Where are the world's most beautiful banknotes to be found? Surely our dowdy pound notes or the equally boring US dollar bills won't make the top ten, let alone the top twenty. Even the euro notes, a brand new currency, hardly set the world on fire, despite coming with many different designs that vary from country to country.

No, to find more colourful banknotes you have to look further afield, to African and Asian countries and obscure island states. Here is Walletpop's selection of the best.

And some of them go for far more than their face value on Ebay. Armenia issued its first-ever 100,000 Dram (£170) note last year, the largest denomination in the Eurasian country (pictured). It depicts King Abgar V of Edessa and is being sold on Ebay for $365.99 (£239).

This has to be one of the most outrageous stories I've seen for a while. The parrot in question belonged to Angela Iannelli of Pennsylvania, and was confiscated when Bank of America contractors entered her home, erroneously believing that she was defaulting on her mortgage and that the property was vacant.

Iannelli is sueing the Bank of America over emotional distress - it took more than a week to secure the release of Luke, her blue Macaw and she needed medication for her anxiety.

As far-fetched as this all sounds, it got me thinking what if, and this really is the stuff of nightmares, the bailiffs were at your house - would you know your rights?

Today the geniuses who reside under the golden arches have announced that youngsters who get a McJob at McDonald's can gain their very own GCSE-equivalent McQualifications.

There is, apparently, a range of different qualifications - presumably everything from applying a bucket-load of concealer to your hideous acne to trying to remember a soft drink order in the time it takes you to walk from the till to the machine.

It sounds like the set up to a joke, but it genuinely claims you can get everything from the equivalent of a B-grade pass in one GCSE for completing two week's work experience (a BTEC Level 2 Certificate in Work Skills) to the equivalent of five grade A*-C GCSE's for completing one of 10,000 McApprenticeships.

There remains only one question...... why?

Guesss which is Britain's most picturesque street?

The Shambles in York, a cobbled street dating back to the Middle Ages in the old city centre, took the top prize in the Google Street View Awards.

It is a narrow twisting street lined with shops in overhanging timber-framed buildings, some dating back to the fourteenth century - the sort of place that the shopping street in Harry Potter might have been modelled on.

The Shambles beat the Royal Crescent in Bath and Grey Street in Newcastle, which came second and third in the poll asking people to vote for the most picturesque street.

Not the kind of money news you were expecting? It's certainly not the kind of money news I thought I'd be writing about, but it's true, honest!

Urban music performer Tinchy Stryder has been at a school talking to children about investing wisely. The star has been encouraging kids in London to get into the saving habit as part of a new scheme contributed to by the government to start teaching personal finance in schools.

Believe it or not, the 22 year-old partly funded his first album from selling clothes, so is no stranger to the importance of saving.

Unless you work as a shepherd it's very likely that you do a lot of your work on email. Most people have a phone on their desk as well as a computer but this is slowly gathering dust. That's a shame, because good use of the telephone is good business and, if you're really good at it, you don't even have to use email!

Calls = profit
When a phone rings in your office do people look round slightly startled wondering what that strange ringing is? Do they start filing out of the building thinking it's a fire alarm? And if your people know what the ringing is are they slumping lower in their seats hoping someone else will stop the awful noise. Ideally people will be vying to take the call in the shortest possible time. That's because it could well be a customer on the line or your boss asking you why you didn't answer the last customer. Learn to love the phone; it's your chance to meet interesting new people and take money from them.

The only part of life that comes with no strings attached is that bargain guitar you spotted on eBay. The rest of life comes with terms and conditions and the home for those terms and conditions is in the small print. That's where strings are attached so it's always worth having a closer look:

The real price
Every big headline price splashed on an ad will always have a little word in front of it. That word is 'From'. When you see that 'From' word it's a signal that the displayed price refers to the most basic, no-frills, stripped-down, entry level, low-powered, standard colour, seriously disappointing version of the product. And that product of course is not the one featured in the illustration which has more bells and whistles than the Polar Express. In the small print you'll see the price of the 'model illustrated' which represents the 'To' in relation to the 'From' as far as the price is concerned.

A typical smoker could save themselves more than £40,000 over the next 25 years by stubbing out the fags for good, according to new research from price comparison website Moneysupermarket.

It found that Britons kicking the habit could save on average £6,044 on combined critical illness and life cover taken out over 25 years, or up to £1,685 on a single life insurance policy covering the same period.

Based on the current average cost of a packet of 20 cigarettes at £6.13, a smoker could also save themselves around £1,508 a year by taking the decision to go smoke-free.

It's not all about money, though. About 80,000 Britons die every year as a result of smoking - making the case for quitting on No Smoking Day, which falls on March 10, even more compelling.

You don't have to be homeless to sleep in a church. In fact, for many people, it is a dream. Across the country, people are converting places of worship, pubs, old schools, stables and cricket pavilions into homes.

The draw of a unique dwelling place, and the ability to boast about it to friends, is stronger than any known force of nature, but just finding one can be a task.

Probably the best place to look is at a property auction. Rural auctions will offer barns and old village schools for conversion, urban auctions can include the disused pubs and shops. The website Zoopla.com carries details of auction.

But there are some alternatives.

What on earth.... ? An airline passenger got so frustrated he could not claim his £8,930 winnings from a Ryanair scratch card immediately he ended up eating the ticket.

The man was flying with Ryanair from Krakow in Poland to East Midlands Airport last Thursday when he won €10,000 euros with the scratch card.

The cabin crew confirmed he had won the prize but told the passenger he would have to collect the jackpot directly from the company that runs the competition. But the man demanded the cash then and there.

Ryanair said the man then became frustrated and started to eat his winning ticket. This means he can't claim the prize money - which will now be donated to charity.