42: Don’t Let Your Gift Cards Go To Waste!
Today we focus on how to organize gift cards. These small, thin, and often overlooked items tend to disappear in the clutter or hide between furniture pieces. In this episode, we're going to tackle the issue head-on and give you some practical tips to prevent your gift cards from going to waste. We'll also discuss how to give gift cards in a way that ensures their recipient will actually use them. So grab a cup of coffee, sit back, and let's get organized and productive with gift cards!
In this episode we talk about:
- Reasons why gift cards get lost easily
- How to organize your gift cards
- Tips on avoiding gift cards going to waste
- Tips on gifting gift cards so they are used
Mentioned in this Episode:
Episode 029: School Papers: The Sneaky Uninvited Guests in Your Home
https://theorganizedflamingo.com/29-school-papers-the-sneaky-uninvited-guests-in-your-home/
Episode 001: 7 Steps to Organizing (almost) Anything
https://theorganizedflamingo.com/7-steps-to-organizing/
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The Organized & Productive podcast is brought to you by The Organized Flamingo and hosted by Stephanie Y. Deininger! For those of you who love the thought of organizing & being more productive, but don’t know where to start or constantly up against hurdles that don’t let you advance the way you want to, this podcast is for you!
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Review the Transcript
Stephanie Y. Deininger [00:00:00]:
Hey, friends. Welcome to our next episode of Organized and Productive, the podcast. I'm Stephanie, your host. And today, we are talking about an item that tends to get lost but is very valuable, and it gets lost in the clutter or in the in your stuff because it's small enough to get lost and it's thin enough to be hiding between, furniture pieces or your car seat. It's just one of those items that is very it's it's very susceptible to being lost and overlooked because it's not consistently the same for all of the items. And that item, if you've already looked at the title of today's episode, is a gift card. There are many reasons as to why gift cards get lost, but the main one that I have seen from the clients and the people that I work with is because 1, and that this is something that doesn't get talked a lot about, is that they look different depending on the vendor. So, you know, if you go to this 1 store, it might be red.
Stephanie Y. Deininger [00:01:00]:
If you go to the other one, there might be some graphic on it. In another store, it just looks a little different and has a different shape. They used to all be more of the rectangle style if you had a physical card, and now they just come in all shapes and sizes and they're so cute. But also they're not consistent the same way that maybe cash is. You know, cash is usually at least here in the US. Most of our cash is is green. If you're whatever country you're listening from, your you know what your cash looks like. Right? So you easily will gravitate towards what it looks like and find it when you're looking for it.
Stephanie Y. Deininger [00:01:36]:
And with gift cards, they're just so different all the time that they can easily be mis, looked when you're looking for them because they're just they they can all look very different. Unless you're looking for a very specific card that is green, that looks like a circle, and then you might be you have better chances of finding it. But outside of that, that's one of the reasons they get overlooked. Another reason why they get lost so easily is because they do fit in between, cracks and behind furniture and in between paper. They're just so thin. They're not just awkward shapes, and they're easily missed that way, but also they can easily flip into something else, and then they just become lost. They be you know, they they get lost in the abyss. And if you're not looking for it, specifically, if you're not on a mission to use that card and then you, you know, it's been gone for a couple of weeks and then months, then it's pretty much lost, you know, and and it just goes into the abyss.
Stephanie Y. Deininger [00:02:34]:
So that's another reason why it tends to get lost, and it gets refound when you're moving around your furniture, when you're doing a deep clean, when you're decluttering, when you're about to move because you're moving around, all those furniture pieces or your bag, and that's when they get refound again, and then, you know, you you give the expression of, oh my gosh. I forgot that I have this. And, you know, now, yes, you found it, but it may not be worth the same or maybe just so much time has passed that, the value may have gone down. So because of all these reasons I just mentioned, it really kills me. It hurts my heart when we find these valuable I mean, truly valuable gift cards, and they were not used. I mean, it's essentially money. It's it's not essentially, it is money. When somebody gives you a gift card or you purchased a gift card, that is the exchange of money, and it just hurts my heart when we find them and they have not been used or that the, you know, the client or somebody has said, I know that I had a whole lot of them and I never got to use them.
Stephanie Y. Deininger [00:03:43]:
And then I'm just like, oh my gosh. I I get it. You know, it's you just lost money, and it's hurtful. So that is what this episode is all about, avoiding that hurt and avoiding that pain of losing money in the shape of a gift card. We will touch a little bit about on ecards, but I'm not gonna go too too deep into ecards because it's a little bit different in the way that we organize those, but I will touch upon it so that, at least, you can have some tips on how to organize those if you do receive ecards, instead of gift card, like, the physical gift card kind. Alright. So what I'm gonna do is, in typical fashion of our podcast, I I'd like to give you, like, a table of contents almost because I think it's just easier to navigate some of the episodes. I don't always do this, but I try.
Stephanie Y. Deininger [00:04:31]:
And this one is no exception, so I'll do a 5 tips of how how to avoid your gift cards going to waste. So I'm gonna give you 5 tips, and then I'm gonna give you about 3 tips on how to gift give these gift cards so that the person that's receiving them will avoid them going into the abyss. So how can you, as a gift giver, avoid that for the person you will be giving it to because I think that is part of the gift giving, trying to get the person to actually use it, use a card. Right? I mean, that's why you're giving it to them. So I'm gonna break it down in that way, and let's go. Welcome to the Organized and Productive podcast with the organized Flamingo. I am your host, Stephanie, a professional organizer and productivity expert. Ready to explore the right organizing and productivity solutions for you.
Stephanie Y. Deininger [00:05:21]:
Yeah? Well, then let's go. So for our 1st tip on avoiding your gift cards going into way into the waste and the abyss is treat it like money. I mentioned in the introduction, gift cards are money. They are the equivalent of cash because you exchanged cash for this gift card. And the reason that you did not get the cash. Could be many reasons. If you got it as a gift, it could have been, you know, for whatever reason. Maybe your company, you know, that's what they just stuck to 1 vendor and they gave everybody the same gift card or if you got it for a birthday or something and somebody just thought, hey.
Stephanie Y. Deininger [00:06:02]:
Every time I go to the store, I think of you and, you know, they gave you a gift card because of that. It could have been because they got a discount. Maybe the person giving it to you had this gift card, and they're not using it. And they thought, you know what? This person may like it or they were lazy. Okay. Let's be honest. That is a lot of the the reasons as to why you get gift cards is because gift giver may have found that getting a gift card is just more time efficient. Some people will call it lazy.
Stephanie Y. Deininger [00:06:29]:
In my experience, I don't I don't see it that way. I just see it as you know what? That is a very efficient way of gift giving, and I understand that it's not always very personal. We won't get into that part of gift giving and gift cards, but I get it. For whatever reason, you got this gift card, but the person, giving it to you or if you bought it yourself, exchange to money, like, real money for this gift card. So treat it that way. Don't forget that this is actual money. So the next couple of tips are going to be centered around that. This is a gift a a a type of gift, like an item that is that is cash.
Stephanie Y. Deininger [00:07:06]:
That is money. So treat it like money and think of it as, oh my gosh. I just lot I just lost $20. What would you do if you if you knew somebody gave you a $20 bill, US dollar bill, and you couldn't find it. You would go and look for it. You would go and, you know, move all the furniture and try to go look for it. So when you know you got a gift card, make sure that it's in a place that you keep your money, whether it's your day to day wallet, maybe it's a box that you go to whenever you need money, you know, a safe. Wherever you keep your money, that's where I would keep your gift cards because that's what it is.
Stephanie Y. Deininger [00:07:47]:
It's money. So that's straight off the bat, I just wanna remind you of that, because sometimes you just need that little reminder that this is not just a gift. This is not just like the the gift that somebody's regifting you. This is essentially money that you could be using. So that's tip number 1. Let's head on over to tip number 2. For tip number 2, this is all about getting some kind of way to organize the actual gift cards. Now the difference, like I mentioned earlier, between cash and gift cards is that they come in different shapes and sizes, and they're for different vendors.
Stephanie Y. Deininger [00:08:18]:
And they're for very specific vendors sometimes. You know, whether it's a store, a very specific store, versus, like, a a regular Mastercard Visa gift card. You know, it could be for a specific merchant, and this is where an organizer comes in. These were really popular more, you know, in the last not, you know, 5, 10 years in the couponing big days even the, like, the last 20 years. Think of those organizers. A lot of people will keep them like a little of a binder, especially if you get a lot of them. Especially true for all of you educators, teachers, people that tend to get gift cards from your communities. So that's if you're wondering, listening to this, like, who who gets gift cards anymore? Or wondering why would you get a binder for a gift card.
Stephanie Y. Deininger [00:09:03]:
Who is getting so many gift cards? Well, a lot of people do. And a lot of people also have families where they will exchange, gifts, like in gift card ways instead of going out and buying the gifts. So there's a lot of you out there that probably still are receiving receiving gift cards or have them from the the history of gift giving that you've had. So get yourself, like, an organizer, like a credit card organizer, a little mini binder, a little mini wallet that you can keep all of your gift cards nicely organized. I mentioned, egift cards. Egift cards are are tricky because they come in into your inbox, into your email inbox. So your organizer for email or, excuse me, egift cards will look a little different. Most of the time, you will get them via email.
Stephanie Y. Deininger [00:09:52]:
So put get yourself a folder that's specific in your inbox that says gift cards, egift cards. So every time you get one, immediately put it into that folder. You can also create a rule in most of the email servers, definitely Google, definitely Microsoft Office. Most of the the big email server types, will allow you to do a rule, what's called a rule. So every time there are certain keywords in the title or in the message, they will go into this inbox. And so you can either create a rule that's consistent with what however you you you receive egift cards. Maybe there's a couple keywords. Yeah.
Stephanie Y. Deininger [00:10:32]:
I would do, like, a egift card. I would do, certain quotes from vendors. Like, they'll say, you just received this. Now, you know, if you're listening, you probably are aware of this already that, there's a lot of scammers out there that send you pretend gift cards so that you will click on a link and then, you know, kinda get you to, like, a bait and switch type of thing. So very be very careful with that. That is why egift cards can be well, all kinds of gift cards can be a little little funny sometimes, but just be careful with that. But you can definitely create a rule so that they go into that. Again, this is especially true if you receive monetary gift cards from your communities.
Stephanie Y. Deininger [00:11:13]:
Like, if you're an educator, if you are, maybe you're you're somebody that just works with a lot of different people that will give you these tokens of appreciation in the form of egift art. So definitely create a folder for that. Okay. So that get yourself an organizer. That seems to work for a lot of people and this will get you this will lead us into the next tip. So what if you do get yourself an organizer, then you will find this next tip very handy. For our next tip, it's all about keeping track of what how much is the balance of each of the gift cards. And what I've seen work very well is putting either a little sticky note in the front of the gift card or like, tape, like, some like a, removable tape, painters tape or something like that in front of the card and then writing down the balance.
Stephanie Y. Deininger [00:12:04]:
And then, of course, every time you use it, you write down the balance little by little, and then that way, you know very visually what is left as opposed to having to call or log in to the app every single time if there's a website in the back or calling it in. Now pros and cons to this is, you know, pro easy easy to see. You can quickly look at what you know, how much your balance is, and it's just it's just much easier to keep track of. But, of course, the con is going to be it's a manual. I mean, you have to write it down, bring your pen and paper. And if you're not a pen and paper, oh my gosh, this sounds like a whole lot of work, then you're definitely going to push this habit away. You won't be doing this. Right? And then, of course, it's the if people can see that, you know, susceptible to theft, all that all that that comes with when you're physically putting together monetary items in one place.
Stephanie Y. Deininger [00:12:59]:
I mean, you have your organizer, and it all says how much is in each card. I mean, that is, like, a red flag for, for, you know, stealing if somebody sees it. But if you're not you if you're you can keep it at home in a safe place, and that way it's more for your internal purposes, that I think it will work. You know? I would not be parading it around, flashing it around. It's the equivalent of carrying, you know, hundreds of hundreds of bill $100 bills in your wallet, and all of a sudden you just get the roll of cash and you just expose it to everybody. I mean, it's probably not the safest thing to do. Same thing here. So I wouldn't be doing that, but I would find a way for you to visually keep track of the balances in what you have that is easily accessible and you can easily see and, you know, just see visually see so that you don't have to create an extra step to find out what you have left, and then that way you know, how much you have left.
Stephanie Y. Deininger [00:13:55]:
As as part of this org, getting an organizer and clearly writing what is left in each of these gift cards tip. I nowadays, I would suggest, that you also add your gift card to the website if you're like a webs. You're not afraid of, like like, the technology piece, in a lot of the merchants' website, you can just add the gift card to the cart, even even if you're not buying anything, basically, to your account. I'll just name some of the bigger ones like Walmart and Amazon and Target, Starbucks. They all will allow you to add a gift card that somebody gave you and added to your account so that next time you go, next time you check out, next time you order something online, you get it delivered. You can select if you want to add your funds on your account. So that is another way of having an organizer. Some people will do it if they have a especially if you had, like, a a wedding or a baby shower where you got and received a lot of gift cards, then they will have, like, a little folder.
Stephanie Y. Deininger [00:15:02]:
They'll have their the printouts of the gift cards, and then they will also add it to their account. So it's almost like a double check because, you know, because they they wanna make sure they use it, especially if you wanna accumulate as many of the gift cards as possible for 1 big purchase 1 big purchase. That's where this comes in very handy. Maybe, you know, for graduation. This is very predominant for graduations. Right? You send your graduation invite to all your relatives and your friends, and the gift cards kind of trickle in, not all at once, but maybe in a couple of months. So as you get these gift cards, put them into that account for that merchant and until you reach the goal that you're looking for. So that is another way of adding them to an organizer.
Stephanie Y. Deininger [00:15:48]:
So it doesn't always have to be old fashioned, like a binder. It can also be a digital version of it if the merchant makes it easy for you to do that, which most of the big retailers do. Okay. So for our next tip, we are talking all about combining your gift cards and selling them. There are apps out there or platforms, I should say, that will buy your gift cards. If you are somebody that has many, multiple gift cards. For whatever reason, gift you know, great again, graduation, celebratory events where you seed in abundance of them or you work in an industry where you receive a lot a lot of them from different merchants that all don't necessarily align with where you go and buy, places that you don't really like or whatever it may be. You do have options to sell them, not sell them back to the merch original merchant, but sell them to a third party merchant.
Stephanie Y. Deininger [00:16:42]:
I because of when I'm recording this, I I still have not found 1 particular merchant that I absolutely love, but I know many of my clients have used different types of merchants, and I'm happy to discuss those. So if you wanna reach out on Instagram and and, ask for my recommendations, then I will give them to you. And that way, I can give them to you in a little bit more of a up to date basis. So I won't name any right now on the on this podcast, but, basically, your search is going to be centered around online gift card marketplaces. So search for online gift card marketplace or gift card marketplaces or resell gift cards, and then you will come you know, make sure you shop around. Make sure that you, you get maybe some reviews. Test it out with 1 card. Don't just put up all of your cards immediately.
Stephanie Y. Deininger [00:17:34]:
Make sure that they're reputable because once you put in the number of your card and the PIN number. Then, you know, they they need to check that it's valid, that you're a real person that is giving them a real card with a real value in it as well. So they need to do their verification. But in the meantime, if there is a card if there's a website out there that is impersonating a legitimate online, gift card marketplace and, you know, they try to get your information and you had no idea, then that that would not be good. So I don't wanna this isn't like a scare tactic. This is more of a just be careful and maybe test it out with 1 of your gift cards and then see if it's a reputable company or ask your, your neighbors or your, you know, communities and ask them, hey. Have you ever sold your gift cards. Where where have you sold them to? But those are available to you, and you can just sell them, or exchange them for a merchant that you would use.
Stephanie Y. Deininger [00:18:28]:
Now this is where I think it's a really good idea to resell them if you have a lot of gift cards, because if you have 1 big purchase that you wanna make at a specific merchant, at a specific, store, then, like, let's say, you know, furniture store, even Amazon or the Targets or the Walmart or the Starbucks or whatever, and it's a big enough item, then reselling all the other $5, $25 gift cards you have received over the last couple of years could potentially be a benefit, in the long run because now you can buy that 1 big piece of item. And, you know, here at The Organized Flamingo, we are all about intentional buying and intentionally intentionally using your stuff with with a purpose, not just keeping it for the sake of it. So purchasing things that you actually will use will become more beneficial then having all these little things that you only use once in a while and are collecting dust. And for our last tip, it actually goes in theme with the last tip, and that is using it to purchase something else, like maybe a favor from a friend. And, actually, it's a favor because you would be exchanging it in a bartering system. So if you have the type of community or friends and family or, you know, Facebook or the neighborhood type of groups where you can put that out there and say, hey. I have this, and I need this. Can we exchange or message somebody or tell them what you're looking for and say, hey.
Stephanie Y. Deininger [00:19:54]:
I have a gift card, an abundance of gift cards to this one place that I, you know, I received. I no longer need. I don't use it. By any chance, would you want them in exchange for this? So don't be afraid to ask. You never know. I do think that it's all in the way that you ask. You know, don't come in all weird and and spammy. Like, if you've never met this person and you're just cold emailing them or messaging them on Facebook or Instagram and all of a sudden saying this.
Stephanie Y. Deininger [00:20:22]:
It just might seem a little weird and fishy. So, you know, maybe this is more of a tip for in person relationships or people that you, you know, you you know each other and you trust each other more than just randomly messaging somebody. But then again, you never know. You never know until you ask. So, but I would like to add this as a tip so that if you are coming across many, many of those gift cards that you don't use, then this could be a good way to exchange them for something else. Okay. So I'm gonna leave you off with about 3 tips on how and they're very quick, the way, and 3 tips on if you're the gift giver. So how to gift gift gift cards, well, say that 10 times, in a more thoughtful way so that they're actually being used.
Stephanie Y. Deininger [00:21:09]:
Right? So the person who you're giving it to doesn't lose them as easily. Maybe, know and actually put something to you. So that's what these tips are coming in for, but also a reminder that depending on your on your country and state in states, there are rules and laws that, have been put in place for gift cards. So please make sure to do a search, read through the fine print, and may and see what, you know, what kind of gift card you're getting, what are the fees, and when they expire. Here in the US, you have 5 years to use them, and then, I believe you know, actually, I don't even wanna go into detail with it because it depends on when you're listening to this pod to this episode. But, basically, we all have states and country laws that are very specific to gift cards, so look those up as well. Okay. So the 3 quick tips are ask the person, the gift the person you're buying this gift card for, where do they shop? You know? That I I feel like sometimes that's obvious, but maybe not.
Stephanie Y. Deininger [00:22:12]:
And if you're in a rush or it was a last minute decision to gift gift this person a gift card, that's okay. You know? I would rather somebody ask me what where I shop or what I like versus just giving me a gift card that they found, you know, in the bottom of their drawer. Not that there's anything wrong with that, honestly. I'm very appreciative of any gift that people that anybody gives me because I know that that is their hard earned money or they thought about thought about it, and even if they didn't think about it, they obviously gave it to me, you know. And, anyway, whatever. That's that's a different discussion. But the point here is is that, if you're trying to be more intentional, ask the person. You know, go ahead and ask them.
Stephanie Y. Deininger [00:22:53]:
Where do you shop? What do you like? Tip number 2. Write a note that is with the gift card. It either a note or maybe print out a picture of what you think that they would like or what the gift card is intended for. So let's say that somebody is a painter and you wanted to buy them paints, but you had no idea what kind of paints they liked. So instead you went to the local art shop and get and you're giving them a a gift card. So in the note, say that. Hey. I didn't know what to get you quite frankly, and I think it's better that you pick your own gift.
Stephanie Y. Deininger [00:23:26]:
Like, what kind of paint? Because everybody, you know, has specific taste. So please accept this as, you know, a token of my appreciation, gratitude, celebratory moment, and go ahead and pick something that you like. Or hey. I didn't know what size you were, but this is the shirt I wanna get you. If you wanna go ahead and buy it, you know, just here's a gift card, but this is the this is the shirt I wanna get you. So something more personable. And then the last is write the instructions on how to do or how to how to access the gift card or how to exchange the gift card or how to redeem the gift card because not all merchants are the same, not all vendors are the same. So especially if this is for somebody who is not tech savvy.
Stephanie Y. Deininger [00:24:10]:
Write them the instructions. Say, hey. This is what this the gift card is for this or for this place. Go to this website. You'll do this, this, and this. Even if you think it's obvious, even if you think that the back of the card should be enough or that they should do it themselves, I I am of the mindset that if you can help somebody use their gift in and optimize what you're giving them, that is just so much better. So, right directions and make it easy for them to redeem and use. And then if you can, make sure that you read the instruct you know, well, the instructions first, but also anything about the fees.
Stephanie Y. Deininger [00:24:49]:
Like, anything that might be important to note and to tell the person about. So, hey. You have 5 years to use this. This expires in 2020, you know, 50. So that way they know and it's apparent and it's not just another little gift card that they're going to put, you know, in their drawer, and it's gonna get lost. At least they know that where they can redeem it and how long they have. So write those things down and make it easy for them. Okay, so that is it for our episode this week.
Stephanie Y. Deininger [00:25:16]:
Easy peasy lemon squeezy. Right? We're gonna go in and get all of our gift cards that you know are in your drawers. Go dig them up, put them in a binder, put them in an organizer, load them up and use them, and make sure you get the most value out of them because it's cash that's just laying around. So head on over, start decluttering those. And if you are so inclined, share your experience with us. Let me know if you found some new gift cards you didn't know you had and you're putting them to use. Share it with us over on social media. We'd love to cheer you on.
Stephanie Y. Deininger [00:25:48]:
Until next time, happy organizing. If you enjoy today's episode, I would love it if you leave a rating and review on your favorite podcast player. It helps with letting people know that we're here. For full show notes and resources, head on over to the organized flamingo.com/podcast. Happy organizing.