the Guppie Life

I’m a fan of lifehacks, which are little-known tips and tricks that boost productivity by solving common problems.

One thing that has always bothered me is not being able to remember how much money is stored on gift cards after I’ve made a purchase. The store receipt usually lists the balance, but who can keep track of all those tiny pieces of paper?

For a while I tried attaching the receipts to the gift card with a paper clip, but it was an imperfect system. For one thing, I like to store my important receipts in a dedicated folder, but I like to keep my gift cards on my bureau so I’ll see them everyday and remember to actually use them.

After the paper clip experiment, I tried writing gift card balances on Post Its, which I then stuck to the front of the gift cards. While Post Its were an improvement over the paper clips, I found that sometimes the Post Its peeled off the gift cards, seemingly of their own accord.

But now I think I’ve finally found a solution:

I write the remaining balance on the front of the gift card with dry erase marker.

Admittedly, it’s not perfect– the dry erase can smudge or wipe off, but it becomes more resistant with age, and it won’t smear like Sharpie. Also, the marker won’t show up on dark plastic, but many gift cards have white on the back.

Overall it’s a pretty quick, clutter-free system.

Do you have any lifehacks to share?