Ho ho ho and holy cow. You saw this and thought of me? Really? Wow. Do we even know each other at all? From the look of some of these presents, I really have to wonder.
If you're like me, you spent at least half of yesterday smiling sweetly, coming up with overly worded praises of thanks, and thinking no really, what WERE you thinking. And now there's a small pile of items in your home that are about to be homeless - at least, they aren't going to live in your home anymore. If anybody had asked you, they never would have in the first place: the sad lot of imperfect, unwanted, and generally cringe-worthy presents. (My lot included a brown infinity scarf. Not only did we PCS to someplace so warm I don't even keep a winter coat, but I haven't worn brown since my very horrid middle school uniform. In fact, if you saw me and were to have to guess a color to pick out, pink would top the list. Maybe red or yellow. But brown? Brown would rank someplace below "emperor's new clothes." You saw this and thought of ME?)
But if you suspect you're among the regifted this Christmas, time is on your side. There's no better way to extricate these poorly gifted items from your home than immediately after Christmas. In the hububaloo of post-Christmas sales, things go missing all the time. Especially completely blah brown scarves.
And there are several ways to do it.
I like to take all of our least favorite presents straight to Goodwill for donation. This is mostly because the unwanted lot seem to come from no particular store, have no particular tag, and there's no way a refund or exchange is anywhere in their future. Plus, it's where we also get to make use of one last charitable write-off on our 2012 taxes.
But if you've combed the store from which your present came and there's nothing you want to exchange it for, and you don't want to settle for a store credit, try E-Bay. If there's anything the Girls of E-Bay has showed us, it's that there's something out there for everyone. I don't even know how they wound up with half those things. You know you want this scarf. That has regifting to your mother-in-law written all over it.
If you've been given a gift card you have no idea what to do with, you can also try E-Bay, or you can look online for even more help. At CardPool, you can not only swap your gift card from that store you've never heard of before for one you love, you can also exchange your card for an Amazon gift code. But if you're thinking of doing that, don't wait - usually, the longer you wait, the more fees can accrue on your card, reducing its actual worth.
Or, you can be a much better person than I and find a home for all those unwanted in a kind, grateful house. Even the blah brown infinity scarf that reminds you of things that aren't gracious enough to mention here. But when you find it in the depths of your closet ten years from now, wondering where on earth it came from and why you didn't gotten rid of it before, be careful when you list it... you don't wind up tumblr, too.
