Crowd Tap: Sweet & Low sample share

I've been procrastinating blogging my sample shares this month. Getting used to a new work schedule and preparing for baby boy #3's fourth birthday has left me with little free time. Now, here I am with one day left to submit my next two reports! Earlier this month, I posted about how fortunate I have been this month with crowdtap (seriously, sign up now if you haven't yet!) and being selected for sample shares. Every time I do one, I like to post a blog on it to share my experiences.

When the sample share for sweet & low, I was interested in trying it out. My sole experience with sweet & low was when I was on the basket ball team (or maybe cheer leading team? I don't recall which year it was) in middle school. We went to Jade Garden to celebrate something, a rare win, perhaps? I sat with a table of girls and we ate all the sugar packets. Straight up. We ran out of sugar, so went for the sweet & low and equal. In hind sight, not a good plan. While they do an excellent job sweetening up a drink, our 11/12 year old selves did not enjoy eating them!

My mom has also been on a health kick lately. She's lost over 100 pounds by being active and watching her diet (Mom, if you read this, I'm so proud of you!). I knew right away that this sample share would be something she would love to partake in and try out as well. So I immediately hit the sign up button.

Sample share included: a 50 pack for me, recipe cards to try out, and 5 samples to share with friends.

The sample share came with recipe cards for low calorie drinks. I was very intrigued by those. Since I had a play date coming up, I went with the Sunny Citrus Soda to try first.

Ingredients and card

finished product

It was so yummy! It tasted like one of those delicious fruity drinks Ruby Tuesdays often has available. The calorie count and fruit juice made me feel good about drinking it. It was definitely a win in my book. 

I've tried a few different low calorie sweeteners, and so far sweet & low is my favorite. :)

Teen enjoy low-calorie options as well as grown ups!

My mom is so excited to try her sample!

Litter Genie: Review

'Tis the season of sample shares at crowd tap, it seems! I've been lucky enough to get selected for a handful these last few weeks. First up: Litter Genie! As a fur mommy to two adorable cats, I was so intrigued by this item when the brand first popped up on my crowd tap dash. The brand claims to dispose of litter in a non-smelly way. If you check out their web site, you can score a coupon for $5 off. So on to the sampling:

The first thing we did was personalize that bad boy with my sweetie's names:

We then set it up. Helpful hint: read the directions before you attempt! ;) I skimmed over them and did a pretty good job setting it up...but more on that in a bit!

Jasper was curious...so I let her sniff it out for a bit.

Then I couldn't wait to try it. We had been using regular, non clumping litter as we lucked out with two chill, non-smelly cats (unless we give them cheap cat food--we have since learned to check that ingredient list!). At $2 a bag, the walmart litter works well. We just dump the whole box every 1-1.5 weeks and we're good to go. I scooped out some poop (the scoop that came with the genie worked excellent, even with the larger grains of litter) and put it into the genie. This is where the reading directions part comes in handy! When I skimmed through, I knew you had to pull the grey handle to dispose of the poop into the bottom portion of the genie. What I failed to notice is that you need to pull it down a bit and slide it through the cutter so you can tie and dispose of the bags when you are ready to do so. I couldn't figure it out at first, so I left it in the genie for a few days until I could locate my sheet that one of my four boys took somewhere (and added their own drawing to!). The non-smelly factor was very helpful here! Earlier today I tackled it--pulling the bag down and sliding it through the cutter--very, very easy! There was no mess, though I did almost forget to tie the bottom of the new bag. 

Poop---and maybe a few pieces of cat food my precious darlings tossed in the genie...

clearly labeled kid-proof cutter :)

Over all, I was pleased with this product. If I had a crazy good deal, I would purchase it. If my cats were smellier than they are, I would probably pay a tiny bit more. I plan to get some clumping cat litter (I can find a coupon for that, I'm sure? Target is running a $10 off a $40 pet food/litter purchase now!) and see if we can save a bit by scooping the boxes instead of dumping the whole thing. It used to be such a chore--but the genie makes it quick and easy. We set it down right next to the cat box for easy access. If you have cats (esp. more than one...and esp. smelly ones!) I definitely recommend giving this a try (and look above! I left you a link for a coupon! Coupons are GOOD use them! ;) )

Litter Genie next to the pink box--and Jasper!

Katniss is checking things out!