Set up your own gift card organization system with the tips I’ve shared below!
Do you find that the gift cards you receive end up floating around in your purse or wallet? How many times have you been out shopping and forgotten you even had a gift card to spend? Well, this has been my experience with gift cards. I’m happy to share I’ve made some positive changes in the way I store and organize gift cards. Keep reading and discover some helpful tips you can try too.
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Have a Designated Place to Organize Gift Cards
I like to store gift cards in business card and ID organizers. You can occasionally go through these and purge out the expired offers and reorganize the cards into categories. They also have these ultra cute mini size gift card organizer that can be neatly stored in your purse.
Use Trading Card Storage Pages to Organize Your Cards
If you have a lot of gift cards, baseball trading card organizer offers a lot of space to organize your cards into categories. Simply add these pocket pages to a binder to keep track of all of your gift cards. Since gift cards are the equivalent of cash, you may not feel comfortable to bring them all with you. One option is to remove the gift cards from your binder and add the ones you intend to use to a smaller organizer that you keep in your purse.
Organize Gift Cards by Category
If you’ve got lots of gift cards, you can organize by type of store (department store, drug store, etc). I’m a visual person, so actually being able to easily see how many cards I have on hand for each category is helpful. This way,I’m able to quickly see when I need to concentrate on purging a few of the cards (when the collection gets full). You can also choose to document the balance on the back with a sharpie.
Keep Track of the Balance on Gift Cards
Put a strip of masking tape on the back of your gift card. After you use the card take a few seconds to document the remaining balance on the back. If you desire, you can also first write the total amount of the gift card. I keep a sharpie in my car for just this purpose! There there are Apps to keep track of gift card balances. However, I’ve never liked any of them enough to switch from this system that works well. If I discover an App that I like that works well, you’ll be the first to know.
Purge Gift Cards
I like to purge gift cards once a year (especially around any gift-giving holidays). If you see that your inventory is getting full, challenge yourself to use those gift cards. Often times we forget that we have restaurant gift cards. We can save money by using them and not letting them expire. By law, gift cards cannot expire in less than 5 years, but there may be non-use fees.
Happy organizing your gift cards! If there is a tip or trick that works well for you, reach out to me and share. I love to discover helpful ways to tackle our daily tasks!