Did santa miss the mark on a gift or two? Maybe you really wanted a mixer instead of a Hermes bag or vice versa? Your first instinct might be to stuff the item in the closet, basement and garage and forget about it until the next time you decide to clean one of those areas. But, there are plenty of frugal ways to deal with gifts that are less than perfect and save yourself some money.
If you have an unwanted gift, you can do one of the following things:
- Re-gift
- Return
- Exchange
- Sell
- Donate.
I’ll offer the hows and whys of each option.
Re-gift
Re-gifting is a very controversial subject. Some people think it is tacky, while others swear by it as a great way to save money and find homes for orphan gifts. There is even a whole re-gifting trend going on right now. If you will re-gift an item, make sure the new recipient doesn’t know or will never meet whomever originally gave you the gift, and that it is in great, never used condition.There is nothing worse than being found out when re-gifting a present.
Return
It is easiest to return items to the store during the first week after Christmas when retail is most accepting of returns. If you have a gift receipt, your return will go smoothly. Many stores will not return cash, only store credit or an equal exchange. Without a receipt, the store will give you a credit for the lowest price the item was ever priced at, even if your gift giver paid more for the gift originally. And, the store may decide not to accept the return at all.
Well, that covers two ideas. Next up, I’ll share the details of the next three ideas for unwanted gifts.
Mary Ann Romans writes about everything related to saving money in the Frugal Blog, technology in the Computing Blog, and creating a home in the Home Blog. You can read more of her articles by clicking here.
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