I can honestly say that I enjoy shopping more at Target than CVS now!  The only thing that could make me like shopping Target anymore would be if it were physically closer to me!  Over the last several months I have been making it a habit to watch the Target ads and stop by any time I am in Winston.. On Thursday, we spent most of the day shopping and our first stop was Target. I am going to give a lot of details about this trip and also how anyone can combine all the promotions at Target to save even more money!

The final saving at Target to me is the simplest. You save an additional 5% of your bill after all other coupons by using a “Red Card”.  My red card is not a credit card but simply a card that is tied to my regular bank account. I use it only in Target and it works like a regular debit card although it usually takes about a week for it to post to my account. On our trip Thursday, I saved $4.53 by swiping this card instead of my regular debit card.

One of the biggest ways to save at Target is to combine sales with coupons. You are allowed to use 1 Target (store) coupon in addition to a manufactures coupon.  Target actually has 2 different types of coupons. First they have printable coupons from the website, in addition, they have mobile coupons which are texted to your phone. Although you can use both a manufactures coupon and a Target coupon on one item you can not use both a mobile coupon and a printed Target coupon on the same items.   On this trip, I purchased “Right Guard Deodorant” this was not on sale. The price was $3.34, I used a $2.00 off Target coupon and a $1.50 coupon from the newspaper for this item, which made it entirely FREE! I don’t think that Target allows overages but I can’t really tell from my receipt but FREE is still Free!  Target also puts out very different coupons than you generally see. For example I was able to purchase a roll of Scotch Tape and a pack of Post It notes  for $0.02 each by simply using the store coupon. Another advantage to the Target coupon is that some are for their house brand items, which are usually less expensive. For example, I purchased the house brand sunscreen and used $1.00 off store coupons.  I have really been surprised at how many coupons I find on their store brands.

Finally, in addition to use both a store and manufactures coupon, Target has a program called “Cartwheel”  This takes a little bit of work and planning but as you will see well worth the time in the long run.  To use the “cartwheel” you have to go to the Target website and sign up for the account, I used Facebook so it was simple. Cartwheel items are generally for a % off an item.  You are limited to 18 Cartwheel offers at a time but can easily remove and add. I always print my Cartwheel list from the site so it is a simple scan of a barcode in the store. On this trip, I took advantage of several of these offers including 20% of kids shoes, 30% off Nutty Poptarts, 25% off Swimwear, and 15% off Coopertone Sunscreen. I was able to combine the cartwheel and coupons to purchase the Poptarts for $0.66 a box and the sunscreen for $6.50 a bottle. The percentage of saving comes off the price of the item before coupons which is an advantage.

A final reason I like shopping Target is the convenience of having everything in one store!

I have been looking at the Harris Teeter ad for several days now, trying to decide it I should make a trip for this week or wait.  I am reading rumors that they will host a “Super Doubles Event” in the next few weeks, but after a little more printing, I knew this would be an awesome week to go.  I was able to load my card with the ZVR coupons (Harris Teeter) and I even signed into Saving Star to make sure I could get the best deal.

Bright and early this morning we headed out to Salisbury. I am so glad I did!

Total Spent $65.01
Total Saved $109.56
Percent Saved 63%

Once everything shows up in my Saving Star, I am also eligible for $10 cash back!

One of the reason I am so excited about this trip is the number of convenience foods, I was able to grab. We spend ALOT of time at the pool during the summer but there is no way we can afford to eat out or even just buy snacks at the pool each time. So today was awesome, I grabbed around 20 Lunchables- great for swim meets and if they last that long to take to the beach, 5 packs of Hunt’s pudding, 8 boxes of Granola bars, 4 boxes of fruit by the foot/fruit gushers and 5 cases of soda for Matt to drink at the pool and also for the beach. These are all easy things to carry to the pool. In addition to these items I also included in my purchase was 2 boxes of Hamburger Helper, 2 boxes of Suddenly Salad, 3 boxes of Stand up Taco shells and 2 bottles of salad dressing.

I keep a spread sheet for the year with most of my best saving trips on it. This is not the best trip as far as percentage wise that I have saved but it is the second largest savings dollars that I have achieved this year!