Comments on: Financially Savvy Fridays!

By: Melanie

Melanie — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 03:18:53 +0000

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: GC

GC — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 19:00:09 +0000

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: thisthriftedlife

thisthriftedlife — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 18:38:26 +0000

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: Ms B. Thrift

Ms B. Thrift — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 17:56:26 +0000

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: kathleen

kathleen — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 00:50:01 +0000

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!