Where Are Your Wedding Gifts?
Where Are Your Wedding Gifts?
Unboxed your air fryer yet or no?
Welcome to The First Years of Marriage Newsletter! We talk about the conversations, challenges, and changes that begin once the honeymoon ends. Advice from experts, mistakes from me (Jen Glantz), and things you’re going to want to know as you continue to ask yourself this question - “I’m married, so now what?”
I refused to make a wedding registry.
Everyone in my life told me to make one. Some family members asked about the registry more than they asked about the wedding. A friend of mine even offered to do it for me.
But I did not want one.
Why?
Adam and I live in a tiny 1-bedroom apartment in Brooklyn. It’s around 500 sq ft. Which is fine, it works for us and we made it through the pandemic inside that little box.
But, like most New York apartments, closets and shelf space are just not “things” we really have. We have two closets total. We have two ity bity cabinets in the kitchen that do not fit plates. Cups, yes. Plates, no.
If I made a wedding registry, it would have to be of shrunken things. Someone please invent a mini air fryer that’s doll-sized.
We don’t have storage space so we have to be mindful about the things we let inside the apartment so they don’t become decorations that sit idle in the living room.
One time, Adam went to Costco and brought back 30 boxes of protein cereal and stacked them next to the couch as if they would just blend in and no one would notice.
EVERYONE WOULD NOTICE. I CAN NOT LIVE IN AN APARTMENT WHERE CEREAL BOXES ARE THE MAIN FIXTURE OF THE PLACE.
Let’s just say, he ate a lot of protein cereal (3x a day) for weeks.
I wanted cash, $$$$, money.
But that’s so taboo in the wedding world.
“Jen, you can not ask for cash.”
Everyone would tell me and I would respond:
“Why not?”
Nobody ever had a good response except that it was rude or not good ettiequte.
I’d always just respond that they can disagree with my approach here only after they tour my apartment and see that I literally do not have any space to store a new cotton sheet set from Macys.
So I asked for cash and I got…..a lot of stuff.
What about you?
Where are you wedding gifts? What did you do with them? Are they sitting in your basement or your living room (#TeamAdam)?
If so, or if you haven’t thought about those gifts in a while, here’s some advice on how to flip your wedding gifts into wedding cash.
I guess I should start off by saying I’m not a financial advisor and this isn’t financial advice (and all the other legal jargon to protect me from a lawsuit of any kind).These are just tips to consider so your gifts aren’t covered in dust and forgotten about for the next 20-years.
Feel free to tell readers about anything you’ve done with your gifts too.
Let the Cash Earn You $$$
If you were lucky enough to get some wedding cash, investigate where the heck it is.
Don’t say “in a bank account”, get more details.
Consider putting that cash in a (safe) place that makes you interest, so every year you can make $$$ from your wedding $$$.
What does that mean?
Check out high-yield savings accounts or CDs that earn you interest just by keeping that money inside those places.
Adam and I moved the wedding cash we got into a HYSA with Ally Bank and we’re making 0.5% every year on the cash.
Locate the Gift Cards
The second best gift to cash for your wedding can often be gift cards. The only problem is that most people usually lose or forget about these gift cards.
So step #1: locate those gift cards and then use them. Yes, use them now before the store goes out of business, the card expires, or it drops out of your purse.
If you are never going to use that gift card, sell it for money on a site like this one.
Sell the Unused Gifts
Maybe you made a registry of items you thought you wanted but you haven’t even unboxed from your garage and your wedding was five years ago. Maybe people bought you things you will never use (and never asked for).
Collect those gifts and get rid of them - now.
First, contact the stores they were purchased from and see if you can return them. Some will say yes, even 5-years-latter.
If you can’t return, or just want the cash back faster, list those items on sites where others can buy them (here’s a list).
Sell the stuff now while you can still make money and then use that cash for newer items you actually need or put the cash in one of those interest generating bank accounts instead.
Get a Financial Plan
If you’ve done it all right and made sure no wedding gift went to waste and all your wedding cash has been sitting pretty making you money, then maybe it’s time to find a financial advisor and get their help on how you can really take that money to the next level.
Perhaps you want to buy a house, invest, start a business, make passive income through rental properties, etc.
Gift yourself an appointment with a financial advisor to get a strategy in place so that in 10-years from now, your financial goals are rocking and rolling - and your wedding cash was part of the reason for that.
Take a Risk
Consult professional advice before doing any of these things - but maybe you want to take your wedding gift money and do something more risky with it, like investing in Crypto, the stock market, or in a business.
While you could potentially come out on top and make a lot of cash, there’s a lot of risk and stress associated with this category so do your research and get expert advice.
Love you (for as long as we both shall live),
Thanks for Reading This!
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I’m Jen Glantz (virtual high-five!!)
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