Win a $100 Walmart gift card.

Sorry to have maintained radio silence since Oct. 23, but I’m on vacation in Phoenix. More about that below, however, because I want to focus on the topic at hand: Why five of you should win a $100 Walmart card.

My old pals at Savings.com are giving away five $100 e-gift cards in what they’re calling the #LiveWellWithWalmart giveaway. I see no reason that all five shouldn’t be won by readers of this site.

After all, the holidays are upon us and due to supply-chain and pandemic-related issues, there’s no time like the present to start looking for your presents.

(Disclosure: I get a small affiliate fee for each click on the links in this piece.)

And if you’re in a position where all your needs are currently covered? Consider entering anyway, and then using the $100 to do some good. Buy diapers and donate them to a diaper bank. Purchase gloves, hats and wool socks and drop them off at a shelter; if you live in a temperate climate, then substitute cotton socks and maybe some underwear.

Buy pet food for a no-kill rescue group. Choose some puzzles and stuffed animals to help out your local Toys for Tots drive. Get a hundred bucks’ worth of coffee and tea and deliver it to the senior center. 

Got a friend who’s between jobs? Find out what they need and get it. Got a friend who just landed a job after a spell of unemployment? Fill up their car with gas (if your local Walmart has a gas station).

How to enter to win a Walmart gift card

It’s great fun to play Secret Santa, or even not-so-Secret Santa. (Hint: Don’t assume you know what that friend needs. Your idea of yummy groceries is not universal.) If you’ve never done this before, you’ll be delighted at how good it feels to be able to fill a need, even temporarily.

For your shot at a boost to your own budget or someone else’s, enter your e-mail address at this Savings.com link, or click on the illustration to be taken to the entry site.

Do this by 11:59 p.m. Pacific Sunday, Nov. 7 if you want a shot at a $100 head start on your holiday shopping. Or on your everyday shopping, since Walmart also sells food, toiletries, housewares, craft supplies and just about everything a household can use.

As always: If you win one of these I would love to know about it. So please come back and brag a little.

Oh, and about that vacation: I am in Phoenix visiting my daughter, and doing my usual “Anything I can do to help?” routine. We are currently embroiled in a home-improvement project that I will not disclose, because it’s her story to tell. If it doesn’t kill us (especially me) first, due to a combination of heat, frustration and the fact that cutting lumber to size is a mystic art. 

I wore a hospital-grade mask on the plane and in the Lyft, used disinfecting wipes on the seat arms and am fully vaccinated, so I felt okay about making this trip. Thus far the only places we’ve gone have been the home improvement center (repeatedly, yay!), the dollar store (soft peppermint sticks and gingersnaps? yes please!) and the supermarket (where the 75-cent-a-pound grapes made me cry).

Food is so cheap down here, and so expensive in Anchorage. Yes, a few actual tears escaped. Abby didn’t see a thing because the mask worked well as a lachrymal sponge, and the variety and selection of items were a great pick-me-up for someone who’s been sequestered since June 2020. Follow me for more pandemic tips.