Q: Every year at holiday time, members of our family receive multiple gift cards. Some of them inevitably get lost, or we don't have them when we’re out shopping and could use them. How can we change things this year?

Jodie Watson of Supreme Organization answers …

The best thing to do is keep your gift cards with you, so that when you are out and about you’ll be able to use them any time you happen to be in a store that takes them. There are a couple of ways you can do this.

One way is to keep them in your wallet. If you have too many to fit comfortably inside your wallet, then consider using a gift card organizer such as the Card Cubby (cardcubby.com) or a Business Card holder. You can keep your gift card organizer in the glove compartment of your car, so you don’t have to carry cards around constantly but can still access them easily when you need them.

When you are given a card, before you put it in your wallet or organizer, use a permanent marker to write the amount the card is for on the back. If you don’t use up the entire amount in one purchase, write the remaining balance so you’ll always know how much you have on each card. Discard cards have been used in full right away.

You can also digitize your gift cards and keep them stored in your smart phone. Download a free mobile application such as Key Ring (keyringapp.com) and scan gift cards into your phone. Cashiers then scan the barcode or type the card number at checkout to redeem the card.  When the gift card has been used in full, simply delete the card from your card files.

Jodie Watson is the founder of Supreme Organization (www.SupremeOrganization.com), and the organizational expert on Real Simple. Real Life., a lifestyle makeover show for women on the TLC Network.