If you haven’t heard about Wrapp, you’re living under a rock. Wrapp is one of the pioneers of the social gift giving movement, and it’s my favorite because it allows you to exchange completely free $5/$10 mobile gift cards with your Facebook friends. Even better? Each Wednesday, Wrapp offers users a chance to score free gift cards for themselves. Wrapp gift cards are good for about a month and the app notifies you when your gift cards are about to expire. Yesterday I had two gift cards that were due to retire from my Wrapp mobile wallet, so I headed to the mall to use them up. Here’s a quick tip from my frugal shopping philosophy: try to avoid, at all costs, spending more than a gift card is worth – especially if you’re not shopping for something you need. You might think, “How is possible to shop at a store in the mall for under $10? Under $5?” Trust me; it’s not only possible, it’s an amazing adrenaline rush to get great cosmetics, clothing, and accessories for nothing.
I went to the mall with $10 to Sephora and $5 to Gap. I knew immediately what my Wrapp gift card would get me for free at Sephora; I’m a lover of Sephora for OPI nail polishes, but I will never, ever buy them at full price because they are almost ten dollars! I snagged a pretty rosy pink to keep things fresh for fall. At the register, all I owed was 17 cents for tax.
Things got a little trickier at Gap. Five dollars is really hard to work with – if you don’t know what you’re looking for. My Gap had a ton of pretty insane markdowns in the accessories section by the register and I found, to my delight, a tub of final sale belts. The belts averaged less than two dollars a piece!
I grabbed three for less than five dollars. I had to surrender the 22 cent remaining balance because you cannot get cash back for Wrapp gift cards. But, who cares! I got three belts for free.
Lessons learned about Wrapp gift cards:
- There is no minimum purchase to use your Wrapp gift card.
- You won’t get a cash balance back like you might with some print gift cards and your Wrapp gift card expires after one transaction, so your balance will not be retained.
- You don’t have to let your Wrapp deals die because you don’t want to spend more money than you’d save.