Gift Cards

Tis the season of giving. It got me thinking - why pay a middleman so you can give money to your loved ones? Normally, I like to give my family actual gifts. This year I might just give $$ to some of them. This way they can spend it wherever & whenever on whatever they want. Enter gift cards. Yes, I can get gift cards for specific stores. There are also debit/credit card type of things that allow one to shop anywhere. The catch is that many of these cards have an expiration date. If you don't use the money on the card by a given time, money is slowing deducted until one uses the remainder or all the dinero disappears back into the hands of the retailer/bank/credit card company. Not fair, right? So your thinking you are giving someone $50 or whatever, but if they don't use it during the allotted time, it's less moola for them.

Screw gift cards! While we are at it, screw "money" cards. You know the cards specially made to hold money. Forget Hallmark for a chance of pace - design your own card. Be unique; add a personal touch. Or if you really want to wrap money for the sake of beautiful presentation (and for the extra element of surprise), there's nothing wrong with gift wrapping the dough in a creative way.