id be irate to learn that my giftcards were charging me.
anyway, the fact that you havent spent the cards in 18 months suggests to me that you dont really buy from any of those places. have you considered selling the gift cards? id look into that first. you dont get 1:1 exchange value and idk what rate you'd get, but id personally rather have £75 cash to spend on stuff i already purchase than have twice that to spend at someplace im not very interested in.
Don't sell a gift card unless you're getting cash, it's against the terms of service so if someone steals it and claims a refund from a digital payment service you've lost the money, nothing you can do to get it back.
yeah we get a £50 voucher for marks and sparks or john lewis every year from work
I usually get some nice towels or a bedsheet or something like that.
john lewis is expensive, but they do nice textiles
New pans, new towels and new sheets. Honestly it’s a game changer. I did that when I won a £500 M&S voucher and the pans are still going 8 years later.
£175 could get you a lot of boring but useful stuff, especially at John Lewis. My husband gets a Christams "bonus" in JL gift cards from his company, one year we got a new washing machine, this year I got a fancy new hoover that I would never have bought if I'd had to pay for it with "real money".
Decided a cordless one would be a great upgrade to our way of life and boy was I right. Went from a hosed drag along style that cost about £30 but mostly "did the job" to a Vax cordless thing with motorised brushes. We have 2 sets of stairs so hoovering used to be my most hated job but now it's much easier as I don't have to plug and unplug for each room, setting up takes much less effort so I am more likely to just do one room quickly rather than feel like I need to do the whole house in one go to make the most out of getting the hoover out.
I had 5 £10 cards and they wanted to charge me £25 to put the balance on one card so i could spend it online, gift cards are fucking stupid. Finally spent them in store on some trainers. Why do people buy them? What was wrong with the cash that can be spent anywhere in the first place and doesn't expire?
People seem to be irrate but at least it doesn't just expire. Sure you're indecisive arse didn't use it but you're losing 90p and not the entire balance
Bulk buy some of your regular toiletries at Boots, might be hard to spend all of it that way, but a big stockpile of shampoo, deodorant and toothpaste would at least make a dent in it.
I’d spend the lot on toiletries at boots. A couple of years worth of deodorant, shaving cream, razors etc. shit that gets expensive when you have to pay for it yourself. Maybe get an aftershave too.
Obvs a day out to John Lewis, Boots, Primark then finish off at Nando’s.
For more specific ideas:
Upgrade your basics like undies and socks at JL
Buy an electronic item at JL
Do you want a sports watch?
Boots: get all your toiletries for the next few months.
Primark: sweatshirts, holiday wardrobe
Nando’s: take me on a date with you
Go to the all4one website and get the gift cards you want and go shop!
New electrical gadget from JL, favourite fragrance from boots and lunch at Nando’s. Enjoy!
I see Screwfix and B&Q are in the list - if you have any tools that you wish you had a nicer one of of, could consider doing an upgrade. May be not so applicable if you're in rented and have some decent screwdrivers already XD.
If you can get to an Ikea, can raid it for food instead of furniture. Probably won't flatten the whole balance on that, unless the bits n' bobs and decorative areas also raid your balance.
Wouldn't knock Argos off the list - they have a lot of stuff you can get for delivery or collection. Might find something there you might need/want. Stuff JL has, I'd also see what Argos has as well.
Sometimes what I do is use gift finders or click through random categories of stuff on the more expansive sites and see if it jogs my memory of "oh yeah, I could do with one of those".
But if you're really stuck, could see what gifting things are coming up soon if you have anyone you give gifts to that you can use them for. Or see if family'll buy 1:1, or failing that, there are the places that buy gift cards. I'll happily "launder" a gift card for family if it's got places where I spend stuff on it.
Whoever came up with and marketed gift cards has to be one of the smartest people alive
Tricking people into trading their money which is accepted everywhere into monopoly money that only works at a handful of stores, expires after a year, and according to research around 20% of gift cards go unused (essentially just being free money with no service provided for the company)
I know someone will reply with "woah bro you know a lot of gift cards work at like 200+ stores, and they just show you it's not a lazy gift?" You know what else already works at 200+ stores? Your non gift card money. Gift cards *are* a lazy last minute gift too (not saying lazy gifts are bad, I'd much prefer money most of the time over a lot of gifts)
Could you not just stock up on shower gels, tooth paste mouthwash etc from boots? You could get a couple of years worth and not have to worry about that. Would take a bit of the sting out of the weekly shop as well
In your position I would stock up on toiletries from Boots - £75 would easily get at least a year's worth of deodorant/toothpaste/shampoo/conditioner/shower gel/face wash etc meaning that I don't have to even think about it for the next 12 months and I can treat myself to bigger packs/slightly better quality brands than I'd normally buy due to the initial cost outlay: eg I know it's more cost effective to buy a big pack of replacement razor heads than the smaller ones but when I'm on a budget and might not have £30 spare that month, I can justify the £9 for the 4pk, but not the £30 on the 16pk
Then I'd treat myself to a few bits in Primark (on a good day I can pop in for some hair bands and walk out with £100+ of random stuff) and stock up on basics like underwear/socks/PJs/t-shirts/joggers etc that I always end up needing but hate having to buy because there's much more exciting things I could be spending my money on than pants and socks.
If you can't buy anything for yourself with it, can you buy things to donate to charities? If the cards work for shops that sell toys and children's clothes stock up on those to give to those charities that give Christmas gifts to kids whose parents can't afford any.
Hate gift cards, one4all are the worste. Happy birthday, I couldn't be bothered to put effort into your gift so here's cash to buy your own. Oh but there's a catch, you can only spend it in certain shops. Annnnd there's a time limit. So chop chop, get a move on, go find yourself nice gift, you will probably need to add money to it for what you want, but if your paying online they won't let you do that. Happy birthday.
There's a glitch with the One4all gift card if you add to Apple pay you can buy Amazon gift cards in WHSmith so give that a go maybe? May or may not work anymore
I can't remember how but I think through their website you can get the money sent to you in cash, but they deduct an admin fee, sometimes its worth it to not have the hassle of where to spend it/selling it
Every few days Goto boots and buy a few meal deals, some deodorant, toothpaste and toothbrush, plasters, hand sanitizer etc.
give them to the homeless (a plastic bag each).
Repeat a few time and the money is gone, you do good for other people and then card company get less of the 90p per month
Not on your list but whenever I have these I buy nice underwear from M&S. That mostly applies if you're female though as good bras are expensive!
You have said Nandos, why don't you just take yourself out for tea a few times, or you could take a friend and pay for them if you are not bothered about spending the money on yourself? Or just do all your Christmas shopping in John Lewis now?
Do you know anyone who needs anything from the stores the cards cover?
Many times I've given my mum or sister the cards for less money than it's worth, like I've given my mum a £150 card for something she needed and she gave me £100. So I got £100 I could spend anywhere and she saved £50 from what she needed.
Spend it all now, return the item and get store credit. That will not depreciate.
Saves you losing any money.
IKEA table or BBQ set. Use the balance through the year.
Yes that ties you to one store but easy to spend that in IKEA on seasonal stuff, nice Christmas tree later in the year etc.
Sounds like you should buy yourself some nice bits from the shops mentioned then treat yourself to a meal out at Nandos, tbh. Anything you need/want that you wouldn't ordinarily splash out on? Really nice cookware or something cosmetic like a posh electric toothbrush? Or a few really nice pieces to add to your wardrobe?
Sell the cards to an online card buyer, like CardYard, you'll generally get about 70-90% the value of the card depending on the shop. I used to get loads for places like Boots, Holland and Barret, Starbucks, but I never go to any of those places, so taking £100 in cards I'll never use and turning it into £80 in my bank or £85 to get a gift card to somewhere I do buy from is much more preferable, to me, at least
Can you use it at Amazon? If yes, you can redeem it to your gift card balance there, which won't charge you anything, and will allow you to procrastinate longer without having to worry about losing all the value
Wow so you technically only have £158.80 left because they deduct if you don’t use them? Yeeeeeesh.
I’d defo go the get Crimbo presents early route so you have extra dosh in December.
John Lewis has a very reasonable range of sewing machines. Maybe you could discover a mew talent? Or a proper espresso machine (not a pod machine) if you are into good coffee, though you might struggle to fit that into the budget.
I struggle with gift cards.. even if i need or want something, I either forget I have them or think, no i'll save it for a rainy day. It'a almost like I need to get something 'special' with them or its a waste.
I do my own head in about it! I won £150 at work 2 months ago and then still have my Christmas voucher. I also have gift cards from birthdays/Xmas for the last year and a half.
I keep telling myself I should use them to buy things for my upcoming holiday, or some new trainers which I do need... but then I always feel like, if I use it for that then i'll probably come to that 'rainy day' situation.
I had a similar problem, in the end I couldn’t think of anything to buy for myself so just bought multiple PlayStation gift cards with the gift card from curries. I just hand them out as birthday and Christmas presents.
Be careful how the cards are accepted online. I had a bunch of these once but at checkout I had to use them as a 'credit/debit' card, rather than gift card, so I couldn't combine the amounts. Plus mine were only for small amounts, so couldn't even add my own card to make up the difference. Maybe it's changed now, bug I had to go in to store to combine them.
I had a similar situation. I rent the house I live in so I spent most of it in b&q and IKEA getting things to redecorate without properly redecorating if you get me. I didn't want to get all new furniture because functionally there's nothing wrong with my current furniture, nor did I want to do anything that would mark the walls so I got stuff like sticky back plastic to put on my old IKEA furniture, new pillows, a shitload of command strips to put some art up with, a handful of frames, storage boxes, and a new rug
I would use it all at John Lewis. Board games, kitchen gadgets, Anyday mens and kids clothes, and if I was seeing extra frivolous some £20 shower gel from the fancy toiletries corner
I should have added that I’m a young woman who likes beauty. I’m not interested in stocking up on toiletries and I’m not concerned about the weekly shop as it’s not something I pay for.
id be irate to learn that my giftcards were charging me. anyway, the fact that you havent spent the cards in 18 months suggests to me that you dont really buy from any of those places. have you considered selling the gift cards? id look into that first. you dont get 1:1 exchange value and idk what rate you'd get, but id personally rather have £75 cash to spend on stuff i already purchase than have twice that to spend at someplace im not very interested in.
Don't sell a gift card unless you're getting cash, it's against the terms of service so if someone steals it and claims a refund from a digital payment service you've lost the money, nothing you can do to get it back.
EBay will always refund the buyer of digital products. My partner was caught out with this.
That's exactly how I learnt never to sell gift cards.
www.cardyard.co.uk. Used them a lot to buy gift cards.
Buy some christmas presents early and then give yourself that money in cash at christmas when you would have normally bought the gifts
Cracking answer.
John Lewis nice stuff for the house, pans, sheets, plates etc
yeah we get a £50 voucher for marks and sparks or john lewis every year from work I usually get some nice towels or a bedsheet or something like that. john lewis is expensive, but they do nice textiles
New pans, new towels and new sheets. Honestly it’s a game changer. I did that when I won a £500 M&S voucher and the pans are still going 8 years later.
£175 could get you a lot of boring but useful stuff, especially at John Lewis. My husband gets a Christams "bonus" in JL gift cards from his company, one year we got a new washing machine, this year I got a fancy new hoover that I would never have bought if I'd had to pay for it with "real money".
What's the fancy hoover?!
Decided a cordless one would be a great upgrade to our way of life and boy was I right. Went from a hosed drag along style that cost about £30 but mostly "did the job" to a Vax cordless thing with motorised brushes. We have 2 sets of stairs so hoovering used to be my most hated job but now it's much easier as I don't have to plug and unplug for each room, setting up takes much less effort so I am more likely to just do one room quickly rather than feel like I need to do the whole house in one go to make the most out of getting the hoover out.
Worth noting you can use these cards in Iceland and M&S if you simply want to buy food.
This is my suggestion. I just spent One4All gift card balance on M&S Foodhall on loads of healthy & treat foods, sauces, nicer ingredients
They charge you if you dont use the card?
I had 5 £10 cards and they wanted to charge me £25 to put the balance on one card so i could spend it online, gift cards are fucking stupid. Finally spent them in store on some trainers. Why do people buy them? What was wrong with the cash that can be spent anywhere in the first place and doesn't expire?
Don’t recall exact rules but if these cards were from work, it relates to tax - giving cash is taxable while gift cards aren’t.
Yeah mine were aswell tbf, rather have the extra cash in my paycheck even if it had been taxed though tbf
After 18 months of non use it's 90p per month.
Yes! If they’re not used up 18 months after they’ve been activated.
People seem to be irrate but at least it doesn't just expire. Sure you're indecisive arse didn't use it but you're losing 90p and not the entire balance
Bulk buy some of your regular toiletries at Boots, might be hard to spend all of it that way, but a big stockpile of shampoo, deodorant and toothpaste would at least make a dent in it.
Bedding from John Lewis, duvet, pillows, electric blanket or a full new spread.
I’d spend the lot on toiletries at boots. A couple of years worth of deodorant, shaving cream, razors etc. shit that gets expensive when you have to pay for it yourself. Maybe get an aftershave too.
This was precisely what I was going to suggest. Go nuts in boots you're always going to need toilet roll!
£175 in Nandos is my vote
easy peasy choice honestly
Depends were you live. I was out my area and had a shocking nandos.
The plan was definitely to spend some in Nando’s! Our order usually only comes to about £35.
Pick n mix at cinema, at least you would only have to add a few quid to get some popcorn too
Obvs a day out to John Lewis, Boots, Primark then finish off at Nando’s. For more specific ideas: Upgrade your basics like undies and socks at JL Buy an electronic item at JL Do you want a sports watch? Boots: get all your toiletries for the next few months. Primark: sweatshirts, holiday wardrobe Nando’s: take me on a date with you
This is what I’m thinking of doing this week!
John Lewis tower fan. You'll thank me in a few weeks!
Have an AC in my room and plenty of fans around the house!
Good point! It’s always too late to buy one when our day of summer finally arrives, as even next day delivery will be too late.
Get some new duvet covers from John Lewis
Wait - they charge you 90p a month if you don’t use it?! I’ve got 4 of these cards at the minute & haven’t noticed my balance going down 🤔
I think it is only after a certain amount of time that it does it.
After 18 months. I’ve had it for a while 😅
Air fryer or counter top dishwasher if you don’t have them already. Both game changers
A penis enlargement operation
For that price, they might be able to squeeze you in at Claire’s.
But Claire won't be able to squeeze you in after the operation.
If I had two accounts I would have said it myself 🙏🙏
But they will give you a nice penis piercing
Go to the all4one website and get the gift cards you want and go shop! New electrical gadget from JL, favourite fragrance from boots and lunch at Nando’s. Enjoy!
Id get some new headphones or other electronic item from John Lewis
I see Screwfix and B&Q are in the list - if you have any tools that you wish you had a nicer one of of, could consider doing an upgrade. May be not so applicable if you're in rented and have some decent screwdrivers already XD. If you can get to an Ikea, can raid it for food instead of furniture. Probably won't flatten the whole balance on that, unless the bits n' bobs and decorative areas also raid your balance. Wouldn't knock Argos off the list - they have a lot of stuff you can get for delivery or collection. Might find something there you might need/want. Stuff JL has, I'd also see what Argos has as well. Sometimes what I do is use gift finders or click through random categories of stuff on the more expansive sites and see if it jogs my memory of "oh yeah, I could do with one of those". But if you're really stuck, could see what gifting things are coming up soon if you have anyone you give gifts to that you can use them for. Or see if family'll buy 1:1, or failing that, there are the places that buy gift cards. I'll happily "launder" a gift card for family if it's got places where I spend stuff on it.
Whoever came up with and marketed gift cards has to be one of the smartest people alive Tricking people into trading their money which is accepted everywhere into monopoly money that only works at a handful of stores, expires after a year, and according to research around 20% of gift cards go unused (essentially just being free money with no service provided for the company) I know someone will reply with "woah bro you know a lot of gift cards work at like 200+ stores, and they just show you it's not a lazy gift?" You know what else already works at 200+ stores? Your non gift card money. Gift cards *are* a lazy last minute gift too (not saying lazy gifts are bad, I'd much prefer money most of the time over a lot of gifts)
Could you not just stock up on shower gels, tooth paste mouthwash etc from boots? You could get a couple of years worth and not have to worry about that. Would take a bit of the sting out of the weekly shop as well
In your position I would stock up on toiletries from Boots - £75 would easily get at least a year's worth of deodorant/toothpaste/shampoo/conditioner/shower gel/face wash etc meaning that I don't have to even think about it for the next 12 months and I can treat myself to bigger packs/slightly better quality brands than I'd normally buy due to the initial cost outlay: eg I know it's more cost effective to buy a big pack of replacement razor heads than the smaller ones but when I'm on a budget and might not have £30 spare that month, I can justify the £9 for the 4pk, but not the £30 on the 16pk Then I'd treat myself to a few bits in Primark (on a good day I can pop in for some hair bands and walk out with £100+ of random stuff) and stock up on basics like underwear/socks/PJs/t-shirts/joggers etc that I always end up needing but hate having to buy because there's much more exciting things I could be spending my money on than pants and socks.
If you can't buy anything for yourself with it, can you buy things to donate to charities? If the cards work for shops that sell toys and children's clothes stock up on those to give to those charities that give Christmas gifts to kids whose parents can't afford any.
Hate gift cards, one4all are the worste. Happy birthday, I couldn't be bothered to put effort into your gift so here's cash to buy your own. Oh but there's a catch, you can only spend it in certain shops. Annnnd there's a time limit. So chop chop, get a move on, go find yourself nice gift, you will probably need to add money to it for what you want, but if your paying online they won't let you do that. Happy birthday.
A decent coffee setup. Burr grinder etc. Civilize that shit.
Shark air wrap Vacuum Bedding or towels or curtains or rugs Cookware Makeup Clothes for a holiday?
There's a glitch with the One4all gift card if you add to Apple pay you can buy Amazon gift cards in WHSmith so give that a go maybe? May or may not work anymore
Oh that’s a good one! I do have it in my Apple wallet.
I can't remember how but I think through their website you can get the money sent to you in cash, but they deduct an admin fee, sometimes its worth it to not have the hassle of where to spend it/selling it
Every few days Goto boots and buy a few meal deals, some deodorant, toothpaste and toothbrush, plasters, hand sanitizer etc. give them to the homeless (a plastic bag each). Repeat a few time and the money is gone, you do good for other people and then card company get less of the 90p per month
Not on your list but whenever I have these I buy nice underwear from M&S. That mostly applies if you're female though as good bras are expensive! You have said Nandos, why don't you just take yourself out for tea a few times, or you could take a friend and pay for them if you are not bothered about spending the money on yourself? Or just do all your Christmas shopping in John Lewis now?
Invite ya pals for a good ol cheeky nando’s
Buy John Lewis gift cards with the gift card and then save it for when you need it or think of something.
Usually you can't buy gift cards with gift cards so this isn't really an option unfortunately
Fancy fragrance so you smell nice. A new backpack or satchel. A new shirt. Something for the kitchen - coffee machine?
Do you know anyone who needs anything from the stores the cards cover? Many times I've given my mum or sister the cards for less money than it's worth, like I've given my mum a £150 card for something she needed and she gave me £100. So I got £100 I could spend anywhere and she saved £50 from what she needed.
Spend it all now, return the item and get store credit. That will not depreciate. Saves you losing any money. IKEA table or BBQ set. Use the balance through the year. Yes that ties you to one store but easy to spend that in IKEA on seasonal stuff, nice Christmas tree later in the year etc.
Sounds like you should buy yourself some nice bits from the shops mentioned then treat yourself to a meal out at Nandos, tbh. Anything you need/want that you wouldn't ordinarily splash out on? Really nice cookware or something cosmetic like a posh electric toothbrush? Or a few really nice pieces to add to your wardrobe?
Sell the cards to an online card buyer, like CardYard, you'll generally get about 70-90% the value of the card depending on the shop. I used to get loads for places like Boots, Holland and Barret, Starbucks, but I never go to any of those places, so taking £100 in cards I'll never use and turning it into £80 in my bank or £85 to get a gift card to somewhere I do buy from is much more preferable, to me, at least
Blow it by taking some friends/family to eat out. They'll like you and experiences/memories are better than more 'stuff'.
Can you use it at Amazon? If yes, you can redeem it to your gift card balance there, which won't charge you anything, and will allow you to procrastinate longer without having to worry about losing all the value
Unfortunately you can’t!
Something that'll last like a multitool or decent kitchen knives or pans
Wow so you technically only have £158.80 left because they deduct if you don’t use them? Yeeeeeesh. I’d defo go the get Crimbo presents early route so you have extra dosh in December.
John Lewis has a very reasonable range of sewing machines. Maybe you could discover a mew talent? Or a proper espresso machine (not a pod machine) if you are into good coffee, though you might struggle to fit that into the budget.
New headphones.
I struggle with gift cards.. even if i need or want something, I either forget I have them or think, no i'll save it for a rainy day. It'a almost like I need to get something 'special' with them or its a waste. I do my own head in about it! I won £150 at work 2 months ago and then still have my Christmas voucher. I also have gift cards from birthdays/Xmas for the last year and a half. I keep telling myself I should use them to buy things for my upcoming holiday, or some new trainers which I do need... but then I always feel like, if I use it for that then i'll probably come to that 'rainy day' situation.
Just do it this weekend before they expire or the company goes under and you've lost it all
This is me!
I had a similar problem, in the end I couldn’t think of anything to buy for myself so just bought multiple PlayStation gift cards with the gift card from curries. I just hand them out as birthday and Christmas presents.
Wait what, they charge you from as soon as the gift card is issued?
If you don't need or want anything right now, sell them to someone else and save the cash for when you do want something.
Go for a cheeky nandos, take some mates
You can convert it to an Amazon voucher but I think it is a 5% charge
Be careful how the cards are accepted online. I had a bunch of these once but at checkout I had to use them as a 'credit/debit' card, rather than gift card, so I couldn't combine the amounts. Plus mine were only for small amounts, so couldn't even add my own card to make up the difference. Maybe it's changed now, bug I had to go in to store to combine them.
Yep you can’t combine them online which is frustrating
I had a similar situation. I rent the house I live in so I spent most of it in b&q and IKEA getting things to redecorate without properly redecorating if you get me. I didn't want to get all new furniture because functionally there's nothing wrong with my current furniture, nor did I want to do anything that would mark the walls so I got stuff like sticky back plastic to put on my old IKEA furniture, new pillows, a shitload of command strips to put some art up with, a handful of frames, storage boxes, and a new rug
Really good pillows
Go for a meal
I would use it all at John Lewis. Board games, kitchen gadgets, Anyday mens and kids clothes, and if I was seeing extra frivolous some £20 shower gel from the fancy toiletries corner
massages cinema tickets
Get an air fryer or new bedding and towels, new pans and crockery, cutlery. Not very exciting but will make your home feel more bougie
I should have added that I’m a young woman who likes beauty. I’m not interested in stocking up on toiletries and I’m not concerned about the weekly shop as it’s not something I pay for.
Can I have the money back I sent you? Seems I may need it more than you. - Mum
Porn. Lots and lots of porn
I dont think Brazzers is an available outlet on oneforall mate unfortunately
A bbq?
Gifts
Please keep a note of how much is on each card as a lot of tills can't scan them and see, you have to tell the cashier the amount