And that would particularly be the case when the money in question was rightfully ours in the first place.

But that's exactly what thousands of people right across NSW are doing every day by simply not checking to see if there is money waiting for them to claim within Revenue NSW.

Every year or so, the NSW Government puts out another reminder for people to search for their own mini-windfall of unclaimed money and yet every year the total held by the government continues to grow.

Revenue NSW now holds more than $440 million in forgotten money, including share dividends, trust accounts, refunds, commissions, deceased estates and money from a range of other sources.

There are more than one million unclaimed items from private companies, state trustees, local councils and government agencies that can't be returned to the rightful owner because their contact details are out of date and they cannot be tracked down.

In many cases it is something as simple as a change of address or change of job that sees an agency unable to reunite the money with its owner, and that's why residents are asked to conduct their own quick search.

It is not hard to do so; simply log on to the Revenue NSW website and enter your name to let the website do the searching for you.

You may be surprised by what you find.

It took the Western Advocate just a few minutes on Thursday to find hundreds of examples of unclaimed money owed to people with a Bathurst address .

Incredibly, the sums range anywhere from $10 up to more than $100,000, and many of them have been held by the government for a decade or more.

Every one of those entries represents a sum of money simply sitting in limbo, just going to waste.

The agency that lodged the unclaimed money can't use it. The state government that holds the unclaimed money can't use it. And the rightful owner unaware of the unclaimed money can't use it.

All of us can surely think of better ways for that money to be put to use, particularly as we get closer to the end of the year.

So why not grab a cuppa, log on to Revenue NSW and do your own search straight away. You might find yourself an early Christmas gift.