Cash In Those Gift Cards

I know you all have them. In fact, you probably have hundreds of dollars in gift cards that are just sitting in cabinet drawers, old purses or in your wallet. Make a point to find them now and SPEND THEM because you never know when your next favorite retailer is going to go the way of the typewriter and rotary dial phone! I still get a bit melancholy when I think of the demise of Bombay Company and Linens and Things (...and Circuit City was one of my husband's favorites).

I have a bunch of gift cards, mainly given to me as Christmas gifts. I recently corralled them all together to see what they totalled and much to my surprise, the total came to $800! That is just sinful and I will admit I am a bit ashamed that I am have not used them, so I am making a plan to spend them down within the next 2 months. After all, it's "free money" and there is no reason why I shouldn't be spending "free money" before real money, right? The first gift card to fall will be at Johnnie Rockets, a retro 50's hamburger shop that has restaurants in most malls around the country...$40 down, $760 to go. And, to pay it forward, if I don't use the entire amount tomorrow, I am going to give the remainder to a random fellow diner and ask them to do a good deed in return.