And the purge continues...

re: And the purge continues...

Programmerman — Fri, 30 May 2008 00:42:50 GMT

One thing you can do for your copious Starbucks cards is to have them put all the balances together on one card, then you can ditch the rest of the stack.

And thanks for the reminder, I actually threw away a few things out of my wallet because of this blog.

re: And the purge continues...

HeatherLeigh — Fri, 30 May 2008 01:52:20 GMT

Yeah, Ive got it down to 2 cards but there's almost $75 on them! At some point, I might just do what I did with Peet's and go in and buy something.

It feels good to get rid of stuff, doesn't it?

re: And the purge continues...

Programmerman — Fri, 30 May 2008 02:30:30 GMT

Especially once you notice you're almost level again! (My wallet lives in my back pocket, so it acts like a wedge.)

re: And the purge continues...

Darren Cox — Fri, 30 May 2008 16:19:12 GMT

you can go broke buying "good deals" too.

re: And the purge continues...

HeatherLeigh — Fri, 30 May 2008 17:58:38 GMT

Programmerman - yeah, it's different for me. It's about whether I can snap my wallet closed and whether, at that crucial moment at the cash register, I can find the card I am looking for (yesterday it was my Vitamin Shoppe card that I had to dig for but usually it's my Borders card).

Darren - ain't that the truth.At the grocery store, I limit myself to only things I have bought before and used. So I can think of it as a long term shopping strategy. When I was younger and shopped for clothes, I was a sucker for the sales (and Old Navy, which doesn't appeal to me any more...I'm more Gap and Nordstrom....what a weird combo). Now with the clothes and the furniture and stuff like that, I have an honest conversation with myself (don't worry, it's silently, in my head) about whether I LVOE the thing and will be happy when I look at it. That is how I ended up with less clothes but better quality clothes that I enjoy wearing and that's how I ended up not having a coffee table for years until I found the special one I had been drreaming of.

When I call my mom's house and she's out shopping and my ste-dad answers, he says "she's out saving 25%". I have to admit that I don't so much enjoy the ceremony of shopping as much as what I get. I'm not one of those people that spend the weekends at the mall. Maybe just once a month or so.

re: And the purge continues...

Austin Chu — Sat, 31 May 2008 01:55:08 GMT

Great post. I work for a company that manages and tracks gift cards, and we hear about those problems all the time. Consider this: A study was taken last year $100B was spent in gift cards, and $8b was lost/unclaimed. In addition, there are many retailers who are filing for BK and have filed and they have completely voided their gift cards. google: signature days and read the yelp.com reviews

re: And the purge continues...

HeatherLeigh — Sat, 31 May 2008 02:05:32 GMT

Interesting. So roughly 10% go unused. I have heard about how service fees can reduce the amount on the card as time goes on. It weas great to unload some of those this week.

I will also admit that I regifted a Best Buy one at Christmas. I was a Nielsen household and they kept having to come out to fix my system (literally, like 5 times until I asked them to take it out....all those boxes and wires!) and so they gave me a $50 Best Buy Card. My friends' son is into electronics and you know how people like to buy their own so he was very happy with the gift card when I gave it to him for x-mas. I may consider regifting them in the future!