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Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of my Heart Radio.

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Speaker 1: Good Morning. This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.

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Speaker 1: Today's tip is to make a plan for using those

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Speaker 1: gift cards that you and family members may have received

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Speaker 1: over the holidays. I'm writing this tip as much for

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Speaker 1: me as anyone else. Each year, my older kids in particular,

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Speaker 1: wind up receiving gift cards from far flung friends and

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Speaker 1: family members. We note who has received what so we

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Speaker 1: can send thank you notes, but that thank you writing

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Speaker 1: process tends to happen prior to the gift cards being used.

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Speaker 1: Over the next week or so after Christmas, the piles

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Speaker 1: of presents get moved up to people's bedrooms, my kids

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Speaker 1: get absorbed in other things like traveling to see relatives

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Speaker 1: and then starting up school again. In the course of this,

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Speaker 1: gift cards can wind up lost or forgotten, and this

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Speaker 1: seems like a waste. I mean, I love Amazon, Target, Dicks,

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Speaker 1: Sporting Goods, and other retailers as much as anyone, but

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Speaker 1: I don't really think they need the free money. So

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Speaker 1: this year, I'm resolving that all gift cards are going

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Speaker 1: to go in an envelope with the recipient's name on it.

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Speaker 1: As soon as we've made a note for thanking purposes,

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Speaker 1: and then each person who has a gift card envelope

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Speaker 1: is going to get a designated day for using them.

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Speaker 1: I planned my weeks on Friday afternoons and so on

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Speaker 1: a handful of fridays in January and February. I will

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Speaker 1: set a day in the upcoming week to feature one envelope.

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Speaker 1: I might decide that my twelve year old will get

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Speaker 1: the following Sunday. I'll tell him a few days ahead

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Speaker 1: of time that this is his official gift card day.

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Speaker 1: We'll discuss what he might want, and he can do

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Speaker 1: some research and think about it. Then on the official

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Speaker 1: gift card day, we'll make our online purchases and visit

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Speaker 1: any retailers that we'd prefer to visit in person. By

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Speaker 1: making this an official priority for the week I think

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Speaker 1: it's far more likely to happen now. Of course, there

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Speaker 1: are other ways to make sure gift cards get used too.

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Speaker 1: For instance, they are very easy to read gift If

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Speaker 1: you receive more than you know what to do with,

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Speaker 1: you could hang onto a few to give to other

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Speaker 1: people for birthdays or bar Mitzvah's or the like. And

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Speaker 1: if you get a card to a retailer that you're

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Speaker 1: pretty sure you won't use. There are sites such as

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Speaker 1: card pool or card cash that will take your gift

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Speaker 1: card for somewhere between seventy eight cents on the dollar usually,

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Speaker 1: and you could sell them off at rays and also

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Speaker 1: buy discounted cards for somewhere that you would like to use.

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Speaker 1: But for most of us, I think it's as much

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Speaker 1: about making the time as finding something that we'd want.

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Speaker 1: By designating official gift card using days in January and February,

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Speaker 1: we can make sure that we don't leave money on

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Speaker 1: the table. If you have a good system for making

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Speaker 1: sure you and your family use your gift cards, please

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Speaker 1: let me know about it. You can email me at

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Speaker 1: Before Breakfast Podcast at i heeart media dot com. In

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Speaker 1: the meantime, this is Laura. Thanks for listening, and here's

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Speaker 1: to making the most of our time. Hey, everybody, I'd

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Speaker 1: love to hear from you. You can send me your tips,

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Speaker 1: your questions, or anything else. Just connect with me on Twitter,

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Speaker 1: Facebook and Instagram at Before Breakfast Pod that's b E

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Speaker 1: the number four then Breakfast p o D. You can

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Speaker 1: also shoot me an email at Before Breakfast Podcast at

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Speaker 1: i heeart media dot Com that before Breakfast is spelled

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Speaker 1: out with all the letters. Thanks so much, I look

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Speaker 1: forward to staying in touch. Before Breakfast is a production

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Speaker 1: of I heart Radio. For more podcasts from I heart Radio,

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Speaker 1: visit the i heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever

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Speaker 1: you listen to your favorite shows. H