Earlier this season I misplaced a Prada store credit/ gift card with a hefty balance. Even after several calls to multiple stores and discussions with the company’s corporate office nobody could find a record of the credit.

It’s easy to forget that those flimsy credits and gift cards should be treated like cash and stored away in a safe (or vault) depending on the value. While still mourning over the loss of the Prada card, I started to take inventory of what other cards are stuffed carelessly in my wallet and in my desk draws. There’s $500 to Saks, $200 to Barneys, $mucho to Hermes, $200 to Bloomingdales, $50 to Scoop, $25 to Target… the list goes on.

Although I always anticipate using the credits for a delicious purchase, I never seem to have the right card when I need it. (The Prada situation is just one example.) And I’m not the only one. According to The National Retail Foundation, the average American Family has over $300 in unredeemed gift cards and more than 40% of gift card recipients never even use the entire balance.

Of course, you can sell your gift card on eBay but we’ve heard too many horror stories of scammers buying the card using the balance and then returning the card. Alternatively, there are dozens of websites that will purchase your gift cards.

Obviously some cards maintain their values better than others. The website Gift Card Granny is somewhat like the Big Board of gift cards and will give you a competitive analysis of the value of your credit at up to a dozen different buying sites. For example, a Saks Fifth Avenue gift card is worth 82% of the value at Cardpool.com but GiftCardMonkey will only give you 77%. A payout for a Barneys New York card is much less valuable and worth only 70% of the face value on Giftcard Zen and just 66% on Gift Card Monkey.

Selling an Hermes or Prada gift card is a bit too specialized for these big clearing houses but there are steps you can take to ensure you don’t have the same misfortune as me.

I’m keeping my fingers crossed that my Prada gift card will resurface. In the meantime, I’m going to make an effort to follow my own advice and spend the remaining gift cards– immediately! Please feel free to share any gift card/credit tips in the comment section below.

We feel a bit remiss about not putting together some sort of New Year list. (Really, can you call yourself a publisher without one?) Today, we’re making up for lost time and taking inventory of our neighborhood needs for 2013. The full list would normally run quite long but we’re just jotting down some basic needs that shouldn’t be too hard to fulfill. Let us know if you agree or if we missed any of the biggies.

1. Zara (with Kids)
Sure there’s a Zara across from Bloomingdales but we can’t figure out why the company hasn’t stocked this location with a children’s department. The Upper East Side is one of the most kid friendly neighborhoods in all of New York City. Even J. Crew opened a Crew Cuts in the northern part of Madison Avenue. Why not a Zara with a children’s department … and housewares while we are at it?

2. Barry’s Bootcamp
Soal Cycle is so 2010. There’s even an outpost in Scarsdale and you know what that means! All the hard bodies have migrated to Barry’s Bootcamp, in Chelsea.  It’s unfortunate that this downtown health craze is so difficult to access. Up here, women are as serious about their workouts as they are about their private schools and you know what that means too. Come on Barry, can’t you envision a line Escalades out front?

3. Homegoods
Have you ever seen anyone throw $1000 into a trash can? We have! You don’t need to linger at S. Feldman or Gracious Home to witness a time pressed house manager grabbing a garbage can that costs almost a grand. An Upper East Side Homegoods would be a welcome oasis for foodies, decorators and, yes, that black card holder.

4. Michael White’s, Ristorante Morini
Finding a good place to eat on a Saturday night on the Upper East Side is as difficult as getting your Co-Op board to sign off on renovation plans. We are keeping our fingers crossed about Michael White’s Ristorante Morini, which planned to open in the space once occupied by Centolire, on Madison and 86th. Hopefully, the new restaurant is as good as Marea and getting the secret phone number to the inside reservationist won’t be too hard.

5. Iviva/ Lululemon for Kids
Lululemon may have taken the athletic category by storm but their kid’s brand, Iviva, has been much more sheepish. We only found out about the Upper West Side “showroom” after our kids inquired about tot sizes while shopping at the parent store. Turns out that Iviva carries a great variety of merchandise specifically for dancers, gymnasts and ice skaters. They even co-braded with Disney’s Shake it Up. (I know!) The East Side can definitely support this experimental concept store. Just one word of advice: Rebrand to look more like Lululemon. Kids, tweens and teens love the brand as much as their mom’s and dad’s and nobody can make sense of that Iviva logo.