Holiday Savings

I love gift cards. They're like free money and you're not stuck with an ugly sweater that you hate, but it doesn't matter anyway because it's two sizes too big/small. Well, over the years, I've collected a pile of gift cards that I had assumed were all spent, but I hadn't throw them out for whatever reason (hoarding?). Yesterday I was like, "OK, I need these out of my life. I'll check the balances and then toss them." Little did I know, I was sitting on some serious cash!

The balances as of my lunch break yesterday:

Target: $5 (parent's holiday gift)
Blockbuster: $5 (gave to roommate)
Barnes & Noble: $6 (gave to mom)
Scoops Ice Cream: $15
Fred Meyer/QFC: $30 (wiper blades for my dad's car)
GAP (2 cards): $35 (underwear)
Safeway (2 cards): $49 (parent's groceries)
American Express Gift Card: $50 (alternative apparel shirt)
Whole Foods: $69
J Crew (3 cards): $513 $105 (1 pair of pants, 3 sweaters, and a cami)
TOTAL: $597 $189

And two free movie tickets at any AMC theater and another four tickets to The Comedy Store!

The GAP ones are the funniest because one is from 2000 and one is from 2007. I don't think I've stepped foot in the GAP since I quit my job at Baby GAP (in 2002). (Yes, I worked at Baby GAP. Shuttup.) And the Barnes & Noble card was actually my "prize" for being Employee of the Month at Baby GAP (right before I quit). The Blockbuster card has a photo of Gandolf and says "The Fellowship of the Ring," which was released to DVD in 2002 if that's any indication as to how old it is.

And I don't even have a Blockbuster account; I had one in college so maybe that's still active (however, unhelpful at 1,200 miles away).

The J Crew cards are just annoying because I SHOP THERE ALL OF THE TIME. I probably could have used these 10 times over since receiving them.

Finding out that these cards still had money was like Christmas in... well, December. That's five hundred and ninety-seven dollars of found money! (And free movie tickets.)

This is sort of a pointless post, but I had to share my holiday joy!


--UPDATE 28 Jan 2011--

Guys, I'm embarrassed to say that I found more...
JC Penney: $25
California Pizza Kitchen: $50
Fry's: $16
(plus the original $597)
TOTAL: $688