Beating Broke

Three Ways to Unload Unwanted Gift Cards

December 19, 2019 By MelissaB 2 Comments

‘Tis the season to receive gift cards from well-meaning relatives and acquaintances who don’t know what else to give you. If you receive one you don’t like, your first thought may be to sell the gift cards on gift card selling/buying sites or eBay. However, these sites sometimes require a hefty fee for selling, often upwards of 15 to 25% of the value of the gift card. While these sites seemingly make selling a gift card easy and rewarding, there are three ways to unload unwanted gift cards that are more convenient and cost less money.

Sell to Family and Friends

The company my son volunteers with gave him a $25 gift card to Olive Garden. While the gesture was nice, we’re gluten free and almost never go to Olive Garden. To a 15-year old kid, that gift card was just a source of frustration—it was money he couldn’t use.

My mom was visiting, and I know she likes to go to Olive Garden. She happily bought the gift card from my son for $22. He got immediate cash, and she got a discount on her future meal. The transaction was a win for both of them, and he lost less of the value of the gift card than if he had gone through a gift card selling/buying site.

Sell on a Local Facebook Group

If you’ve already tried family and friends, why not see if you can sell it on a local Facebook group? My husband had $75 in gift cards for a certain grocery store in our area. I don’t like, nor frequent, that grocery store often. We have a specialized diet, and the items at that grocery store are not specialized. My husband tried to convince me to go buy shampoos and soap there, but the mark up was so high, I didn’t want to purchase them.

Instead, I sold the gift card on our local homeschool group’s Facebook site. I sold the $75 worth of gift cards for $70. Sure, I lost $5. Honestly, though, shopping at that store would have cost me more because every item had such a high mark up. I can use the cash now to buy things much cheaper than I could have at that store.

Regift Them

Three Ways to Unload Unwanted Gift Cards — Photo by chuttersnap on Unsplash

If you don’t have family and friends interested in buying the gift cards and you can’t find anyone to buy them on Facebook, you can always regift them. I just make sure to check the balance and that there is no expiration diet. The gift recipient is none the wiser, and you’ve just saved yourself the cost of a gift.

Most people who are trying to sell gift cards automatically think of selling them on eBay or on gift selling/buying sites. But, as you can see, there are three ways to unload unwanted gift cards that don’t require you to lose 15 to 25% of the gift card’s value in fees.

What is your favorite way to get rid of gift cards you’ll never use?

Reasons To Continue Family Outings and Vacations While Paying Down Debt

December 16, 2019 By MelissaB Leave a Comment

If you listen to Dave Ramsey, you may have heard his admonishment that you should put all extras and luxuries in your life on hold until your debt is paid off. “Live like no one else so later you can live like no one else” is his mantra. I would agree with him if you can pay off your debt in a year or less. However, I disagree with him if it will take you several years to pay down your debt. There are many reasons to continue family outings and vacations while paying down debt.

Your Children Are Growing

My husband and I dug ourselves out of consumer debt about five years ago. Then, three years ago when one of our children started suddenly having medical and behavioral issues, we found ourselves back in debt thanks to doctor and psychiatrist visits. There were a good 18 months where we were seeing specialists and searching for answers, and we went back into consumer debt. There is also still student loan debt we’re working on.

We stopped taking any vacations and going on family outings because we thought that all of our money should go on our debt. We did this for about two years, and then we realized that our kids are growing up. Our teenager will soon be an adult and out of the house. We only get this time with our kids once!

Reasons to Continue Family Outings and Vacations When Paying Down Debt — Photo by Mika Baumeister on Unsplash

Of course, we do our best to save money on family outings, but spending time with our children is now more of a priority, even if we still have debt.

Your Family Is Aging

Our families live far from where we do, so when we started focusing heavily on paying down our debt, we stopped traveling. We went 3.5 years without seeing my extended family. During that time, one uncle died and another got lung cancer. My uncles and aunts are all in their 70s and 80s now. I know there won’t be many times left when we can visit with them.

This fall, my daughters and I made the 2,000 mile trek to visit my extended family, doing what we could to save money. We drove instead of flying; we packed our own food on the trip so we wouldn’t have to eat out; and we stayed at hotels where we could save 20% or more. I’m very glad we made the trip, and we plan to do it again next year.

You Are Creating Memories

As I get older and see my extended family age and my children grow up, I see the importance of making memories with those I love.

I belong to several financial groups on Facebook, and recently on one, a man posted that for the last four years, even though he had debt, he and his family made the decision to take a vacation once a year. They always included the man’s mother. She passed away this Thanksgiving. He wrote that he’s so glad he took the time to vacation with his family and his mother. He’ll always have those memories, even if it will take him about a year longer to pay down his debt.

Of course, you should pay off your debt as quickly as possible to improve your finances. However, keep in mind that nothing is guaranteed in life. There are very good reasons to continue family outings and vacations when paying down debt.

Why You Should Avoid Grocery Delivery and Pick Up

December 12, 2019 By MelissaB Leave a Comment

Our lives just seem to be getting busier and busier. Luckily, our society offers conveniences to help us save time where ever we can including grocery delivery. Seriously, does anything beat not having to go to the grocery store and having your groceries brought right to your door? While this sounds like a dream, there are reasons why you should avoid grocery delivery and pick up.

Delivery Fees

Many grocery stores will offer customers a one-time free delivery. This is an excellent way to try out the service, and you could get grocery delivery for a few weeks by shopping at a different store each week and trying out the free trial from each store.

After the free trial, most grocery store delivery services charge $5.99 and upward. Many people argue this fee pays for itself because you’ll likely save by not giving into impulse buys. However, if you rarely give in to impulse buys, you’ll be paying an extra $24 in delivery fees every month (if you shop once a week).

Some Items Are Automatically Substituted

If an item that you ordered is not available, the store will often automatically replace it with an item that they consider comparable. While this may be fine some of the time, other times, the item may not be what you want. You may need to make a separate trip to the grocery store to get the item that you actually need.

Can’t Buy the Bargains

If you’re someone who likes to peruse the clearance items, you may be disappointed by a grocery delivery service because most items aren’t on clearance. You’ll not only have to pay full price, but sometimes the grocery store marks up the items that are available for delivery to help cover the cost of the service.

Some Produce May Be Less Fresh

For about a year when my children were very young, I ordered groceries through Peapod. I was worried how the produce would arrive, but almost always, Peapod sent produce that was fresher than I could have bought in the store. I absolutely loved this, and it was one of the main reasons why I continued with a grocery delivery service. However, this is not always the case.

A hobby of mine is to watch grocery hauls on YouTube, and some of these vloggers take advantage of grocery delivery. Time and time again a common complaint is that the vegetables and fruits are not fresh. One woman even showed that the greens she ordered were already slimy. Yuck! That particular vlogger no longer orders produce when getting grocery delivery.

The quality of your produce may depend on the store you order from and their delivery service. You’ll just need to try out several to find the one that offers the best quality.

Grocery delivery is a wonderful service, but like anything, there can be drawbacks. If they bother you, the added delivery fees and possible item mark ups and less than fresh produce are why you should avoid grocery delivery and pick up.

Do you use a grocery delivery store? If so, what has been your experience? Would you recommend it?