Target Escapades

I used to never use coupons. 25 cents here, 50 cents there - how could it really make much of a difference, right?

Wrong.

Lately, I've been looking on a lot of online sites - blogs and such - dedicated to something called "couponing." These people are hard-core couponers and I'm definitely not as dedicated as them, so I just read their blogs and let them find the deals for me. My absolute favorite one is http://www.totallytarget.com/, since Target is by far my favorite store.

First, let me explain a few things. I didn't know this until a few months ago, but at Target you can use two types of coupons - manufacturer coupons and store coupons. They will let you use one of each type for the same item. This is called coupon "stacking."

You can get Target store coupons a couple of different ways:
-They send coupon booklets in the mail periodically. I don't know how you sign up to get these, we've just always gotten them automatically. I'm guessing they have our address from when we set up our wedding/baby registries.
- You can go to the Target website and print store coupons.
- Sometimes store coupons will print at the register based on what you bought, and the cashier will hand them to you along with your receipt.

So I spent a few hours checking out the deals and doing some coupon organizing. Then I headed over to Target after work today to see what I could come up with.

Here are some of my best deals:

Campbell's Cream of Mushroom/Chicken soup -

These were on sale for .75 each and I had two manufacturer's coupons for $1 off of two cans (written as $1/2). I printed these coupons online.

.75 each x 4 = $3. Minus $2 coupons = a total price of $1.00 for all four. That's .25 each!

Dove shampoo/conditioner -

The regular price for these is $3.44 each. I had two printed manufacturer's coupons for $2 off of one ($2/1). I also had two Target store coupons for $1/1. I was able to stack these coupons for a total of $3 off of each bottle. That means I only paid .44 for each the shampoo and the conditioner (.88 for both). Pretty good if you ask me!

Physician's Formula makeup: 1 Powder Finish concealer stick (reg. $4.94), 1 Gentle Cover concealer stick (reg. $5.69), 1 felt tip eye liner (reg. $6.24), 1 bottle of makeup remover lotion (reg. $4.19). That's a total of $21.06.

I couldn't really get a good picture of these. I had already taken them out of their packages before I decided to blog about my day at Target, so this is the best I could do. Anyway, two of these items had coupons attached to the packaging (called "peelies") for $4/1. I also had two online coupons that I had printed for buy one, get one free (B1G1). My cashier was awesome and took the two most expensive ones off as my free items (-5.69 & -6.24). This is not typical. Usually they'll take the two least expensive items off.

So, we have:

$21.06 - $4 - $4 - 5.69 - 6.24 = $1.13.

That means I paid $1.13 for all four items! Seriously!

This picture was taken in our brand new upright freezer that we bought about three weeks ago :)

Ore-Ida bagged potato products were on sale for $2.50 (reg. $3.19). Target also has a special going on right now where if you buy two, you get one free (B2G1). $5 for three bags isn't a bad deal to begin with, but of course, I had two internet coupons for $1/1Ore-Ida Steam n' Mash potatoes.

$2.50 + $2.50 + Free Bag - $1 - $1 = $3 for all three bags. That's only $1 each!

(When I took this picture, I had already taken the meat out of the original packaging and vacuum sealed it with my handy dandy FoodSaver.)

Occasionally, the meat department at Target will have $3 off coupons stuck to select meat products. Today I scored a package of lean stew meat for $1.67, a package of two eye of round steak for $1.99, and a package of two eye of round steak for $2.19. That's all after the $3 off coupons. Last week, I got two packages of cube steaks for about $1 each (each pack had 3 steaks), and a pretty nice roast for around $4. They also had packages of boneless split chicken breasts for $4 (reg. $6), so I stocked up. I love shopping for meat at Target because they have great sales. Meat is usually so darn expensive now that we don't get it for free from James's grandma anymore. :(

I also got a jumbo pack of Huggies for $5.99 with my $3/1 coupon I printed. And two packages of Oxyclean stain remover pod things (that is their technical name)for less than $2 each. They were on clearance and I had two $1.50/1 coupons. And I bought a bunch of other stuff that I needed, some was on sale, some I had coupons for.

My total savings for the day were more than I spent. That means I saved over 50% on my total order! I'd say I did pretty well.

I try not to think about all the money I used to waste when I didn't use coupons.