I’m pro-gift card. Roughly ⅓ of the stuff that I haul out of my clients’ homes were gifts purchased for them by other people. Ill-fitting clothing, decor not to their taste, food they don’t eat, on and on. Gift cards help prevent that.

That said, gift cards can still generate clutter if we’re not careful.

Gift card givers say: Get something you would never buy yourself otherwise!

I say: Get something you would definitely buy yourself otherwise!

Gift cards can feel like bonus money, so we often blow them on “bonus stuff.” Bonus as in unnecessary, impulsive, and potentially future-clutter.

Clutter we get for free is still clutter. And clutter is expensive.

Instead of accumulating free clutter, we can “budget” our gift cards to make purchases we want and need from our shopping list. Gift cards are typically valid for at least a year. No need to purchase something RIGHT NOW.

We can make a note in our shopping list of the gift cards we have available and, as we add needs to our shopping list, scan to see which items we can purchase with which gift cards.

We can also convert gift cards to cash on one of the many internet marketplaces for such things, or pass them along to someone who could really use them.

I gratefully use gift cards to buy regular, unsexy purchases like food, gas, and toiletries. I’ve enjoyed months of coffee at home buying bags of beans with Starbucks gift cards. I just added Dr. Bronner’s to my shopping list and saw that I have $15 to Target, which could satisfy my soap needs and prevent me from blowing that money on future-garbage at the Dollar Spot. My clutter-free home is a gift that keeps on giving.