Discounted Gift Cards

In an effort to make our budget go even farther I've been looking into the option of buying discounted gift cards.  How in the world can you buy discounted gift cards?  Well, it is a growing area of commerce.  This is how it works.

 

Someone will buy a gift card.  Often it is gifted, and the recipient may or may not want to spend money in that store.  If the recipient doesn't want the card, he/she might rather sell it at a loss to get money to use at another store.  The gift card is then resold at a price higher than what was paid, but lower than full retail.  For example, I had about $20 of Macy's credit from a gift I returned.  I don't ever shop at Macy's so I sold it to www.CardCash.com.  I took about a 25% loss.  I then spent the same amount of money to buy a gift card (from the same site) to Michael's (I plan to do some Christmas shopping there).  The Michael's card I bought was discounted at 27%.  So, I got rid of a card I didn't want, got a card I did want, and actually made a little money on the deal.  You may wonder if the retailers are okay with this.  The answer is Yes!  The reason is that the retailers want their gift cards to be exchanged for merchandise, this way they don't "owe merchandise".  Sometimes people hold onto gift cards for years and this is reflected in the retailer's books.  By having a gift card discount site allows gift cards to be used sooner than they might otherwise be. 




Awesome right?  Well, what can you do with this?  If you have a little foresight, you can purchase discounted gift cards in advance and use them instead of cash.  Do you have a date coming up?  Are you planning to go out to dinner and a movie?  Why not buy gift cards for a restaurant and a theater?  Is your old suit falling apart?  Get a gift card for the clothing shop you plan to buy from.  As a couponer I frequent CVS and Target.  Guess what?  You can buy gift cards for these too.  The best part is that you can use a gift card while stacking coupons!  Yay!

 

So, where do you go to buy these gift cards?  A site I like that I recently used for the first time (since www.plasticjungle.com shut down) is www.cardcash.com.  (I sold my Macy's card to them and got my Michael's card from them).  The transaction was quick and easy.  My card came to me in about 2 days.  Another option is www.giftcard.com.  I've never used them, but it looks like a reputable site.  These sites offer many different gift cards, and their discounted rate differs.  CardCash offers Target cards at a 2% discount (right now), and GiftCards.com has Target cards at a 4% discount.  Generally CardCash seems to offer slightly better deals in my opinion.   Each site has a different amount of gift cards available, so if you don't see what you want at one, check out the other.  There are also other websites that do the same thing.




I have yet to get my husband on board with this, but I'm ready.  I would love to know your thoughts on this.  Have you done it and has it worked out for you?  What type of discounted cards do you like to use most? 

Bye for now,
Kathy

Save Money, Cut Cable or Dish

To Dish, or not to Dish, that is the question.  At least it was for us a few months ago.  We don't watch programmed TV very much and we were already at the cheapest (family) plan that Dish Network had.  The total was about $31/month.  Cheap right?  Well, not cheap enough for me.  I had heard about digital antennas but I thought it would be a hassle.  When we finally ended dish, we headed out to Sears to get a box.  It was around $30 and my husband said it was really easy to install.  Now, we get almost all the same channels, some in HD (which Dish said I couldn't get with my cheapo plan), and it costs a whopping $0/month.  Yay!  If you are having this same debate, do it!  Cut it!  You'll be glad you did when your wallet is a little fatter each month.  We do, however, love our Netflix and can't live without it at this point.  So, for $8/month plan, we all (parents and kids) are happy.  We also tried Hulu plus for a free month but decided we couldn't deal with commercials anymore, so we cancelled.  Have you made the big TV cut?  If not, how are you making TV watching economical?
--Kathy

Feeling Grateful

Now that Halloween has successfully passed, it is time to turn our attentions to Thanksgiving.  This is actually one of my top favorite holidays, not for the food, but for the attitude of being thankful.  It reminds me of how grateful I am for family, home, health, friends, and life.  The artist side of me can't help but be inspired by the lovely colors and fallen leaves.  It makes me want to go out and take fall pictures of my kiddos, rake up a giant pile of leaves to jump in, and make a list of things we are grateful for.  I guess my message for today is, remember how lucky you are.  Today is a special one.  Enjoy it.  Happy November!
--Kathy

Coming Soon

This is going to be an awesome website dedicated to having a better family and home life while saving a buck.  I'm always looking for ways to have fun and be creative but I never want to pay full price for anything.  Hopefully I can give you some helpful tips and you can share yours.  I look forward to hearing from you. 
--Kathy