Tips like these helped us pay off $127K in debt. You can read our story in Slaying the Debt Dragon: How One Family Conquered Their Money Monster and Found an Inspired Happily Ever After.
Are you a Target shopper? Can’t get enough of that red cart and the fashionable home goods? You need to check out these ways to save money at Target. Stretch your dollar further each time you shop!
Shopkick
Shopkick is an awesome money saving app that you can use at a number of stores. You collect “kicks” (think: reward points), when you check in at a store. Other ways to earn “kicks” include: scanning items with your phone, referring friends, and hooking your debit card to the app. The reason why Shopkick is relevant to Target shoppers is that it takes only 500 kicks to snag a $2 Target gift card. You can easily knock that out in a trip or two with little effort.
Target Mobile Coupons
Speaking of your smart phone, be sure that you sign up for Target’s mobile coupon alerts. The coupons vary from grocery items to household goods and clothing and rotate typically on a monthly basis. In addition to the alerts that are sent, occasionally there is a one time coupon you can receive if you text a particular word to a number. For instance, right now you can text MEAT to 827438 to get $5 off $20 (expires 2/7/15). These types of codes can sometimes be found in Target stores next to a particular item. Or many of the frugal bloggers I follow share them on a routine basis.
Target Printable Coupons
I love Target’s printable interface for coupons, too. It’s a simple site to use and has a mix of store coupons and manufacturer’s coupons. To maximize your resources, be sure to set your printer to grayscale (maybe even draft mode if the barcode is visible) and use recycled paper. Typically, you can get two prints for every coupon available on the Target site. After you finish printing your coupons, hit the back button and every coupon you’ve just printed will print again. One of the advantages of Target’s printable coupons is that you can save money on their two lines of generic products – Archer Farms and Market Pantry – with the printable coupons.
Cartwheel
Cartwheel is Target’s own coupon app. You can actually scan each item as you place it into your cart, checking for Cartwheel coupons. A recently added feature to the app is that if a coupon is not available for your specific item, Target will inform you of a similar product on sale. I must admit that sometimes the app is way off, recommending items that are not at all similar but other times, I’ve discovered a coupon for a different brand or the generic line. I cannot urge you enough to scan everything. More than once I’ve been pleasantly surprised with the Dollar Spot or Clearance items have had a coupon on top of an already low price thanks to Cartwheel.
Stacking
Many Target shoppers don’t realize that you can double and even triple stack the coupons there. So if you have a Target coupon (says “STORE COUPON” in the top bar next to the expiration date and has the Target logo on it) and a Manufacturer Coupon (says “MANUFACTURER COUPON” in that black bar instead), you can use both of them together on one item. For instance, if you found a $1/1 Hunt’s Ketchup coupon in your Sunday paper and clipped it out and also printed a $1/$1 coupon from the Target website that was a Store coupon, you can use both of those together on 1 bottle of ketchup yielding $2 off your purchase. Cartwheel allows you to triple stack, using all three coupons together.
Clearance
Oh dear, I LOVE Target’s Clearance. I regularly make myself aware of all of the spots where I can find it taking a quick spin by when I’m in the store. Items can be marked down to as much as 90% off retail price. It’s a great area to pick up seasonal items, (decor, paper goods, costumes), toiletries, and even food, especially if you can pare those discounts with a coupon. Some of my biggest scores have come from a coupon coupled with seasonal paper towels and toothpaste (yay for Christmas gift pack clearance). Even the Dollar Spot occasionally will clearance out their already low priced stock.
Dollar Spot
I do LOVE the dollar spot, but you need to be careful when shopping there. Not all items are priced at a dollar and sometimes an item might be smaller in size and not the best price per unit (think things like Scotch tape or snacks). I’m always debating if the Dollar Section is a deal or not so keep your eyes peeled. But I have found great deals on notecards, decor, beach towels, and kids’ items in the Dollar Spot before.
Check with the Experts
You want to be sure that you follow a blog that is an expert in the store where you shop. For Target deals, I love to glance over Totally Target and All Things Target over before heading to the store. Both are great resources to help me maximize my dollars and save money at Target.
Watch the Paper and Your Mail
Target does direct marketing with coupons, too. You can often find them in your Sunday paper and every once in awhile tucked into ads or catalog inserts. As well, I receive Target coupons seasonally in booklets sent straight to my mail. I’m sure this is a result of being a longtime shopper and having registries at Target stores in the past. It seems like the more that you use such coupons, the more often you receive them.
Target Red Card
You know I’m NEVER going to recommend using or opening a credit card. However, Target does allow for you to open a debit card, connected directly to your checking account. It gives you a 5% discount and additional opportunities for saving. I haven’t ever done it, probably because I’m still psychologically scarred from Target turning my original Target card into a VISA which we used to wrack up so much (now paid off) debt.
Bring Your Own Bags
Target credits you $0.05 per bag that you bring from home. So pack your reusable bags in your trunk each time you unload groceries and you’ll never be without them. P.S. this is one case where bigger is NOT better. Smaller bags = bigger discount. 🙂
FREE Samples
Lastly, did you know that Target has a free sample area on their website that you can routinely check? Many of those samples also include a coupon so don’t chuck the box too quickly.
I’d love to know the other ways you save money at Target! Leave them in the comments, please.
My book is now available: Slaying the Debt Dragon: How One Family Conquered Their Money Monster and Found an Inspired Happily Ever After. You can also check out Inspiration to Pay Off Debt: 30 Days of Encouragement from the Queen of Free
This post contains an affiliate link. That means when you get a great deal or maybe even something for free, you also help our family pay off our mortgage early. And for that, we royally thank you!
I have heard this from someone else before:
Price tags ending in $0.06 or $0.08: If the price of the item on clearance ends in $0.06 or $0.08, the item will be marked down again during the next markdown cycle as long as there is inventory in the store. The item typically will remain at the current percentage off for two weeks before progressing to the next level.
Price tags ending in $0.04: If the last number in the price of the item ends in $0.04, the item has been marked for final clearance, and this is the lowest price at which Target will sell the item.