I am always trying to find way to make my money stretch a little farther these days.

When we go out to eat, we always try to pick a day when the kids get to eat free; and yes I’m one of those people that sneaks their own treats in to the movie theater.

So when I found out about the Marqeta Card I was all over it.

Marqeta lets you pay in advance at places you choose based on the offers that are available in your area. Think of it as a Groupon but you don’t have to wait each day to find out what the deals are. All you have to do is accept a merchant’s offer, load prepaid dollars and swipe your Marqeta card in-store or online.

For instance, in the Portland area there are 11 different offers I can sign up for. For my card I chose the deal at 1800Flowers.com because my husbands family lives in Michigan. By filling my card with this deal I paid $80 but actually got to spend $100! This allowed me to send my inlaws beautiful centerpieces for the holidays.

There are several different options for the offers. For instance I could have just purchased the 1800Flowers deal for $40 and I would have gotten an additional $10 to spend.

Not only that, but if you live in the Portland area and ride Trimet, you can get free money added to your card for free! All you have to do is visit www.marqeta.com/trimet take one of the deals and then enter the ticket/serial number from your Trimet pass and voila! Free money!

Currently, the program only lists offers in the Portland, OR and San Francisco Bay Area, but that doesn’t mean you can’t take advantage on the deals that are available online.

So, definitely check them out. It’s a great way to put some extra cash in your pocket!

It was a sad day in my house when my last shipment of wine from the California Wine Club was delivered.

These deliveries have sort of become like an old friend. An old friend who shows up right when you need them, stays just long enough that when they leave you miss them and then, SURPRISE! They are here again.

We are coming down to the final 2 weeks before Christmas. If you are struggling with what to get that husband, wife, sister, brother, coworker, or hey, what about your boss?? Might I suggest a membership to California Wine Club?

The great thing is Premier membership starts at $49 for 1 month, but you can purchase a membership for as long as you like. There are even price breaks for 3, 6, 9, and year long memberships.

When you purchase your membership you can also choose to send them white, red or a combination of the two. With their shipment of wine they will also receive ‘Uncorked’, a 12-page newsletter that highlights the winery that made they wine they receive.

As if that weren’t all you can also get a 10% off discount by using the code: MadHatter at checkout. And if you think it would make a great gift for you, you will get 10% off AND an extra bottle of wine in your shipment!

Send a holiday gift today and they will also receive these in their shipment.

For my last shipment I received a 2009 Chardonnay from Tulip Hill winery. Like I said this delivery was bittersweet. I can’t wait to partake in this wine during our Christmas festivities but I’m saddened that this will be the end of my voyage of trying new wines. Well, maybe not, since I did put a membership on my wishlist.

Remember this gift doesn’t just have to be for the person that loves wine. I am proof enough of that! When I started I had only found one particular flavor of wine that I liked, a Riesling. Being able to review California Wine Club has definitely broadened my horizons and made me appreciate wine in a whole new way. It would have taken a lot for me to try new flavors but I’m glad I did. I now know that I also like Gewürztraminer wine and Chardonnay comes in a close 3rd. Now that I have the white wines under my belt I finally feel comfortable tackling the red wines. We’ll see how well that goes.

I will never forget the first time I went Black Friday shopping.

On Thanksgiving day my sister and I perused all of the Black Friday ads, made a list of the things we definitely wanted to get at each store, and then decided on a strategy in terms of which store to target first.

We decided that Walmart would be our first mission. We figured it would be a great place to get our feet wet in this crazy called Black Friday shopping.

Boy oh boy did our strategy fail us.

We were running a bit late that morning, should have been a clue, because my sister slept past her alarm. Once I got her up, in the shower, and looking presentable, we were off!

When we got to the store they had already been open for 30 minutes. Needless to say the only parking we could find was approximately 6 miles away. Okay, so I’m over exaggerating but at that time of morning, in the cold, it might as well been. We were, however, about 1/4 mile from away, at the far end of the parking to the store next to Walmart.
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Today was a super ugly day weather wise.

It has been storming all day and we have received so much rain that many of our streets are flooding. Bleh.

But that didn’t stop my daughter and I from going on a mission of cheer.

We headed to our local Walmart to stock up on some Cheerios. We even got enough to share with our friends.

Since I had posted about the Cheerios sendCheer campaign several days ago I decided that it was important that we participate in it as well.

I was a bit disappointed that there wasn’t more of a display at our Walmart for this promotion, but I was happy that the sendCheer boxes were pretty prominent.

We have our 10 boxes!

We filled our cart with Cheerios and when I told my daughter what we were going to do with them she got super excited. Even at the age of 4, she understands that her daddy and others like him have a very important job.

This has been something I have always tried to instill in both of my kids. I want them to know that when their daddy misses holidays, their birthdays, or even special events, that it is for good reason and he isn’t alone. There are many mommies and daddies in military who sacrifice in the same way.

Once we finished at the check out and braved the weather back to the car, we headed back home to get our post card on.

We kept 2 of the 10 boxes we purchased. (Definitely remove the cereal before trying to cut the card out.)

I can't help but smile every time I look at a box of Cheerios.

My daughter wanted to write on her card all by herself.

Our finished product.

The rest of the boxes we delivered to our very good friends to encourage them to send in a card with their kids as well.

And since I consider you all my friends, I really hope that you will head to your local Walmart and look for the specially marked boxes of Cheerios with the sendCheer campaign post card on the front. It really is a great thing to do with your kids as a family. Not only that, but for each card sent General Mills will donate $1 to the USO!

When you’re done and you don’t know what to do with all the Cheerios do what we are doing. This Friday when my husband goes to work he will be taking a plethora of Cheerios Caramel Crisp Bars to deliver around the air base.

So really Cheerios gives you twice the opportunity to bring a little cheer!

Be sure to check out the rest of the Cheerios sendCheer Showcase bloggers at sendcheer.info