28 CHOICES | 2013 SPRING ISSUE
FOUND MONEY
ccording to the National
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Retail Federation, an estimated $ 26.3 billion will be spent on gift cards. Of that, $ 8 billion or more will never be used. A Consumer Reports survey determined that 27 % of people questioned had gift cards from last year and 51 % of that group had two or three cards.
What about the items we buy and need to return? Oops! Where is that receipt? So, we go to the store and what do we get in return? Most merchants will issue a store credit.
Do you have found money and you don’ t even realize it? The merchants are banking on it. Think about it. You can’ t blame the merchants. They want you to come into their stores because once again they are banking on you seeing something you want to take home. So, they give you credit you can only spend in their store.
Let’ s say you buy a package of gum with 10 pieces in it for 99 cents. Because you are a nice person, you offer your friend a piece of gum every time you take a piece for yourself. So, you buy one package each week. The chewing gum is at the check-out counter of your grocery store which makes it easy to pick up after you have been shopping without your grocery list and grabbed items you aren’ t sure if you need … just in case you really do need them... after all, the items are on sale. Do you see where this is going? That stick of chewing gum is one tiny item in a sea of many items you might buy. At end of a year, you have unintentionally spent around $ 51.00 on chewing gum. This can be applied to any other repetitive buying you might do. Pay attention, you will find areas of found money.
With all the talk these days about the market and what the government is or is not doing, it is bringing attention to the way we handle our resources. Being organized in our own lives takes on even greater purpose.
Being organized does not take a special talent nor does it mean having just the right container. We don’ t need an app on our phones or a new program for our computers. If you want to find the real lost treasure, using consistent organizing steps will show you the path to found money.
Keep all of your receipts. Yes, all of them. Do this for at least a month. Yes,