Each Friday I share a tip of what works for me financially! This week I thought I’d share with you my plans for using gift cards! I’ve mentioned before that I don’t really have a Christmas list of things for myself, I do however, appreciate gift cards, especially in this season of unemployment! I recently had a horrid experience at Starbucks (which is a rare treat, usually!) and I received a very nice gift card in compensation, this got me to start planning a new system which I hope will work for me in 2010.
I have always believed when you feel you have a choice, even if you choose to keep things status quo, you feel more empowered and more in control of you life! As a result, I often find knowing I have the money set aside but choosing not to use it, financially spurs me into action.
My plan or 2010 is to purchase gift cards for my local independent cinema, the two local coffee shops and two of my favourite restaurants. I hope to be able to put enough for three cinema trips, four tea/coffee trips (at each coffee shop) and then two meals out at each of the restaurants! My goal is to put the money aside for entertainment and therefore to be able to stretch my money further. I also plan to only add spare change from my grocery jar to top them up as needed and would like to be able to treat friends in need of some help!
I’m choosing this option to really further teach myself self-control, to enjoy discounts available through the restaurant/coffee shop websites if you have a gift card and to ease of my monthly spending! I won’t commit to doing this for the whole year but I plan to try it for January and February and then I will report back! Like any plan you need to constantly look at whether it works for you both in terms of saving time/energy and financially!
How about you, do you find giftcards work in this season in your life?
Sorry, I need clarification.
Is this plan for card purchases to last the entire year, and then adding to them any spare change from the grocery jar? Or do you expect them to last for January and February and then re-evaluate?
I would do okay with the movie passes…even movies I really want to see, I usually forget to go before they are out of theaters. And I don’t go to coffee/tea shops. I would have a harder time with restaurants…I really enjoy nice meals out…that’s my kind of entertainment.
What I constantly keep a gift card for is Sonic. It’s an American fast food drive-in, and I’m addicted to their Cokes (it’s their crushed ice I love). I keep gift cards so that even when I have no cash in my purse, I can still stop for a Coke. I recently got a bonus at work, and my boss asked me if I wanted it by check or some other method…I told him I wanted it on a Sonic gift card! LOL Since I’ve started getting the cards, I am much more aware of just how much money I waste on sodas…I think if I knew I had to make one last all month instead of automatically getting a new one when the first was used up, I would be thriftier and healthier!
By: kathleen on November 27, 2009
at 7:50 pm
You have made me rethink gift cards as a great present, in the past I’ve thought of them as a bit of a cop out, like if i got someone one then I hadn’t put much thought in to it, but I see now that if I tailor it to something they really enjoy (coffee, cinema, eating out etc) then I am helping them enjoy themselves by going out, which a lot of people have had to cut back heavily on recently, and therefore giving them the chance to socialise and take time out which is a valuable gift! I also love how you use your cards to help you stay frugal and stay focused, it would help many friends of mine to have a voucher to use so they could have a night out/trip to the coffee shop without having to overspend or go over their weekly budgets. So thank you for your insight and changing my opinion. I’ll be gift carding more next year now
By: Ms B. Thrift on November 28, 2009
at 12:56 pm
I absolutely love gift cards. It feels like such a treat when you get to splurge on a little something, like a coffee from Starbucks. Also, I find that I usually think about the giver of that gift when I use my gift card, and I’m reminded that he/she was generous enough to think of something like that for me, rather than another sweater that’ll get buried in the bottom of my drawer.
By: thisthriftedlife on November 29, 2009
at 1:38 pm
the only challenge is with gift cards that lose their value over time
look out!
other than that, they are wonderful. One year I got my mom a gas card and flowers for her birthday. She was so delighted by the gas card I got the feeling she was the type of kid to play with the box instead of the doll.
By: GC on December 2, 2009
at 2:00 pm
I put money on gift cards for our gas. You get $0.10 discount per gallon for every $50 in gift cards you buy. Also, this way we have a budgeted amount that’s easy to stick to each pay period on gas and we know when we have to cut back.
By: Melanie on December 4, 2009
at 10:18 pm