Gift cards and vouchers: stop losing money to expiry dates
Unused gift cards and brand vouchers are money you already paid for. A simple system to track every voucher, its balance and its expiry, with a reminder before it lapses.
A ₹2,000 Amazon voucher from the office Diwali gift. A ₹500 Myntra gift card from a birthday. Reward points turned into a Swiggy voucher. A credit card milestone gift. They pile up in emails and SMS, and then one day you find a code that expired last month.
Unused vouchers are money you've already paid for, with your bank balance, your work or your card spending. Here's how to stop losing them.
Why vouchers get wasted
- They're scattered: email, SMS, WhatsApp, apps, physical cards.
- The expiry is hidden in the fine print.
- Partial balances are forgotten. You use ₹1,200 of a ₹2,000 card and lose track of the ₹800.
- They don't feel like money, so they don't get the same attention.
A simple voucher system
- Record it the day you get it. Brand, value, code or PIN, and expiry date.
- Note how you got it. Bought (money from your bank), gifted, or earned as a reward.
- Update the balance when you use part of it.
- Set a reminder a week or two before expiry. That's enough time to plan a purchase you were going to make anyway.
- Use the oldest first. When two vouchers work for the same store, spend the one that expires sooner.
Are vouchers spending?
It depends on how you got it:
- You bought it: buying a voucher isn't spending yet, it's moving money from your bank into the voucher. The spending happens when you use it. Record the purchase as a transfer and each use as an expense.
- It was a gift or reward: nothing left your account. When you use it, you can record the purchase as an expense paid by the voucher, so you still see what you bought.
Tracking vouchers in Dhuddu
The Dhuddu Android app has a Vouchers section. Add the brand, value, code, expiry and an optional reminder: a day, three days, a week or a month before it lapses. Each voucher shows its remaining balance and how many days are left, and expired ones are kept separately.
When you shop with one, tap Use, enter the amount, and Dhuddu adds the expense and lowers the balance. If you bought the voucher with money from your bank, Dhuddu records that as a transfer, so it isn't counted twice.
Five minutes setting it up now could save you a few thousand rupees a year, especially after the festive season, when vouchers are the most common gift.