Day 28: Gift Cards

What: Gift Cards

Why: 51 cents. 12 cents. Do these small numbers sound familiar? How many gift cards do you own that have just a few cents left on them? Or maybe you aren’t even sure what gift cards you even have or even where they all are! Though gift cards are a beautiful thing and we all love to go on a shopping spree or eat for free, but even gift cards, can cause clutter. Maybe your wallet is breaking at the seams because you are toting them all along, for when you get the opportunity to use them. How long have you had them in your wallet? 6 months? A year? 3 years? It is time to either use them or get rid of them.

How:
1. Go through your purse, drawers, or wherever you keep your gift cards. This includes gift certificates too!

2. Write down all of the gift cards you have on a sheet of notebook paper or create a table using Word (or an equivalent). Make 3 columns – where it is from, amount it is for, and balance. If you do not know the balance, call the 800 number on the back of the card to find out. It only takes 1 minute.

3. If there are only a few cents left on the card, ask yourself if you are ever going to use it? It may seem wasteful to throw it away because it is “free” money, but in order to spend the few cents left on it, you often have to buy something that is at least a $1.00. Is it worth it then? Are you really saving money? You then end up buying something you don’t need – you buy something to just use the card.

4. Fill out the sheet you just made. You may realize you have more gift cards than what you thought!

5. Now be intentional about using them and have fun doing it!

Confession of the Day: I was one of those people who would keep a gift card if it had 50 cents on it. As time went on, I realized I had not used it, but kept thinking I would. I still haven’t. That was when I realized I had to just get rid of it because in order to spend it, I would not be saving at all. Even gift cards can clutter our minds because we always forget we have them, which means we never use them, which causes frustration and clutters our wallets. Time to spend our free money!