#6 Plastic Jungle Secondhad Gift Card Savings!

Momma Told Me: A penny saved is a penny earned.

I often refer to my mother as the queen of frugality. Well, that's because she is. Though we weren't poor, my mother worked hard with every purchase to stretch my father's income as far as she could, with money left over. As far back as I can recall, my mother would bring me on multiple chain excursions, mapping out the sales and deals to maximize our savings. And, when I wa sold enough to operate a calculator, or understand her filing system, I would be in charge of checking of the weekly ads and tallying our savings. By 6 or 7 I knew how to tally up our cart total, coupons, discounts, and tax included, to the very penny. And, when my parents eventually divorced I was glad to see my father had an equally minded frugal sense. In fact, he first introduced me to the concept of purchasing gift cards for discounts.

Do you know that feeling when you're standing in line at the local, grocer and you spot a promotion for something like "Buy $100 in gift cards, get a $20 gift card free"? It's like finding free money, especially when the selection is expansive and for stores you regularly frequent anyway. During the holidays you'll see a lot of these promotions, but what about the rest of the year, and what if you don't want to spend $100+ today? Well, brace yourselves for a truly magnificent business concept.

I am extremely excited to introduce you to Plastic Jungle, the solution to so many plastic conundrums and a massive, online, gift card exchange. Not only can you trade in your old unused gift cards, or store return cards, but you can claim up to 92% cash value on them! The savings are then turned around to savvy consumers such as yourself who can buy gift cards for local merchants, or as gifts, with a savings of up to 30%! And you don't have to worry about the company being shady, Plastic Jungle is a well established, secure business which guarantees every transaction. If the savings aren't enough, the deal is made sweeter with 100% free shipping!

Just browsing Plastic Jungle makes me giddy, there are over 400 merchants, and supply is always changing as consumers like you and I trade in unwanted gift cards! Because the savings is skewed based on quantity in stock, and demand, savings will vary- but is always uniform for a particular brand, and displayed clearly when browsing. For example, at the time of the post, there is a $50 1-800 Flowers gift card listed on Plastic Jungle for just $37.50, a 25% savings! Just think, you could snag the gift card now for early Mother's Day or Valentine's savings, or save $12.50 on a $50 gift! And gift cards are nearly always combine-able with in store and online savings, discounts, and coupons. So, if you're savings savvy like me, you could nearly double that value of said gift card!

Yes, Plastic Jungle even carries high demand companies such as Wal Mart and Target, but availability may be low during the holidays. If you're lucky enough to score a gift card pre-shopping season you can rack up some serious savings, so go now! What happens if you see a merchant you want, but no cards are in stock? Simply sign up for alerts with Plastic Jungle, they'll notify you as soon as your preferred merchant is in stock! Saving money doesn't get much easier, or more exciting, than that! I cannot wait until AFTER the holidays for all the gift card sales to Plastic Jungle, which in turn means savings for me!

I recently, couldn't resist myself, purchased a small gift card to get a sense of how the process worked. Our family loves Jack In The Box, and I happened to spot quite a few $25 gift cards at $22.25, an 11% discount. It may not seem huge for a smaller denomination purchase but paired with my local coupons we can stretch the card for several visits. The checkout process was simple and I received immediate confirmation, and another notice once my order had been processed for shipping. Within 4 days a plain business envelope arrived with an order receipt and my shiny new Jack Cash card. The card was in great condition, and bore a Plastic Jungle tracking number via a little white sticker on the front. As far as gifting goes, the sticker peels right off with no residue. I've since used our card twice with no hitches and can't wait to return to Plastic Jungle!

What Daughter Says: Plastic Jungle stands to save, and earn, me many pennies this holiday season, whether gift shopping, or gift buying!

Plastic Jungle has offered one lucky Momma Told Me follower a $25 shopping spree!

Mandatory Entry: You must be a Momma Told Me follower, then visit Plastic Jungle and tell me an amazing deal you find!

Extra Entries:
*Tell me who inspires you most +1
*Sign up for updates on a brand via Plastic Jungle and tell me which brand +2
*'Like' Plastic Jungle on Facebook +1
*Follow Plastic Jungle on Twitter +1
*Make a Plastic Jungle purchase +10
*Blog about this giveaway +4
*Grab our Winter Wonderland button and link it here: http://bit.ly/aZ2rDw +4
*Follow Confessions of An Overworked Mom +2
*Vote for Momma Told Me on Top Mommy Blogs +2 (can be daily)
*Subscribe to Momma Told Me via email +2
*'Like' Momma Told Me on Facebook AND share this giveaway +2
*Follow Momma Told Me on Twitter AND tweet this giveaway +2
*Enter another Momma Told Me giveaway +1 each

Giveaway begins November 1, 2010 and ends 12:01 AM PST on November 10, 2010. Winners will be notified via email, and posted here. Entries valid INTERNATIONALLY. Winners have 48 hours to claim their prize or another winner will be drawn. Prize will be transferred via sponsor.

As required by the FTC: I received no monetary compensation for this review. I received a product sample for the purpose of my review. All opinions expressed are mine and mine alone.