainstream superhero movies, it flopped.

While the premise of Midnight Special sounds like a crowd-pleaser, the ending is divisive. It constantly builds momentum, eventually leading up to the final act reveal (which won’t be spoiled here). One reviewer explains that “after years of brain-numbing visual bombast from Hollywood, here is a sequence that restores your faith in the capacity of special effects to achieve real grace, strangeness, and beauty.” This reveal might not be to everyone’s taste, but it’s worth finding out whether it’s yours.^[3]

7 See You Yesterday (2019)

See You Yesterday is based on a short film of the same name and is the feature-length debut of writer and director Stefon Bristol. The film is about two teenage science prodigies, C.J. (Eden Duncan-Smith) and Sebastian (Danté Crichlow), who invent time travel and then must use it to try and save C.J.’s murdered brother. The rules of time travel essentially follow the logic set out in Back to the Future (1985), and the debt owed to the ’80s classic is even signaled by a cameo appearance from Michael J. Fox (in what was one of his last roles before he retired from acting).

Time travel stories often allow characters numerous do-overs, and See You Yesterday takes this idea and applies it as “a broad metaphor for the rigged systems of social injustice.” While there are moments where the film feels like an adventurous journey with a dash of comedy, there are also moments that are gut-wrenchingly harrowing. Bristol’s movie takes a familiar sci-fi concept but turns it into a hard-hitting story that is, in some ways, grounded in reality.^[4]

6 Coherence (2013)

Coherence is a hard film to summarize without spoilers, so let’s just say it’s about a dinner party where things get weird. Think of it as an episode of The Twilight Zone, which is centered on Schrodinger’s Cat-type science. Rather than talking about the plot, an explanation of how the film was made provides a better understanding of it.

The movie was shot in five days in director James Ward Byrkit’s living room without a crew or script. Byrkit explains that “I always get frustrated with movies and TV shows that feel so false because nobody’s talking in natural rhythms, that I wanted to see what would happen if we didn’t do that.” He created his own outline of the plot, but instead of a script, he provided the actors with a daily “page of notes for their individual character, whether it was a backstory or information about their motivations.” The result is an intriguing movie where the characters talk like real people and have genuine reactions to the twists in the story.^[5]

5 Colossal (2016)

Despite starring Anne Hathaway in the lead role, Colossal failed to create much buzz when it was released. This is unfortunate because it is a genre-defying movie with a lot to say. Hathaway plays Gloria, an unemployed writer struggling with alcoholism who returns to her hometown and reunites with her childhood friend, Oscar, played by Jason Sudeikis. The sci-fi element comes in when a kaiju attacks Seoul, and Gloria realizes that she is connected to it.

Director Nacho Vigalondo heavily borrows imagery from the Godzilla movies, so much so that Godzilla’s copyright owner, Toho, took Vigalondo to court for copyright infringement. The dispute was settled, though Colossal’s debt to Godzilla is still evident. Colossal is more than just a rip-off monster movie, though. Center stage is Gloria’s alcoholism and complex relationship with Oscar, providing the monster movie with a surprisingly mature and dark angle.^[6]

4 Oxygen (2021)

Alexandre Aja is known for directing gory horror films such as The Hills Have Eyes (2006) and Piranha 3D (2010), but his latest film, Oxygen, stands apart from the pack. Not only is it Aja’s first French film in many years, but instead of featuring buckets of blood, the film offers taut sci-fi thrills.

The story begins with a woman (played by Mélanie Lauren) waking up in a cryogenic chamber and facing two critical problems: she has no memory of who she is or why she’s in the chamber, and she’s rapidly running out of oxygen. The film feels like it happens in real-time and takes place almost entirely in one location, which serves to draw the audience into the claustrophobic environment.

Despite being very different from his previous work, Aja masters the tension that is necessary to sustain this plot. The film rests almost entirely on Lauren, with other characters only present as disembodied voices (the most important of which is provided by Mathieu Amalric, who voices the AI monitor M.I.L.O.). Lauren’s gripping performance skillfully transitions between confusion, panic, and determination, which sustains the viewer’s attention. One reviewer states that “It will make you put your phone on the other side of the living room for a little while longer—or at least make you grateful you have a whole room to cross.”^[7]

3 Annihilation (2018)

Written and directed by Alex Garland (who is better known for his 2014 film Ex Machina), Annihilation is an adaptation of Jeff VanderMeer’s novel of the same name. The film follows Lena (Natalie Portman), a biologist and ex-soldier who joins a secretive expedition into an unknown area where the laws of nature are changing. Multiple teams have already ventured into this region, including Lena’s husband, but none have returned.

The Verge describes Annihilation as “a thoughtful, philosophical movie, more interested in the nature of humanity and the urges that drive us rather than in who lives or dies.” The film rewards careful attention, but it is more than just a philosophical exploration of its characters. Annihilation also provides thrilling scares, and the imaginative visuals become increasingly trippy. If you like a dash of horror in your sci-fi, then this one is for you.^[8]

2 The Endless (2017)

Much like Annihilation, the sci-fi horror film The Endless treads a path into the unknown. It follows two brothers who escaped from a cult as children, but when an old videotape surfaces, they decide to return to seek answers about the past. It stars Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead, who also directed, produced, and edited the film. Benson also served as writer, while Moorhead was the cinematographer. If all of those credits haven’t already made it obvious, this is a low-budget indie film.

Den of Geek declares that “The Endless is one of those festival movies that deserves to find a wider audience.” The fraternal relationship grounds the film and helps to anchor the viewer as things get increasingly weirder. The style of weirdness is akin to H. P. Lovecraft’s brand of horror, and there is even a nod to Lovecraft’s short story “The Colour Out of Space” (1927). The Endless is proof that an interesting concept can become a great movie without a big budget.^[9]

1 The Vast of Night (2019)

The top spot on this list is taken by The Vast of Night, another low-budget indie film, which pays homage to 1950s B-movies. Set in a small town in New Mexico, the film follows teenagers Everett (Jake Horowitz) and Fay (Sierra McCormick) in what feels like real-time. At their respective jobs as a radio DJ and switchboard operator, they realize that something strange is happening in their town, something potentially extra-terrestrial, and they team up to investigate it.

Director Andrew Patterson combines the retro feel of ’50s classics like Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956) with a whip-smart script and modern kinetic camerawork. The plot itself treads familiar ground for any sci-fi fan but how it unfolds is captivating. The amount of walk-and-talk dialogue sucks the viewer in and provides a feeling of being alongside the two leads. This is combined with impressive camerawork. The most stunning shot is a four-minute-long tracking shot that spans the entire town and feels uninterrupted (but is actually four shots stitched together). The Vast of Night feels like a love letter to classic sci-fi and is absolutely worth your time.^[10]

In my opinion, the ’90s were arguably better than the current generation, especially when it comes to rare toys, music, TV shows, and fashion. If you were lucky enough to own some of the most coveted gems from that period, you might want to sift through your stuff since you could be sitting on a fortune.

Something as small as a rare transformer action figure could make you hundreds of dollars richer. Stick around to find out which trinkets from the ’90s could make you a fortune on the market today.

10 Hot Wheels Funny Cars

As we speak, over a billion hot wheels have been released in the market. While most of them cost a few dollars, the rare pieces and prototypes are worth hundreds of dollars, and they keep getting more valuable as time goes by. For example, one of the first ever hot wheels to be released that mimics a white Camaro is now worth $2,500, but people are willing to pay more if it comes in good condition.

Another costly hot wheels is the Cheetah Python. It was one of the few collections designed by Bill Cushenberry and was forged after a dream he had. At first, the collection wasn’t meant to be released to the public, but somehow a few made it out of the factory and are now worth almost $10,000.

It’s easy to see why the Cash Money Hot Wheels is the most expensive out of all the cars designed by the franchise. Its body is encrusted with real diamonds and topped with an 18-karat gold frame. As if that’s not enough, it has red-cut rubies on the brake lights and a lot more expensive additions. The franchise made only one of its kind, now valued at $140,000.

9 Furby Toy

Furby toys debuted in 1998, and surprisingly the franchise sold $1.8 million pieces that year. While it certainly wasn’t the most innovative toy out there, it was one of the few that could mimic words, making it hit with kids everywhere. While Furbys used to be a few dollars maximum, some people are now willing to pay a few hundred for that scary-looking owl toy.

For this reason, if you were lucky enough to buy a Furby from the exclusive collections and it’s still in excellent condition, consider listing it for sale. Take the Bejeweled Furby, for example; only five of the same were released to the public, and considering its original price tag was $100,000, you can now sell it for way more money.

The most expensive Furby to be sold in the secondary market was listed on eBay and ended up selling for over $4550, which was still a shocker despite its pristine condition.

Aside from the Furbys mentioned above, you can easily sell yours for more than $500 regardless of whether it was from a rare collection, which is not a fortune but still exceeds the original price tenfold.

8 Pokémon Cards

If you were a Pokémon fanatic back in the ‘90s who didn’t mind spending money on rare cards, you might have made one of the best investments of that time. While the price of Pokémon cards has been steadily decreasing, they are still worth a fortune.

There are over 20 collections that can make you a millionaire, but the Pikachu illustrator is the most expensive one. YouTuber Logan Paul bought it for $5.275 million in July 2021, which caused a social media frenzy. Considering there are 40 similar cards in circulation, you should check your collection.

Another classic has to be the first edition of Shadowless Holographic Charizard, which was released in 1999. Due to how rare it is, this card remains arguably the most sought-after, with one of them selling for $420,000 at an auction in 2022.

Though the Pokémon Blastoise isn’t the most expensive collectors’ card in the market, it is the rarest. Only two of the same cards were ever created, and only one can be traced. In 2021, this card sold for $360,000 at a private auction.

If you have any Pokémon original cards, you might want to get them valued. While they might not be worth millions, chances are a fan/collector will be willing to pay good money for them.

7 Disney VHS Tapes

Only a few things can help you relive your childhood like re-watching classic Disney movies. While you can easily tune into the Disney streaming service to access any classics now, people from the ’90s relied on VHS tapes which were relatively rare as Disney moved titles into and out of their vault. Sometimes, certain movies weren’t available for years after their initial VHS release.

If you were lucky enough to own Disney VHS tapes with the black diamond mark/label at the corners, you should consider listing them for sale as they are worth a lot. Bonus points if you have a collection considering there is a seller listing his collection of VHS tapes for a whopping $150,000.

In 2019, someone sold their black diamond Beauty and the Beast VHS tape for $10,000, which piqued the attention of other collectors. However, you need to be strategic about your listing considering many people argue that the tapes shouldn’t be worth more than $30. But there’s a high chance you’ll struggle to find someone who appreciates its value.

6 Michael Jordan Jersey

Sports fanatics go above and beyond to see their favorite player in action. To take it an extra mile, fans usually buy original jerseys of their favorite player for outrageous prices. One classic example is when Michael Jordan’s jersey from the first game of the 1998 NBA finals almost broke the world record. It sold for $10 million in an auction hosted by Invictus.

Shockingly enough, the jersey, which was priced outrageously before the bid began, received 20 bids and would have gotten more had the buyer not shocked the crowd with his undisputed offer.

5 Black Lotus Magic Card

If you thought trading cards were affordable, think again. The Black Lotus, which is part of Magic: The Gathering, is one of the most expensive cards ever sold. In 2021, it was listed on an eBay auction and ended up going for a whopping $511,100, three times what the seller bought it for in 2019. If past trends are anything to go by, its value will keep going up as time progresses.

Part of the reason this card is as valuable as its price depicts is that it was the first ever made from the collection and carries the author’s signature on its casing. Also, the designers made it in a unique shape that was soon discontinued, making it stand out.

Did I mention that anyone who draws this card while gaming gets to cast powerful spells that put them in an advantageous position?

4 Action Figures

Action figures are arguably one of the priciest collectible trinkets from the ’90s. While not many people can justify spending a dime on the latest action figures, the original ones, especially those released for popular films, are worth millions.

One of these action figures is the Rocket-firing Boba Fett, which was to be released with the Star Wars: Empire Strikes Back movie. Sadly (or not), it was never mass-produced and is now worth more than $200,000.

Another expensive action figure is the handmade prototype for G.I Joe that was sold in an auction at $600,000. While you could get the mass-produced ones for cheaper in the ’90s, you can now easily sell them for a couple of hundred dollars.

Funny enough, some of the most expensive action figures are the ones that failed the beta testing for the Star Wars franchise and were never mass-produced. One example is Obi-Wan Kenobi, which recently sold for $65,000.

Lastly, if you are one of the 12 people who own a tri-logo General Madine, you are sitting on a gold mine. Due to how rare the said action figure is, it recently sold for $12,500 at an auction despite being initially bought for only a few hundred dollars when it was released in 1983.

3 Jurassic Park Toys

Each time Jurassic Park released a new movie, they would also release toys modeled after the movie characters, and they would always sell out in a few days. While some of the said toys were mass-produced, others were limited editions, and the original buyers would later sell them for a few hundred more than the initial price.

One of the most sought-after Jurassic Park toys is the series two Carnotaurus Demon. If you have one that’s in the original packaging plus the accessories, it’s worth more than $1,000.

When Jurassic 3 was released, it brought along the infrared remote control spinosaurus. At that moment, there was nothing special about it, but the movie didn’t do as well, and only a few of the said toys were produced, raising the demand. As of now, if you have a new toy in pristine condition, you can start eBay bidding at $900 and are bound to make a decent amount.

2 Beanie Babies

As someone who grew up in the ’90s, chances are you owned one of the Beanie Babies’ toys at one point or the other. Most people trashed theirs, but you will be shocked to discover they are now worth a hefty chunk of change for whatever reason. Of course, for your beanie baby to be worth anything today, it must have the original TY sticker and be in pristine condition.

For example, the Princess Di Bear Beanie retails for close to $10,000. Its value is mainly attributed to the fact that it was dedicated to Princess Diana, and only a few pieces were ever created. But that isn’t all—remember Bubbles?

Well, beanies from that release could now make you $120,000 richer. It’s easy to see why considering it was one of the most sought-after collections, and it never seemed to be in stock.

There was even a supposedly rare Valentino beanie bear listed on Etsy valued at $43,000. And many other dolls from the beanie collection are now worth a lot. If you can still get to the attic and figure out which box they’re hiding in, you might want to find them and cash in!

1 Original Harry Potter Books

When the first Harry Potter book, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, was released in the ’90s, the franchise was not as well known as it is now. Only a few avid readers bothered buying one of the 500 hardcover copies that were released.

To put it into perspective, 300 of the 500 hardcopy books were donated to children’s libraries and schools, leaving only 200 for the masses. According to AbeBooks, one hardcover book from that collection is expected to fetch more than 30,000 euros. If you have an original copy, check to see if the print line reads 10987654321 and the author name reads Joanne Rowling and not JK Rowling.

If you have the first edition hardcover of the Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone book, you can easily list it for $5000. To confirm whether your book falls in the said category, check to see if it has the print line 1357910864289/9 0/0 01 02 plus the wording first American edition, October 1998.

In short, all the hardcopy first editions of any books from the Harry Potter franchise are now worth four figures and above. However, if you have paperback originals that carry JK Rowling’s signature, you can also list them for an impressive amount.