Today Joyce from Saving My Cents gives us the scoop on how to save at Target!
About Joyce:
As a SAHM to 2 little boys, two little cats and one big golden retriever saving my SENSE will never happen, but saving my CENTS has to happen. Anyone who knows me knows my favorite saying is “I’m not cheap, I’m thrifty” and I hope with my website you can be too!
Have you ever heard the term “perimeter perusing” at stores. This is when you walk around the “outside” inside of the store (the perimeter) and where you will find most of your clearance items. Clearance items are always shoved in the back of the store or along the outer shelves inside stores.
Target is a great store to head for with your coupon binder and your “perimeter perusing” shoes on! Target keeps their clearance merchandise clearly marked on end caps of many aisles, or will have an entire aisle dedicated to just clearance. Keep your eyes open down all the aisles for a small red sign sticking out that say clearance also, do not always assume it says sale. One thing I love about Target is that they are constantly marking down items, not just clothes, but food, toiletries, baby supplies and more. Most grocery stores will have a small shelf filled with a few clearance products, even my 2 local Walmarts have a small shelf filled with clearance on non clothing items, but Target always has plenty of food, toiletries and more than clothes on clearance prices.
To make it easier to plan your Target Perimeter Perusing trip, here is a breakdown of the schedule of markdowns at Target, keep in mind that one week nothing in a particular department may get marked down so if you head to the store you may see no clearance on soap, but the next week, same day you may get your pick of 5 brands of marked down soap.
Monday: Kids Clothes, Electronics
Tuesday: Women’s clothes, Pet, Market Pantry (Target Brand food items)
Wednesday: Toys, Men’s Clothes, Health & Beauty, Lawn & Garden
Thursday: Shoes, Home Decor, Sporting Goods, Housewares, Books & Music
Friday: Jewelry, Hardware & Cosmetics
I have three suggestions to keep in mind when perimeter perusing at Target and here they are:
1. This is a good suggestion for any clearance/stockpile shopping. Check expiration dates, products go on clearance for different reasons, maybe they do not sell well at one particular store or the manufacturer has discontinued the item, sometimes though they are on clearance because it is close to the expiration of a product. If you know you will use the product before the expiration, or it is something you feel comfortable using beyond the expiration then get yourself some awesome deals!
2. If Target clearance items have a 4 at the end of the bar code, that means it is the end of that item. Target will mark down their clearance items a few times, one week it may be marked down to $2, the next week $1 and the next week .50 cents, but if the bar code shows a 4 that means there will be no further markdowns and even if the product does not sell out, it comes off the shelves, so get it while you can if you see that 4.
3. Print Target coupons! Target has printable coupons available on their website, even if you think you do not need the coupons, if you have a printer, have the ink, print them off and hold on to them, the coupons change frequently so a good coupon you see this week may be gone next week. You can use Target coupons on clearance items, so if Target had Market Pantry Spaghetti Sauce marked down to $2.09 and you had a $1 Target printable, you got yourself the clearance item even cheaper! And Target coupons are combinable with a manufacturer coupons. I once bought a few canisters of Crystal Light for about .35 cents each. Target had them marked down to $2.35, I had a Target printable good off one can of Crystal Light any flavor (keep in mind to that it is usually certain flavors or styles of product that go on clearance, just because a box of size 2 diapers is clearanced does not mean size 6 will be to, which is why it is important to check weekly with their new clearance deals, they always change) and I had a manufacturer coupon good for $1 off any Crystal Light any flavor, so instead of using those on a $5 non clearanced canister, I found a flavor I liked on clearance and was able to get 4 boxes at .35 cents each!
This post originally appeared on Saving My Cents on April 17th.
