Category: gifts

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How and Where to Buy, Sell & Swap Unwanted Discount Gift Cards

It’s been a month since the holidays and you may have recently found some gift cards you received from your favorite relative or a coworker. When you first opened them, you said your “thank yous” and then they disappeared into your junk drawer in the kitchen because they were for stores you never, ever shop at. A gift card to a cooking store when all you do is eat Ramen Noodles? That’s not going to be of much use to you, is it? Thankfully, you don’t need to give away your gift that you would never use, as there are ways in which you can sell or trade that gift card for one to a store you may actually buy a product in! All you have to do is know where to look online and you can either sell the card for slightly less than its face value or you can trade it for something else. Let’s take a look at a few places where you can buy, sell, or trade those unwanted gift cards for something a little more “fitting” to your lifestyle.

Avoid Giving The Gift Of A Gift Card.

This guest post comes from Michael, a contributing editor of the Dough Roller, a personal finance and investing blog, and Credit Card Offers IQ, a credit card review site.

Every year, there are certain dates on the calendar where friends and family expect to receive a gift. Whether it’s Christmas, Valentines Day, a birthday or some other special occasion, the gift buyer can go through a stressful time in looking for the perfect gift. Part of the gift itself is the pain and suffering that others have to go through in order to get you something, and I’ve always been of the mind that giving cash was a cop-out; something that meant “I really didn’t want to think about your gift, so go buy whatever you want”.

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Gift Idea – Guide To Donating To Charity In Someone’s Name.

Two days to go and you still don’t have anything for that certain someone? How about giving some money in their name to a charity important to either them or yourself! Too often we buy random gifts that the recipients don’t want because we have trouble picking something out last minute – but a donation to a worthy charity in their name is something that not only benefits those in need but also makes the gift giver and recipient feel great. But how do you go about picking a charity?

Friends Asking Friends For Donations – How Do You Handle It?

The other day, I got an email from friend I have had since I was a child asking for money for a cause they are involved in. We do not talk that often; maybe once every few months and generally about nothing all that important. But recently, his child was diagnosed with autism (at 3 years old) and they have gotten involved with Autism Speaks, the organization that works with families dealing with autism. And right now they have a fundraiser going on and they asked me to donate some money to their fundraising account. Of course I did, but it got me thinking about the etiquette of asking friends, family and co-workers for donations to causes that you are involved in.

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Great Website For Teaching Kids About Giving And Charity.

markmakers.jpg I just came across this fantastic website that teaches kids the value of choosing charities that match their interests and allocating their money to their choices. The company is called markmakers.org, and adults buy the kids what amounts to a debit card that works on the site, and the kids get to “shop” the different charities. They can choose how much to give to each charity, and the website allows them to either give all their money to a single charity or lets them allocate their money across several in denominations as little as $1.00. It’s actually quiet brilliant and I wish I had kids to set up an account for. According to the site, “They can spread their funds among more than 40 needs/causes such as vaccines, medicine, & eyecare, or saving animals, rain forests & coral reefs. ” Cool, huh? The website is interactive and if it was fun for me to make the monkey “talk”, I can imagine kids would have a good time on the site. I think it is very important for kids to learn about giving as early as possible, and this teaches them money management as well. My wife is thinking of getting her kids at school involved by throwing a fundraiser and then letting the kids choose which charities they want to give to. markmakers.org

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