When I was talking to an acquaintance about shopping at Target, he snarled and said "But it's so expensive! Walmart is so much cheaper!" I suppose that could be true on some items, but I'm not sure it's generally a true belief. I also remember passing someone in Target who must have been a regular Walmart shopper, and she was so surprised that the Soda Stream was actually cheaper at Target than it was at Walmart. I don't want a huge influx of Walmart shoppers to adopt my beloved Target as their favorite store so I generally keep my mouth shut. But if you know all the ways to save at Target you will enjoy a calmer, nicer shopping experience for probably a lower price tag overall.
I probably strategize more than many others are willing to when they go shopping, but part of that may be due to the fact that I get paid once a month and I do about 95% of the household shopping for our family. So on payday I pay all my bills for the month and I get most of the basic household stuff I know we'll need. That usually include toilet paper, paper towels, pet supplies, and enough applesauce for 32 for Emma to take to her preschool for her monthly special day.
So typically on payday after I've paid all my bills, I will bring up Target Cartwheel online (as described last week) and search for the items on my list to see if there are any offers to match those, and to also search for really big discounts for other things that may not be on my list but that would be useful. I am really working on not purchasing things that will just become clutter, so I admit searching for big discounts may be counterproductive.
I like most of Target's brands, like up & up and Market Pantry, so I tend to save money just by purchasing those as compared to name-brand products. There is almost always a Cartwheel 5% off offer for up & up paper products, so I always keep staples like those in my account. But sometimes I will find it is cheaper to purchase the name-brand due to a sale and/or Cartwheel. For some things like dog treats and cat litter, I don't have a major brand preference so I will happily choose whatever is the cheapest given a Cartwheel offer or a sale. It's in this case that doing a Cartwheel search by discount can really save you a lot of money.
How much money? Well here is my total Cartwheel savings before...
...and after my last shopping trip. (I've been using this app since 2013, so I'm saving about $237 a year). You can see that it took me an hour to shop by looking at the time on my screen shots, which is sort of a long time, but I enjoy shopping so it was fine. It helps that I don't have to take kids with me when I do this kind of shopping. This was also a Friday evening so the store wasn't crowded. That can help a lot too--you don't feel like you're getting in the way when you stand there contemplating all your options.
Just by adding purchases to my Cartwheel account before and during my shopping trip I saved $11.96. (My total purchase was around $139 after all my discounts were applied). That is more than I usually save when I shop, I admit. A lot of that came from big discounts like 25% off Mott's applesauce pouches. If I didn't have that Cartwheel offer I probably would have purchased Market Pantry applesauce, but in this case it was worth it to get the Mott's.
I also scored by purchasing two boxes of cat litter, because there was a Cartwheel offer and an in-store offer for a $5 gift card if I bought two boxes. I would have had to purchase another box in a few weeks anyway, might as well buy it now and get $5 back. You get the idea--if you just shop with a slightly open mind you might save quite a bit of money!
I know it's hard to see but if you look at the bottom of the receipt, it says I saved a total of $30.42 on this shopping trip. $11.96 of that came from Cartwheel, and $5 came from that gift card I received for buying two boxes of cat litter. There was $2.50 off on Dunkin' Donuts coffee (another staple in my house)--it all adds up. But the final way I saved money at Target was by paying with my Target REDcard.
When you check out at Target the cashier will likely ask you if you are paying with a REDcard. You can get it in credit card or debit form. I resisted the REDcard for so long because I assumed it was only credit, and I knew I could get into trouble with Target credit. But once I learned there was a debit option I signed up right away. It's linked to my bank account and I track my transactions immediately. Just by using that card instead of my regular debit card I saved over $6 on this trip.
If I had any traditional coupons I would have applied them as well, but I don't have a lot of coupons to use at Target. I don't look through flyers or anything for coupons, but I sometimes get some at the checkout and I save them for later. I do have a lot to use when I shop for groceries--but I do the bulk of my grocery shopping at Kroger and Aldi.
So that's how I save a lot of money at Target. It's a little more work than just popping in but that's something I don't mind. It's like a game to me! Don't get me wrong--there are many times I just stop at Target for one thing and I don't go through all this. But it's nice to know I'm set with all my basics for a month and that I've saved money too.
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