I ♥ Gift Cards
Strategic gift card usage can be a very helpful technique for managing your money. I love to keep a collection of gift cards in my wallet for various retailers. Occasionally I will purchase gift cards for certain stores and save them to use during a big sale. I also like to keep them to help me stay on budget. For me, it is much easier to forget about a gift card in your wallet than if it were cash. Listed below you will find resources for acquiring and making the most of your gift cards.
Buy Gift Cards at a Discount
- craigslist – A simple search for “gift card” will generate lots of results.
- eBay - Just like craigslist, a simple search will turn up lots of results.
- Holiday Gift Card Deals – During the holiday season, many restaurants and retailers will offer bonus gift cards with gift card purchases of a certain amount. Click here to see the bonus gift cards that were available during the 2009 holiday season.
Buy Gift Cards & Earn Cash Back
- Ebates – earn 4% cash back on gift card purchases for Staples, The Container Store, Barnes & Noble.com, Half.com, and much more! Plus, earn $5 just for signing up with Ebates.
- Bing – Microsoft’s search engine offers cash back on gift card purchases to popular places such as Kohls, iTunes and more.
- Upromise – Purchase gift cards for places such as Staples, Nordstrom, L.L. Bean, Kmart, and Barnes & Noble and earn cash back with Upromise. With Upromise you can save for college, pay back student loans, or earn cash in your Paypal account. Click here to read more about this great program.
Buy Gift Cards & Give to a Good Cause
- Many churches, charities, and non-profit organizations participate in the Scrip program as a way to raise money for their cause.
Pay Your Bills With Your Gift Cards
- At GiftCards.com, you can actually pay your bills with your gift cards. You won’t get the total value but it still seems like a pretty good deal. Learn more about it here.
Sell or Swap Your Gift Cards:
Earn Free Gift Cards
- Swagbucks - Search and win with Swagbucks, a search engine that rewards you with great prizes just for searching the Net. Click here for more about Swagbucks.
- My Points - If you aren’t already benefiting from My Points, I am here to tell you how much I love it! It is so quick and easy to earn points by reading emails, taking surveys, conducting Internet searches, and more. Earn gift cards to Pottery Barn, Applebees, and more. I always choose the CVS gift card to fund my shopping adventures there.
- Prescription Transfers – Earn gift cards to places like CVS, Kroger, Kmart, Target, Rite Aid and more simply by transferring your prescriptions. Look for coupons in sales ads or look on eBay or craigslist.
Win Gift Cards
- Blog giveaways are all the rage now and for good reason. They are plentiful, the prizes are desirable, and the odds are outstanding. If you don’t already, I highly recommend entering blog giveaways regularly.
No Fee Gift Cards
- Many major gift cards (MC, VISA, AMEX) charge activation fees that usually range from $3-5. However, you can avoid these fees by purchasing these cards from your local bank rather than from a store like CVS.
The Fine Print
- Be certain that you read closely the back of every gift card you have. Some will charge a $2 or more maintenance fee if the card has not been used, usually after six or twelve months.
Gift Cards as a Budgeting Tool
- If you are like most people and have a hard time sticking to a budget, gift cards might be your answer. Purchasing or earning gift cards for specific stores forces you to spend that money at that store only. For instance, I earn free CVS gift cards from My Points.
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