A version of this writing appeared on Nerdwallet.com, Money.com & NASDAQ.com.

Every year a staggering $1 billion in gift card balances remain unused according to www.cardhub.com.

No wonder retailers love them. They rack up the sales.

Consumers get shortchanged by their own actions!

This year it’s time to be smarter and maximize the use of gift cards.

Here’s how:

Spend the entire balance at once. Consumers want their gift cards to last as longer as possible. We have a strong tendency to ‘hoard’ balances until we forget the card, lose track of the balance or the card expires.

Unlike having a saving or spending discipline, this is your time to SPLURGE.

Spend the entire balance at once. At a single location. Make a list of what you plan to purchase and go for it.

Go over the line. Here I am a money guy advising you to spend! Don’t attempt to be too cute and come in at or under the limit of the gift card. Remember your goal is to spend every dollar and not add to the $6 billion in unused balances. Set a boundary. I recommend 10-15 dollars above the limit to assure you’ve fully exhausted the balance.

Employ a smartphone partner. Through the free RAISE app you can sell your gift card balance (for a discount). Also, before you shop a favorite retailer check RAISE first to see if discounted gifts cards are available.

For example, I had a client find a $100 gift card to Home Depot for $65.

What a deal! Use gift cards year round to shop.

Request or send eGift Cards. Trash the plastic! EGift cards are electronic gift cards delivered through e-mail, text, social media or mobile applications. Most digital gift cards can be used in stores.

They’re easy to send, receive, and most important your balances can be tracked real time which means you’re more likely to spend your balances in full.

Check out www.giftcards.com, a comprehensive hub of information on how EGift cards work, how to personalize them, how to redeem and which ones top-ranked.

Set your own gift card expiration date. Forget the expiration date mandated by the issuer (yes, gift cards may have expiration dates). Set your own. I suggest no longer than one month from the date the gift card was received otherwise the odds of a balance going unused forever increases greatly.

Once your personal expiration date has been reached, sell your balance at www.cardcash.com. Recently, I reached a personal expiration with a $50 Kohl’s gift card. I sold it for $41.

Just follow three steps to get an offer, submit your gift card information, receive money once the order is confirmed and the card’s balance is verified. Quick and easy.

Over $138 billion is spent annually on gift cards. Sales are expected to grow at least 6% annually through 2017 according to the latest CardHub statistics on the gift card market.

So, a gift card balance should never go to waste again.

Not on your watch, anyway.