Finally, the Northeast has begun to dig out from the blizzard that dumped three feet of snow on everything, creating Currier & Ives winter scenes. This is just in time as the holiday season still has one banner event to keep us entranced: the arrival of the New Year, 2011.

Here comes 2011, and media all over the place is buzzing about how much we’ve come to rely on the ease of giving and using gift cards. Apparently, over 41% of consumers use gift cards (according to Internet Retailer). No doubt there’s a good chance you’ve given and received more than one gift card in the past few weeks.

It’s December 29^th. Do you know where your gift cards are?

Is this your house, too?

The infographic points out a few places, but misses the places I’m always finding gift cards: the second old wallet… the “girl’s brunch and shopping” purse… the jacket which should have been advertised as “wool coat with 100 hidden pockets”. So I believe it: The average American household has $300 of unused gift cards hiding around the house.

So now, while you’re developing your list of New Year’s Resolutions, think about that resolution to “save more” and all that unused money. When you do scare up those cards, you might wait and see if you’ll take advantage of them, buy why not swap them out? As the web’s largest secured gift card exchange, Plastic Jungle has made the news a few times recently, including CNNMoney.com and CBS Moneywatch.

In 2011, December’s holiday and vacation bills will show up. And you’ll have all those unused cards in your hands. It might be tempting to wait and see if you’ll use them. Take on that resolution to save more, be more careful with your money, and your time, and then come back to see us at Plastic Jungle.

If Tiffany & Co jewelry, gifts or accessories are not on your shopping list, and you’d like to cash out your unused or partially used Tiffany Gift Card, you might want to check the balance on the Tiffany Gift Card.

Well known for their customer service, Tiffany’s will easily help you find your balance on your gift card. Here are a few ways:

Check your Tiffany Gift Card Balance

PHONE: 877-377-7512

ONLINE: Check the remaining balance on my Tiffany gift card

IN-STORE: Check for Tiffany store locations

Once you’ve acquired your Tiffany Gift Card balance, you can sell your gift card to Plastic Jungle, and save yourself the hassle of carrying around unused money. At Plastic Jungle, you can also trade your Tiffany’s Gift Card for credit on another gift card, say Sears or Amazon.com, and increase the value of your exchange.

To know how much your Tiffany Gift Card is worth in exchange on Plastic Jungle, on the main page you click “Sell Gift Cards” at the top of the page. Look up Tiffany, enter the gift card balance you’ve just acquired, and you’ll see instantly what your gift card balance is worth in cash or trade. Imagine a little blue box full of cash.

Check other blog posts for the same “Check Your Gift Card Balance” information for other stores, including Sears, Land’s End, Macy’s, Best Buy, Lowe’s, and more.

Jafco Ventures Leads Investment in Gift Card Exchange;

Company on Track to Transact in More than $10 Million in Gift Card Value in 2010

SAN JOSE, Calif. — November 18, 2010 – Plastic Jungle, the web’s largest secured gift card exchange, today announced that it has closed on $10 million in Series C financing. Jafco Ventures is leading the third round of investment, along with returning investors Shasta Ventures, Redpoint Ventures, Bay Partners, and First Round Capital. Plastic Jungle will use the funding to continue its work to unlock the estimated $30 billion in unredeemed gift cards trapped in the economy for the benefit of consumers and retailers alike.

“We’ve built tremendous trust with our customers by operating the most efficient marketplace for unredeemed gift cards, and developing unparalleled payment applications allowing consumers to buy, sell, and exchange gift cards,” said CEO of Plastic Jungle Bruce Bower. “We continue to prove that the Plastic Jungle team is second to none when it comes to understanding the gift card market.”

With a team comprised of former eBay, PayPal, Google, First Data and Blackhawk executives, Plastic Jungle expects to transact more than $10 million in gift card value in 2010, making it the largest marketplace to buy, sell and donate unredeemed gift cards.

Bruce added, “While we weren’t actively seeking to raise additional capital, we seized on the opportunity to solidify our market leadership, accelerate our growth and continue innovating patent-pending solutions aimed at benefiting the aligned interests of our merchant partners and our consumers.”

Through the Plastic Jungle marketplace and its proprietary payments applications, users can sell unredeemed gift cards for up to 92% of the verified gift card balance or buy gift cards to their favorite stores at up to 30% off, allowing consumers to get extra mileage out of every purchase and become all-around savvier shoppers. Plastic Jungle also connects merchants with their best customers, moving idle gift card balances into the hands of their most motivated consumers. Plastic Jungle’s payment applications also allow consumers to convert unredeemed gift cards into purchasing power at e-commerce, social gaming, and other online merchants.

In conjunction with the new funding, Jeb Miller, General Partner of Jafco Ventures, will join the Plastic Jungle Board of Directors.

“Plastic Jungle is doing incredible things to revolutionize the gift card and alternative payments industries, and we look forward to applying the full resources of the Jafco platform to help the company further accelerate its growth,” said Jeb Miller. “They have already established themselves as the clear winner in this emerging space, continuing to develop new and innovative gift card applications, and we believe the combination of their vision and expertise will define the field far into the future.”

“This Series C financing marks another step in Plastic Jungle’s significant growth and our efforts to bring liquidity to the unredeemed gift card economy,” said Tod Francis, Managing Director of Shasta Ventures. “Not only has Plastic Jungle delivered on the vision they laid out when we first invested in the company, but they’re constantly innovating solutions to create a gift card marketplace with vastly greater flexibility and efficiency. We’re very much looking forward to working with Jeb and Jafco to help Plastic Jungle reach the next level.”

Read the press release on Marketwire:  Plastic Jungle Closes on $10 Million in Financing to Accelerate Growth

About Plastic Jungle

Plastic Jungle (www.plasticjungle.com) is the web’s largest secured gift card exchange, giving consumers the choice and flexibility to convert their gift cards into other forms of spending power — including cash, online balances to use for purchases at the millions of merchants that accept PayPal, Facebook Credits, and more — and to stretch their shopping dollars at their favorite merchants.  Plastic Jungle’s patent-pending marketplace and payment applications aim to safely unlock the estimated $30 billion in unredeemed gift cards trapped in the economy for the benefit of consumers and merchants alike. Based in San Jose, California, the company is privately held, with venture backing from Shasta Ventures, Redpoint Ventures, Jafco Ventures, First Round Capital, Bay Partners, Harrison Metal and Western Technology Investment.

We are often asked in comments from our readers how to check the balance on numerous gift cards. When you speak we listen. Starting with this post, once weekly we will select a gift card and explain how to check the balance.

Today, we will discuss how to check the balance on your Lowe’s gift card.

Lowe’s conveniently offers three different ways to check the balance on your gift card:

1. PHONE: Call Lowe’s headquarters at 1-800-560-7172 to check your gift card balance.

2. ONLINE: Quickly check the balance on your Lowe’s gift card online. Just enter your Lowe’s gift card number, your PIN and a security number string generated by the site to check your balance instantly.

3. IN STORE: Check your balance in person at a Lowe’s location. Lowe’s even offers this handy Store Locator on their website to help you find the closest Lowe’s location near you.

We hope this post will expedite the process of checking the balance on your Lowe’s gift card. And remember, if you find you have no current need for your Lowe’s gift card, you can always sell it to Plastic Jungle!  We pay out at 84%* of the verified balance – or more if you want to accept an Amazon.com Gift Card in exchange.

As always, please check the site for current rates.

If you’re interested in buying discounted Lowe’s gift cards, we have a bunch listed at 7% off right now.  Be sure to set a notification in your Plastic Jungle account so you can be the first to know whenever Lowe’s gift cards are available on PlasticJungle.com.