It's happened to all of us. We get a $50 gift card and try to make a purchase that comes as close to the gift card value as possible and we end up being a few bucks short.

So what do you do? Forget about a couple of dollars left over, or buy something else to use up the balance? You know the gift card companies want you to do the later. Let's be real unless it's for a coffee joint or a really cheap eatery, you can't buy much for $2.86.

It turns out different states have different rules about redeeming your leftover gift card balance into cash.

In New Jersey, you can redeem the gift card for cash if it has less than $5 on it. You may have seen that a lot of stores have policies against this, but don't be fooled. According to Lifehacker, NJ requires companies to reimburse you if you have less than $5 left on a gift card.

So if you don't feel like wasting money, or being nudged into spending more - take the cash!

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