It can sometimes be a challenge to keep track of gift cards.  Today, I am going to share my easy method for how I organize gift cards.

Now that Christmas (and my birthday!) is over, I have more gift cards in my house than I typically do.  Therefore, it seems like the perfect time to talk about organizing gift cards.

HOW I ORGANIZE GIFT CARDS

Gift cards are great because you can use them to buy whatever you want.  However, it can become frustrating if you lose track of them.  They can easily be forgotten about if you don’t have a plan for using them.

IMMEDIATELY AFTER RECEIVING A GIFT CARD

When I receive a gift card, I try to make a plan to use it right away.  By doing this, I don’t have to worry about keeping track of it for very long.  It’s also nice to use a gift card while you still remember who gave it to you!

This is easier to do with some gift cards than with other gift cards, though.  For example, I go to Target all of the time.  When I get a gift card to Target, it’s easy to use it right away because I am probably going to be shopping there pretty soon!

When I get a restaurant gift card, I like to make a plan for going to that restaurant in the next few weeks.  For me, it’s much easier to remember to use it if I make a plan right away and get it on my calendar.  Otherwise, I might forget I have a gift card to that particular restaurant and it will sit around my house for a long time.

HOW TO STORE GIFT CARDS

I keep all of my gift cards together in one place.  I personally like to store them in a little expandable file folder.

When I get a new gift card, I put it in the expandable file folder immediately.  By keeping them all in one place, I always know where they are and exactly what gift cards I have.

Then I store the file folder in my house near the front door.  When I am ready to use a gift card, I take it out of the file folder and put it in my wallet.  If I don’t use the full amount, I will put it back in the file folder when I get back home.

I used to grab the whole file folder and carry it with me.  However, I realized one day that I was carrying around a bunch of little gift cards that actually added up to a lot of money!  It made me a little nervous to be carrying all of that around with me.

I don’t typically like to carry around more than I need in case my purse would get lost or stolen.  I especially don’t want to have to worry about keeping track of too much while I am trying to keep track of my two little kids!

This method has worked for me for a few years now.  How do you organize your gift cards?

Have a great day!

♥Jena♥