How Great Is It to Find Gift Cards While Decluttering?

While working hard on decluttering so I could get my tree up, I found a bunch of gift cards! Who knew they were hiding all over the room?

I was figuring that they were probably all be used up but they aren’t!

Here’s what I found:

• Sally Beauty $14.16
• Target $10.50
• Advance Auto Parts $15.00
• Hardware Hank $10.00

The two Speedway cards and one of the Target cards were, unfortunately, used up. I didn’t get to check the Panera card because I somehow lost it in the last few minutes.

So, that’s already $49.66 in gift cards!

I want to share the 5 places where I found these gift cards so that next time you’re doing a major decluttering, you’ll double check these areas for gift cards.

Old Gift Bags

Occasionally, when I get home from a celebration, I set a gift bag down and then forget about it. It gets buried under coats and mail and before I know it, I’m shoving the bag into some place with all the other clutter. Later, when I’m looking through these bags, I find the cards.

Books

I don’t know if this is strange or not but sometimes I use gift cards as book marks. They’re the perfect size for it. I always think that I’ll know where they are when I need them but I usually can’t find the books when I need the gift cards.

Laptop Bags

If you take your laptop bag to conventions or meetings, there’s a chance you left a gift card in it. With all the working at home we’re doing now, we were given a gift card for food. When I stopped in at work, I put the envelope in my laptop bag and then forgot about it for a few weeks.

Last Year’s Christmas Supplies

I have found gift cards in little gift bags from previous years in with my wrapping paper and supplies. I just forgot they were in the little bags and didn’t give them to anyone. More for this year then!

Old Purse Remains

Have you ever cleaned out your purse because you got a new one and threw everything in a bag so you could have a fresh start with the new purse? Then lost the bag with the old gift cards only to have it resurface again while you were decluttering? That happens to me all the time!

So those are five places that you should check for gift cards next time you’re decluttering!

But I found more than just gift cards!

I also found a $1.00 bill in a plastic Easter egg that I was about to put in the Goodwill bag and two insurance checks. They’re small but every penny helps this time of year! One is for $5.00 and the other is for $7.22. I think there might be one more for $12.00 somewhere in here but I haven’t found it yet! Make sure to check all envelopes before you throw them away!

Already $62.88 but I’m not done yet!!

You know what else I found?

Lots of Christmas presents! I guess the gift cards would make good presents but I mean that I literally found presents too! These are things that I had already bought before the safer at home orders started and they never made it to their intended recepients.

It’s always a great feeling when you get rewarded for doing something that needed to be done anyways. All together, this decluttering spree has saved me about $125.00! I found a little bit of change too but I didn’t count that.

I’ll be going through the toys that I found and if any of those have been outgrown, I’ll be donating those to a toy drive.

My living room still needs a lot of work but it’s been rewarding to say the least! I can see the floor again, I made a little money, and I got some Christmas shopping crossed off the list!

I bet you could find some money too next time you declutter! When I was working on the hoarder friend’s house, we found over $50.00 in gift cards there too. Funny how these things get lost in the mess!