If you're anything like me, you are given gift cards occasionally for birthdays, Christmas, or showers  (notice I buy clothes with them frequently??). And, if you're anything like me, you occasionally get gift cards to places that you think, “when will I ever use this??“…so it sits and goes to waste.
Problems, people. Problems.

Well, here's a simple solution that you might be able to use to be able to spend the gift money at the store you REALLY want to use it at:

Use gift cards to buy other gift cards!
Here's my story…

Did you notice my recent, super-sexy Instagram pic from BlogHer? You know the one…

Yes, this one (mentioned here). Of me being fierce at The Bean in Chicago. (Just for the record, while I was physically in Chicago, the photo background was actually from a green screen. Close enough though, right?)

Well, thanks to the votes of you SUPER DUPER AMAZING IG FOLLOWERS, this pic won me a $500 Walgreens gift card!
When I found out I won, I…

  • First: Jumped up and down, doing a victory dance that you are lucky that you will probably never be able to see.
  • Second: Practiced my acceptance speech (just in case)
  • Third: Got really excited about being able to buy…a year supply…of….tampons?? Vitamins? Trail mix? What the heck do you buy $500 worth of at Walgreens?
Though I had MAJOR luck there in the toy department after Christmas, $500 is a lot of dinero for Walgreens. (Especially because in general I'm not too thrilled about their every-day prices. Walmart tends to do better, sorry to say.)
As my hubby and I perused the isles, I was stressing about what to buy. I didn't want to buy something that I already budget for, and didn't want to piddle it away on a bunch of little nothings. Then Bubba had a genius idea…
“Why don't you use the gift card to buy other gift cards??”
Then I saw it. Like a light straight from Heaven. Angels were singing as I came upon this beauty…
Like mana from Heaven. Gift cards galore. Anything you could ever want: TJ-Maxx, Old Navy, Amazon, Macy's, Barns & Noble, Best Buy, Kohl's…even Harley Davidson, for goodness sake!
I thought about buying a bunch of $25 gift cards to a variety of places, then settled on this beauty:
The queen of all gift cards. I used my $500 Walgreens gift card to buy a $500 Visa gift card. It's used like a Visa prepaid debit card, and is run like any other credit card – can be used anywhere. It cost me $5 to buy, so technically It's a $495 card, but I figure the $5 is worth the functionality.
I feel liberated! I can now spend my $500 at ANY store, on ANYTHING I want! The money will definitely be put to good use…
…to turn this absolutely hideous playroom/office wanna-be, into a beautiful, gorgeous, gender-neutral school room/office of my (and my hubby's) dreams.
Wish me luck on that one.
Ugh.

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