Gift cards can be great. In fact, my father likes to collect interesting or complicated ones in an album like baseball cards. I just picked up a two-piece one of a cat on a fence for him at the store.
But gift cards come with a risk that you or the person you are giving the gift card to might not ever see the money that is put onto them. This is why retail stores just love gift cards.
Used the right way, gift cards can be very frugal, because the person who receives them can take advantage of the after holiday sales to get more for the money.
The number one way that people lose their gift card money is by not using their gift cards at all! Gift cards are often lost or forgotten about. This means that all of that money that was invested in the cards just goes to waste! If you get gift cards, keep them in a safe but high visibility spot, such as your wallet or purse. The next time you are at a store, you can pull out the gift card and not your credit card or check book.
Another way that people lose gift card money is through the fees that are placed on the gift cards. You may have heard about this. If a gift card isn’t used, some stores and banks place an “administration fee” on the card. Money is taken off of the card for each month that goes by. We experienced this the hard way. My husband was given an $100 gift card. By the time he was ready to use it, the card balance had gone to $0!
A way to avoid this happening to you, is to use your gift card as soon as you can. You can also trade your card online, if it happens to be for a store you don’t shop. When you are buying gift cards for someone else, make sure you understand the fees. Avoid those types of cards if you can.
You can read more blog posts by Mary Ann Romans here!
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