Target Couponing 101

Hi, everyone! It’s Kimber again, back with another set of couponing tips for you. Today I hope to be able to teach you a little bit about frugal shopping at one of my favorite stores: Target! If you were to choose just one store to “coupon shop” at, Target would be a great place to start. Why? Because there are so many different fun ways to save!  I’m going to explain a great app (Cartwheel), and then give you a little bit of Target Couponing 101. Ready?

So Cartwheel. I LOVE it. When you sign up for a free Cartwheel account (which you can do online, if you don’t have a smartphone), you are assigned an individual barcode. (If you’re doing this online, you can print it; if not, it will be accessible on your phone.) When you log in, you will find coupons that you can “clip” just by clicking on them. When it’s time to checkout, you just have to show your phone with your individual barcode to the cashier. He or she scans that one barcode, and anything that you’re “clipped” automatically comes off. It’s awesome! You can search for offers a few ways:

• On the top right-hand corner of the app, click on the magnifying glass. This will pull up a search bar. You can type in the name of a product you’d like to save on, like “fruit” or “cake mix”. This works well if you don’t really care what brand you buy. Or you can click on “scan barcode”. Your phone will turn into a scanner, and it will tell you if there is a coupon for the specific item you’re looking at. I keep my phone handy and scan every item I get at Target, just in case.
• Click on “offers”. This will allow you to look at things by category, or to view all available offers. I like to look at “all offers”, then click on “discount”. It will automatically pull up the best discounts. There are usually a few in the 40-50% off range.
• Click on “collections”. I like to look at “weekly ad” – everything in this category is on sale, plus there’s a Cartwheel coupon available. Great way to double dip on savings!

So that’s how Cartwheel works! If you’d like to start slowly on your couponing journey, that’s a great place to start. But if you’d like a few more tips, read on.

The reason that Target is such a great place to shop at is that there are so many different ways to save there. Cartwheel, mobile coupons, sales, web coupons, gift card deals – so much fun! But before you get overwhelmed, let me give you one suggestion: If you’d like to learn how to bargain shop at Target, the best favor you can do for yourself is to find a blog that is dedicated to finding the best deals there. I recommend All Things Target and Totally Target. Although they occasionally share deals from other stores, these ladies are mostly focused on helping you learn how to catch the best deals at Target. I have “liked” them both on Facebook, and the best Target deals magically appear in my newsfeed. Huge time-saver!

Let’s cover a little bit of couponing lingo. First of all, there are several different kinds of coupons available. The kind that you get in the newspaper will almost always say “manufacturer’s coupon” at the top. This just means that the coupon is being sponsored by the manufacturer of that product. If you are looking for these coupons, especially if you want to be a “serious” couponer, you’ll probably want to subscribe to the Sunday paper, or at least buy it at the store (often you can find the Sunday paper all week long at drugstores or grocery stores if you don’t shop on Sunday). But there are also coupons you can print online from websites like coupons.com, redplum.com, and smartsource.com – and many manufacturers even have coupons available to print right off of their website! (Remember what I said about finding a blog dedicated to couponing at Target – they will do all of this hunting down for you!)

There are other coupons that say “Target coupon” at the top of them. These are processed differently – they are sponsored by the Target corporation, and you can actually “stack” them with a manufacturer’s coupon. So if I had a manufacturer’s coupon for $1 off XYZ brand of bread, and I had a Target coupon for $1 off XYZ brand of bread, I could buy one loaf of bread and use both coupons for a total of $2 off. It’s wonderful! Target coupons will occasionally pop up in the Sunday paper. But the easiest way to find them is to go to coupons.target.com. There are tons of coupons available, and you can select as many (or as few) as you want to print. When you hover your mouse over the coupon, it will tell you if it’s a Target or a manufacturer’s coupon.

And finally, you can get coupons texted to you! Target’s text number is 827-438. (Yes, looks like a typo, but it’s only 6 digits.) If you text the word “Offers”, they’ll send you their current coupons. Like Cartwheel, they will send you several coupons that are all linked under one barcode. Just scan that barcode at the register and it will automatically take off every coupon that applies. It’s fast and easy! Just keep in mind that Cartwheel has to be the last thing scanned, so have your mobile coupon ready first.

So that was a LOT of information I just gave you. If you’re still with me, you might be confused. But once you learn the knack of it, you’ll be amazed at how much money you save at Target! To give you a few examples of the deals I’ve scored just in the last few weeks, here are a few examples:

• Scotch tape on sale: $1.02. Printable Target coupon: $1 off any Scotch product. Out of pocket cost: $.02.
• Post-It Pad on sale: $1.02. Printable Target coupon: $1 off any Post-It product. Out of pocket cost: $.02.
• Suave Kids Conditioner on sale: $1.52 (I bought 2). Printable manufacturer’s coupon: $1 off (I used 2). Mobile coupon: $1 off of 2 Suave hair care products. Out of pocket cost: $.02 per bottle.

That’s it for today, ladies! I gave you a lot of information, so please feel free to leave any questions in the comments. Remember, if you’re just starting out, I’d just get the knack of one thing and then branch out from there. Pretty soon, you’ll be saving all kinds of cash! Have fun shopping!

Danielle is the owner of Today's the Best Day. She strives to provide creative and uplifting content in order to enrich the parenting experience for women everywhere. Danielle hopes to help you and your family to make every day the best day!

August 28, 2014 by Danielle Davis | 3 Comments