Get More Savings When You Buy Gift Cards At Giant Eagle #GE2xdip

This post is sponsored by Tatu Digital Media. Any opinions expressed are my own.

It’s hard to believe Thanksgiving and Black Friday is upon us. This crept up on me so fast! I realize I still have to get a few odds and ends for Thanksgiving dinner and get my sister a gift for her birthday. I made plans to stop at Giant Eagle tomorrow to pick up some pumpkin pie filling. I realized I could pick up a gift card for my sister while I’m there too. Then I realized…hey while I’m at it I should grab some gift cards for Black Friday/Cyber Monday shopping and for any other gifts I was planning on giving.

Why buy gift cards at Giant Eagle instead of anywhere else? Well that reason is simple. For every $50 I spend on gift cards at Giant Eagle I earn 20 cents off per gallon of gas. You read that right 20 cents off per gallon. I’ve seen some savvy Giant Eagle shoppers paying next to nothing for filling up after buying gift cards or doing their regular grocery shopping from Giant Eagle. With the gas prices dropping across the US, that could mean some seriously cheap fuel ups for buying gift cards you were going to get anyway.

Another reason to get gift cards, Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Let me give you a for instance. My son has an iPod Touch on his Christmas list. I’ve been scoping prices and Best Buy has some good deals so I was planning on getting him the iPod Touch there. I could buy $100 in Best Buy gift cards to buy that iPod touch and score 40 cents off per gallon (20 cents off for every $50 spent on gift cards). Yep, that’s really how it works. They have tons of gift cards to choose from: Red Lobster, Amazon, GameStop, iTunes, and lots of others.

A selection of gift cards in a store in New York on Wednesday, November 2, 2011. (© Richard B. Levine) — picture credit to wwsick.com

Here’s more details:

Use gift cards like cash when you shop this holiday, and save even more! Now at Giant Eagle you can double your savings, earning 20¢ fuelperks! for every $50

you spend on gift cards, PLUS extra credit card rewards! Here’s how it works: Fuel Offer: Through 12/17, earn 20¢ fuelperks! for every $50 you spend on ANY

gift card! “Variable” gift cards from the participating brands count too, and youcan add any amount you want up to $500!

Earn Credit Card Rewards: By using your favorite rewards credit card topurchase gift cards, you can earn points, miles or a percentage back on your

purchase. Some credit cards even offer increased rewards for purchases made at grocery! Let’s see how you can save $9 when you purchase $100 in participating gift

cards:$6 off fuel: When you buy a $100 gift card you earn $.40/gallon of gas. That’s $6in savings for a 15 gallon tank! $3 back: If you earn 3% on grocery purchases

through your credit card rewards program.

Get more info at your local Giant Eagle!

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A Veteran’s Day Special You Won’t Want To Miss!

November 11, is Veteran’s Day. We should take time to support and honor our veterans any day but I’m always happy to see people, companies, and websites doing more to honor our veterans and military personnel on this day. Marie Callender’s Comforts From Home Project. When you buy a specially marked Marie Callender’s meals and desserts with a special code, you can enter that code to help Marie Callender’s make a donation to USO2GO. USO2Go is a program that brings comforts and treats like electronics, sports gear, books and more to our troops stationed in remote locations. I can tell you this is greatly appreciated by our troops.

My husband is a veteran of the Iraq war and Kosovo. He would tell me that the care packages people would send were always a bit of excitement for them. They loved getting things like beef jerky to snack on and things to read. He told me sometimes they got creative with their entertainment because they didn’t always have much doing things like spider races to in their down time. Letter from home were always something to look forward to too. He appreciated letters and card from school kids and family. My husband has some amazing stories to tell. He worked on Black hawk helicopters and was also an instructor. He’d call home when he got the chance so calling cards were also appreciated too.

This is a picture of my husband somewhere in the middle east. He was always taking pictures which I’m so glad of. I think it’s important to remember that the families involved, the husband, wives, kids, parents of soldiers are also effected by deployements. The spouse often will run the family while the soldier is away for months or over a years at a time. Don’t forget about the families involved. Offering a hand in taking johnny to practice, and things of that nature are a big help. I used to watch he news and every time I heard about a black hawk going down or something happening around where I thought he was, I worried, silently, until I heard from him

The Comfort’s From Home Project will be welcoming home one special soldier with his family “A Hero’s Welcome” will be a national television event airing on Veteran’s Day November 11, 2014. It will be on some of your favorite networks including HGTV, Food Network, Cooking Channel, Travel Channel, DIY Channel, and Great American County. It will be hosted by Robert Ivine from Restaurant Impossible, Genevieve Gorder from HGTV Design Star, and Gary Sinise actor and founder of the Gary Sinise Foundation. It will be a heartwarming show that will bring the comforts of home to American soldiers in surprising ways.

I definitely want to see that. Perfect watch for Veteran’s Day!

If you’d like more info on the Marie Callender’s Comfort From Home Project, including participating products and the on-air special here’s the links you’ll need:

ComfortsFromHome.com

MarieCallendersMeals.com

Facebook.com/MarieCallenders

Tune-in as Marie Callender’s, the USO and an army of experts from food, home and travel provide the comforts of home as only Marie Callender’s can, in a truly heartwarming homecoming you’ll always remember.

“A Hero’s Welcome” will welcome one special soldier back to their family in a national television event airing on Veteran’s Day, November 11, 2014. The one-hour TV special will air across a range of your favorite networks including HGTV, Food Network, Cooking Channel, Travel Channel, DIY Channel, and Great American County.

I have been selected by Tap Influence to be a spokesperson for Marie Callender’s While I have been compensated for my time, my opinions are my own.

The Childhood Gift That Stood Out In My Mind #ChosenbyKids

This post is sponsored by Walmart. Any opinions expressed are my own.

Walmart Holiday Toyland is coming to a store near you. With the hottest holiday toys available, it makes me think about one Christmas toy that really stands out in my mind…..

I still believed in Santa. It was an exciting time. I’ll be honest, I don’t remember exactly how old I was or even what year it was, but I remember that Christmas. I’d guess I was about 7 years old, maybe 8. My parents were early shoppers (as I found out). The biggest thing on my Christmas list that year was a Barbie Dreamhouse.

I was the oldest of 4 kids. My parents didn’t have a lot of money. At the time I wouldn’t know not to ask for such a thing since, Santa brought that stuff. I remember the one I wanted. It was plastic: Red, white, and yellow. It separated into 3 different pieces and had 6 rooms for Barbie and her friends.

I would say it was about a month before Christmas, I ventured into my parents bedroom. I wasn’t supposed to be in there by myself but I guess that’s what made it more appealing. I was snooping around, the closet door was cracked a little. I noticed a colorful box in view. I snuck over and opened the door further. There was a big box, it was the Barbie dreamhouse. I ran downstairs asking my mom excitedly why she had a Barbie Dreamhouse in her closet. I got lectured for going in her room and she told me it was for my one cousin’s birthday. I was confused because we didn’t usually buy presents for the cousins (my mom was the youngest of 10 kids so we had tens of cousins). I was so disappointed that the Dreamhouse wasn’t for me.

Weeks went by and Christmas was finally here. I woke up excitedly Christmas morning just like I did every Christmas morning. My sister and I waited at the top of the steps. I think my one brother was just a baby and I don’t believe the other one was even born yet. We ran downstairs and right there in the middle of the living room stood a Barbie Dreamhouse tagged for both my sister and I. I was so happy and I played with that thing for years. I remember having mixed feelings when my mom finally decided to to sell it in my teens. Knowing what I know now, it must have took quite a lot of saving and deal scouting for my parents to buy that. I’m glad I did spend years playing with it. In my opinion it was probably the best Barbie Dreamhouse ever. Very solid, working doors and windows, you could move the sections to get at different things. Maybe they aught to make it again.

My dad was able to dig up the actual picture for me of the year we got our Barbie House. I was holding Peaches n’ Cream Barbie, remember her?

Walmart Holiday Toyland is bringing you the hottest holiday toys to a location near you! Through the months of November and December you can visit one of these Walmart Holiday Toylands. Click HERE to find the dates and locations near you. Has the child in your life been asking for a specific toy? This is your chance to see the toys your kids want. You can even use the free layaway to make sure you get it that day. I will be visiting my local Walmart on November 8 with my kids’ lists in hand to see the toys up close. Hopefully cross some toys off the list while I’m there. What can I say, I’m an early shopper too!

Did you or someone you know have this Barbie house? Do you remember your favorite gift as a kid? Don’t be afraid to share on social media as well with tag #ChosenbyKids

Join Allstate Foundation in the Purple Purse Campaign

Disclosure: This post is part of a sponsored campaign with The Allstate Foundation and MomSelect. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

It’s been all over the news for the last week or so. The Ray Rice incident in which he knocked out his then fiance in an elevator. Bottom line, what he did was wrong and is domestic abuse. While this situation was highly publicized there are so many women out there that deal with this on a daily basis. Domestic violence is not just physical though it can also be financial. Allstate Foundation helps raise funds for national, state, and local domestic violence organizations. Allstate Foundations Purple Purse campaign’s goal is break the cycle of violence one family at a time.

Some facts about domestic violence in the US:

Domestic violence affects one in four women in her lifetime – that’s more women than breast cancer, ovarian cancer and lung cancer combined.
Most people think only of physical abuse when they consider domestic violence. Yet, financial abuse happens in 98% of all cases of domestic violence and is one of the most powerful ways to keep a victim trapped.
Domestic violence and financial abuse often go hand-in-hand, but nearly 8 in 10 Americans have not heard much about financial abuse as a form of domestic violence. The number one reason domestic violence survivors stay, leave or return to an abusive relationship is that they don’t have the financial resources to break free.
Financial abuse is just as effective in controlling an abused victim as a lock and key. If her credit has been ruined, she can’t get an apartment. If her abuser constantly harasses her at work, she can lose her job. And, crushing debt run up by an abuser means it could take a survivor and her children years to fully recover from abuse.

Kerry Washington, the Emmy nominated actress, is a domestic violence advocate is serving as a Purple Purse ambassador and has created a limited edition Purple Purse to help raise awareness. So why a purse? It’s created to represent the center of a woman’s financial domain and inspire women to reclaim their financial independence. I think that’s a great message and a great symbol.

The Allstate Foundation is distributing purple purse charms so you can turn any purse into a purple purse. The Allstate Foundation is investing more than half a million dollars in the Purple Purse Challenge. The more donations each nonprofit gets, the more it can compete for Allstate Foundation incentive funding. Go to PurplePurse.com between Sept. 2 and Oct. 3 to join the Challenge and help a nonprofit near you. When you donate at least $10 to any organization in the Purple Purse Challenge you are entered to win a daily drawing for 1 of 3 exclusive Kerry Washington designed purses. You can help ensure domestic violence survivors – likely someone you know – aren’t financially trapped in an abusive relationship by joining the Purple Purse Challenge. Open your heart and wallet to stand up for survivors and the organizations that serve them at PurplePurse.com.

If you or someone you know needs immediate help, call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-SAFE (7233) or TTY 1-800-787-3224

Have a Teen? Check Out Toyota’s FREE Teen Driver Safety Clinics

I am a member of the Stiletto Media Blogger Network. This is a sponsored post written for #TeenDrive365 and the Toyota Teen Driver Safety Clinic. However, all thoughts and opinions expressed herein are my own. For more information on the Toyota Teen Driver Safety Clinic, please visit http://bit.ly/1nfUJ0e

My oldest son is only 12 but already talking about looking forward to driving. If I can be perfectly honest, the idea makes me nervous. I know it’s a step in growing up and my son gaining his independence but so many things can happen in a car, right?! I have one cousin that just recently started driving last year and another one that will be driving within the next year or two. There are several things different from when I started driving. I mean, texting and driving was pretty much unheard of when I started driving. Heck, I’m not even sure if I knew what a text was when I was 16. (I know that dates me but..)

Toyota dealerships are offering FREE Teen Driver Safety Clinics. They are 2.5 hour sessions of non-driving but interactive sessions. These clinics will go beyond the basics and educate you and your teen on Defensive Driving “universal truths” and best practices, car operations safety features and basic maintenance fundamentals, Dangerous Driving Distractions and How to Avoid Them, and more. There’s also info for parents on effective driving communication and coaching.

When I think back on learning to drive….you know what…scratch that…when I think about the last almost 20 years I’ve been driving it wasn’t until last year that someone told me that there is a helpful little sticker on the inside of my drivers door to tell me how many psi’s to inflate my tires too. I seriously did not know that. I would go through the drivers manual of my car and get frustrated every time I had to try to find it. I’d even ask people and they’d say “oh it should be in your drivers manual”. You know when I found out? Last year I was driving to work on a weekend. I got about half way to work and lost control of my car. When I finally got my car to where I could pull over somewhere safely I got out to try to figure out what the heck happened. I realized my back drivers tire was completely flat. I was about to pump it up at a gas station and a nice truck driver, obviously seeing the perplexed look on my face as I’m looking through my manual, comes over to me and locates the sticker on my door for me. Seriously! Why didn’t someone show me that 19 years ago!? Please show this to your kids. They’ll need to know for safety and in emergencies like mine.

Check out this short video too of the Toyota Teen Driver Safety Clinics:

If you are interested in attending this FREE and valuable session with your teen and are in the New York or New Jersey area you can register at a local Toyota dealership here: http://bit.ly/1nfUJ0e

Please feel free to share this post with someone you know who could benefit from this.

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