Gift cards & other holiday items

Monday, December 29th, 2008

Sorry for not posting last week; like many others, the holidays sometimes get the better of me as well!

However, I am now back in CT (where we are no longer freezing for the moment) trying to put our house back together after 10 days visiting family.

Christmas was a nice time and if your family is anything like ours, gift cards are often the method of choice in the gift giving arena.  More personalized than cash but less hassle than returning gifts you didn’t want, gift cards can be a nice happy medium.  And for the gift giver, a lot less time (and possibly money) wasted.  If you’ve budgeted to spend $25 for someone, it’s much easier to give them a $25 gift card than trying to find the perfect gift in their price range.

However, here are some tips on not wasting that precious gift card money or (or time trying to find them!)

1. Keep current on your state’s expiration rules.  On gift cards issued in CT, there is no expiration date.  However, each state’s rules are different, so you may want to check the laws in your state (or the state where the purchaser lives, if different).  Then you’ll know if you are in for “inactive” fees, expiration dates, etc.

2. Get a permanent marker.  In our house, we pull all of the gift cards out of their “gift card holders” which take up lots of room and simply write the value on them in permanent marker if it isn’t printed on the card.  This makes storage and organization a lot easier.

3. Keep all of your gift cards in one place in your home.  A big problem with gift cards is that they can get easily misplaced (or thrown away when mixed up in wrapping paper!) because they are so small.  Instead, keep a family gift card box and keep them all together.  If you have multiple children, label each child’s name on their respective gift card(s) so you can keep them straight–and keep arguing to a minimum!

4. Only take the gift cards that you need to the store.  I like to organize my cards into “mall” and “non-mall” groups so I can grab the appropriate cards easily and quickly.  I don’t like to carry all cards with me at all times because a) they make my wallet thick and b) if they are stolen, there is no recovering them.

I also organize my store credits along with my gift cards, so all of my cards are in the same place.  It keeps headaches to a minimum!

Copyright 2008-2009 Kristin Delfau, author of Turbo-Mom's Guide to Saving Money Without Wasting Time a womens' personal finance book, and Aji Publishing.

Tags: gift cards, holidays
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