Through my work with Federated Media and Clever Girls Collective, I often get opportunities to share posts here with all of you. And I'll be honest, I don't jump on many of them because they don't feel like a good fit with my usual blog posting. But with four kids under my belt, I've discovered the necessity of online shopping so when given the opportunty to test out this new secure online payment system from Visa, I was all over it.

While I do my best to support the local, little man as much as I can, there are still many times when necessity, budget and my own personal sanity mean shopping from the comfort of my computer is really attractive. This past Christmas, a good chunk of my holiday shopping was done online.

But a few months ago after some pretty serious and scary fraud attempts with my credit card in the Mac Apple Store I'm more cautious than ever about throwing around my numbers, passwords and security codes on any old website.

V.me by VISA is a secure and simple online payment system. It allows you to securely enter your credit card information one time, through their secure site and have access to it, with one click when you shop online. Not only that, you can also add contacts to your address book and multiple credit cards, making it super convenient. The security of having my information safely stored with V.Me is worth a lot. But I have to admit that oftentimes when I finally sit down to shop or order something online, it also involves a search for my purse and wallet. V.Me is there with a simple click or two. And while the service is still picking up steam and not available on every website, it is simple to sign up and start your free personal account--so that it's there when you need it.