Donald - my hero
<font color=blue>Aww yes. The dreaded "mouse hand"
- Joined
- Jun 11, 2006
Ok, I'll step into this discussion with what might be a contentious answer: if you don't have the money currently to tie up in gift cards OR if buying the gift cards will make things tight then don't do it. If you are needing to charge these gift cards to a credit card that you can't immediately pay as soon as the bill arrives, don't do it because the interest charges aren't worth the "safety net" gift cards might provide for your grocery bills in the future.Our grocery budget is going to be so tight this next year that I am really considering using the gift card budgeting method next year...
and I will HAPPILY take the advice from AM family
NOW if you're talking about buying gift cards as a way to guarantee that you spend a set amount, and nothing more on your groceries then this is a great idea! But loop back to my above answer, only if buying the gift card doesn't put you in debt.
We're not gamblers and don't buy gift cards very often for anticipated expenses because any number of things could happen - company could go out of business and those pieces of plastic are now worthless (it can happen to ANY company!) We might have an unexpected expense pop up and then not have easy access to money because, well, i don't think a plumber wants my grocery cards I DO buy gift cards when i know I'll be using them and i can get extra benefits for them - example being the Indigo cards last week, i KNEW i was going to be placing an order so i bought EXACTLY that amount and doubled my miles. Another, we needed a new toaster oven, it was on sale thru Amazon, Shell had a special on gift cards, I bought enough to pay for the toaster and again, doubled my miles.
Eekk long answer, sorry!