Tax season is over.
This year, TurboTax and Amazon teamed up to offer me a 10% on up to $1200 of my refund if I took it as an Amazon gift card.
$120 free if I spend that money with a company I’m going to spend money with anyway?
Yes, please.
I spend lots of money with Amazon. I subscribe to many of my household items there, because I use them and I don’t want to have to think about buying them. I get my soap, shampoo, toilet paper, paper towels, and garbage bags automatically delivered. There’s a bunch of other stuff, too, but that’s what I remember off the top of my head. If I have 5 items in a monthly delivery, I get 20% off.
Free money, free shipping, and none of the hassles of shopping?
Yes, please.
So now I have a $1320 credit with the company I use for most of my non-grocery shopping.
I also have 962 items on my wishlist with Amazon.
To recap: $1320 burning a hole in my metaphorical pocket and 962 items that I have wanted at some time in the past, begging me to bring them home.
That’s a dilemma.
The smart answer is, of course, to let that money hide in Amazon’s system and slowly drain out to pay for the things I actually need.
The fun answer is to stock up on games and books and toys and gadgets and cameras and, and, and….
Some days, it’s hard being a responsible adult.
I think I’m going to compromise with myself. I’ll leave the vast majority of the money where it is, but I’ll spend a little bit of it on fun stuff, and a little bit more on stuff I don’t quite need, but would be useful, but not so useful that I’ve already bought it.
A new alarm clock to replace the one next to my bed that automatically adjusts for daylight savings time but was purchased before they changed the day daylight savings time hit so I have to adjust the time 4 times per year instead of never. That’s on the list of not-quite-needs.
The volume 2 book of paracord knots is on the list of wants that can’t possibly be considered a need, but it’s going to come home, anyway.
I figure, if I spend a couple of hundred dollars on things I really, really want, I’ll scratch that itch and leave most of the money alone.
What would you do with a $1300 gift card at a store you shop at every week that sells every conceivable thing? Spend it right away, or stretch it out, or something else?
Haha it would be really hard for me not to spend it if I knew I had a gift card for such a high amount! That would be a disaster for me 🙂
We received $450 in Amazon gift cards this past Christmas, and we love Amazon too, so I know how you feel. It’s the end of April and we still have $120 left. It would be $40, but I signed up for the Amazon credit card to get $80 credit and 3% cash back on my future Amazon purchases. We’ve spread it out over the fun stuff that we would have bought anyway like new releases of my husband’s favorite video games and a new $12 battle gnome for me (a garden gnome in full war gear holding an awesome sword). We’ve also bought pretty-much-needs like a new squeegee for the shower since the other one was wearing out and a new fridge water filter that was replaced at 18 months instead of 6 months and cost 1/2 on Amazon compared to the fridge store. Our biggest purchases have been a new lamp for our projector since the 1st one burned out and a new Bluray player since the one we bought a year ago sucked. Overall, yay for Amazon!!!
Whenever I get cash or a gift card that’s not pegged for an immediate ‘go buy this’ situation, I always hold onto it for awhile. I like having it there as a ‘hey, when I need it, it’s there’ versus running out and grabbing the first thing that strikes my fancy.
I would have to just leave the money where it is and spend it on the household autoship items. I’m a big amazon freak too. Although I don’t have over 900 items in my wish list… maybe like 20 which I still felt was a lot.
Ah man, I thought my wish list was large! IF you want any suggestions on gifts to buy for your Lounging Lizard friends (especially the NJ ones), you just let me know!
I would just make it a point to really think things over before buying anything. It’s easy to turn around in a few months and wonder where all of the money went. When I had a credit with them, I paused at the checkout screen and really considered if I needed it. By leaving it in my cart, I could easily buy it the next day or so if I really needed it.
That’s great for you since you use Amazon so much! I didn’t know that was even an option for people to do. I would spend it on things that I need so that I could put the money I’d normally spend there into savings. Can you buy gift cards through Amazon for things like gas?