Free Medium Pizza at Dominoes

Check out this post at Sisterly Savings to learn how you can get a free Medium Pizza from Dominoes.

Free Medium Pizza

Tried It Tuesday - Cuties California Clementines

A few years ago (probably about 10 years now), I tried my first clementine orange. I had bought a crate of them at the grocery store around the holidays. After one taste, I was hooked. Those little fruits were the perfect size and were so sweet and flavorful. They became the perfect, portable snack. They were easy to peel without any tools and they were satisfying as a snack. There were two challenges that I encountered, though. First, they weren't consistently seedless. In fact, the box would be so mixed, that I was afraid to just give some to my children without first inspecting each section of the clementine. Second, the season in which clementines were available at my store seemed to be very short, only around the holidays.

Then, a few months ago, in the Sunday coupon section, there was a coupon for Cuties California Clementines. I watched for them at my store, but never saw them. Then, on a visit home to my parent's, we stopped at Kroger to do some shopping. They had both the 3# bags and the 5# crates of the Cuties. I decided to use my coupon and try a bag of the Cuties. (I chose the bag, because the coupon value was such that it would double, making the smaller size a better value.)

I loved them. They were perfectly sweet and juicy with a great flavor. They were easy to peel just like the ones I had been buying for years. There weren't seeds in any of them that I tried. These two features together make them a perfect snack for the kids. My son is able to peel them to share with his sister and I don't worry much about them finding a seed. They are a product of the USA, which is a nice plus. Their season seems to be much longer than the traditional imported Clementines that you only see around the holidays. I just purchased a bag two weeks ago. According to their website, they are available from November to April.

It of course is April tomorrow and I won't be going to my parent's for a few weeks, so I guess that I will likely have to wait until fall to purchase these great treats, but if you have a store near you that carries them, you still have time to pick some up and try them for yourself.

Have you tried Cuties? What did you think? Have you tried something else? Share it with us. Leave a comment or post on your blog and leave a link.

What $100 Can Buy at CVS

I was a little skeptical when I started to shop at CVS last summer. I had shopped CVS before and have had my card forever. Either I never understood the program or it changed. I used to buy some things, but don't ever remember getting ECBs. I would get coupons, but not ECBs (or I failed to recognize them as such). I thought the ECBs only printed quarterly and I never seemed to make it into the store during the window when the rewards printed.

Then, this past summer, I stumbled upon Money Saving Mom. She made it all sound so simple, so I decided I would give a few of the deals a try. My first few weeks, I was so nervous when I would go to check out that I would literally be shaking. I was convinced someone was going to stop me and say, you have it all wrong, you can't do that.

Since, I started this blog so that I could share my plans and deals, I figured that it was only appropriate to track my savings. I decided a while back that when I eventually got to $100 OOP, that I would have to summarize what I had gotten for my $100. Being an engineer, I built a spreadsheet to track my purchases, my savings and my OOP. What you see here is the summation of those details.

It took me ten months to do it, but I finally spent $100 OOP at CVS. The best part is that although my recorded out of pocket was $100, $25 was on a free gift card I received with a prescription I filled and I submitted and received $10.50 back in rebates, so my net cost was actually only $64.50. In spending $100, my total reported savings (vs regular CVS costs) equalled $1893. So, for a net $64.50 out of pocket, I received products valued at $1993, a savings of almost 97%.

To me, the savings are amazing, but not only did I save a lot, I saved it on mostly branded products and products that we use everyday. I bought a few extra things from time to time, but few and far between and I usually shared those with family and friends or donated them.

Here is what I got for $100 OOP at CVS:

22 12pk of soda
25 single serve drinks (20 - 32oz)
(@ sale prices of $3/12pk and $1/20oz, these first two items would have cost me $91 alone at the grocery!)
1 2L of soda
16 boxes of cereal
1 box of cereal bars
44 batteries (AA, 9V, C)
6 boxes of tissues
42 rolls of toilet paper
24 rolls of paper towels
5 bottles of cleaning products
6 bottles of dish soap
5 packs of diapers/pullups (some Jumbo, some Mega)
5 packs of wipes
33 bottles of shampoo/conditioner
4 bottles of hair stylers
26 deodorants
6 bars of soap
14 bottles of body wash
4 razors
20 bottles of pain killers/medicines
21 tubes of toothpaste
14 toothbrushes
7 bottles of mouthwash
6 facial cleansers/moisturizers
19 packages of makeup (foundation/lipstick/blush)
9 packages of fiber supplements/nutrition drinks (Benefiber and Boost)
3 packs of gum
8 snack size bags of nuts
42 candy bars (wow!)
43 bags of candy
8 bags of snacks
15 greeting cards
4 photobooks/discs
11 bottles of laundry detergent
6 bottles of vitamins
8 hand soaps
19 packages of feminine care products
6 packages of bandages/first aid items
2 tubes of sunscreen
13 SoyJoy bars
7 packages of pens/tape/index cards

and assorted other items including, Hand Sanitizer, 2 Chapstick, 2 Light Sticks, 2 pair of kids imitation crocs, FlaVorIce, 1000ct Bendy Straws, Cotton Swabs, Cotton Rounds, 2 pks ZipFizz energy drinks, Madagascar II, I-Pod Headphones, 3 Bath Poofs, 2 Nail Polishes, Room Fresheners, and Pocket Tissues.

Do you have a money saving experience to share? Leave a comment and let us know.