White dwarfs are the most common end-state of stars and thus the most common type of compact 
object found in close binaries. Because of their ubiquity, populations involving white dwarfs
offer important benchmarks for our understanding of binary formation and evolution, and the
physics of accretion and common envelope evolution. Of particular interest are systems with two 
evolved/degenerate components, most commonly a pair of white dwarfs. They may provide a pathway
towards Type Ia supernovae and are key low-frequency gravitational wave sources. They are luminous 
and highly variable objects across the electro-magnetic spectrum during their accretion phase. I will present our
recent efforts in trying to discover more of such systems using both colour-driven and variability driven 
searches. Detailed high-speed observations of individual systems allow us to determine accurate 
parameters and study the dynamics of the accretion flows. Thanks to recent large-area surveys, 
samples have been increasing steadily and this trend is set to continue, in particular in the era of 
time-domain surveys and GAIA.