The Versatility of Gift Cards

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Christmas is fast upon us.  Along with other gift-giving holidays.  Gift cards are a great way to give, and there are so many ways to give them other than the traditional.  Here’s a list of ways to get/use them:

1.  Traditional

Go to the store or website of your choosing.  Fork over $20 for a $20 gift card.  Pretty simple.

2.  Buy Discounted Gift Cards

Look up some websites that buy/sell gift cards.  The first way to use these sites is to sell the unwanted gift cards you already have.  Type in the store and amount, and an offer will pop up.  You can either accept or reject it.  If you accept, you mail in your gift card to receive your payment (which will be lower than the value of the gift card itself, but if you weren’t going to use it anyways…it’s profit.)  The second way is to buy a gift card at a discounted price.  For example, a $25 gift card might be going for $22.  In our situation, it means you saved a few bucks on a gift.  Paula at Afford Anything does this to save money on regular shopping trips in lieu of coupons.

3.  Even out your used gift cards

Have $43.07 on a gift card you’re not going to use in the immediate future?   Check the stores website to see if you can add that extra $6.93 online to make it an even $50.  If you can’t do it online, you will always be able to do it in the physical store itself.  Even if you only have $4.83 on a card, you can still upgrade it to a $20 gift card or whatever denomination you want…and you’ve saved $4.83.

 

4.  Use your gift cards to SHOP

If you’re running low on cash but don’t want to give a piece of plastic, go through your gift cards and see if any of them are to a place you’d like to shop for your loved ones.  There’s tons of sales going on this time of year, and you might just be surprised what your unused balance can get you.

4 thoughts on “The Versatility of Gift Cards”

  1. Michelle P

    I love gift cards. The grocery stores near my house will often have an in-store promotion for if you buy $100 of gift cards, then you get $20 off, which makes it a great deal also.

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  2. Jen at The Three Little Piglets

    Our school PTA sells gifts cards as well – even for groceries. You can buy the same cards you’d get anywhere else for the same price but the PTA gets 10% to keep. It’s a great way to help while getting something you would anyway…

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  3. RaeBeth

    These are some great ideas. Thanks for sharing. I also wanted to thank you for stopping by my blog “RaeBeth’s Corner” and leaving your thoughts on my post. It was very uplifting and gave me a little more determination to get through this with my head held high. So, once again thank you.

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  4. femmefrugality

    @ Jen–That’s so great! I love finding ways to reward myself and/or others while doing things I’d be getting done anyways.
    @ Michelle–now that you mention it, I think my grocery store might do that, too. Either in cash or gas reward points. Great point!
    @ RaeBeth–Thanks. And you keep with it! You’re doing awesome, girlfriend!

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