Target Post Christmas Shopping!

I LOVE Target! I go too often, at least 2 or 3 times a week. I have a favorite parking spot and a favorite cashier! And I love how easy it is to save money!

I love the annual post Christmas sales, but only the right price. I've been once or twice already when Target had their Christmas things at 50% and then 70% off and picked up a few things that I knew weren't going to make it to 90% off (25 cent bags of m&m's, free cake mix), but my Target had TONS of ornaments and decoration type things, so for that stuff, I thought I'd wait until 90% off to see what I could pick upH!

This morning, I took my little elf (aka Ethan) along on the trip. He serenaded the seasonal area with a loud off key rendition of Frosty, hehe, but I digress. The Christmas section was picked over, but there was still tons of good stuff. I bought ornaments, stockings, stocking stuffers and wrapping supplies!

Here is what I got (disclaimer, I rounded prices ended in .99 to the nearest dollar):
     -2 picture frames regularly $10 each, I paid $2 for both
     -Christmas CD regularly $10, I paid $1
     -snowman sugar bowl regularly $5, I paid .50
     -2 packs of tissue paper regularly $2 each, I paid .40 for both
     -5 packs of gift tags regularly $3 each, I paid $1.50 for all 5
     -plain green stocking regularly $1, I paid .10
     -Cars stocking regularly $13, I paid $1.30
     -kids' Santa hat regularly $5, I paid .40
     -5 simple little ornaments regularly $1 each, I paid .50 for all 5
     -snowman ornament regularly $6, I paid .60
     -Thomas the Train ornament regularly $8, I paid .80
     -box set of ornaments regularly $30 (my favorite find, see picture below!), I paid $3
     -bird ornament regularly $3, I paid .30
     -bag of bows regularly $5, I paid .50
     -2 spools of curling ribbon regularly $3 each, I paid .60 for both
     -3 sets of window clings regularly $2 each, I paid .60 for all 3
     -a little Nerf gun toy regularly $5, I paid .50
     -boys' clip on tie regularly $4, I paid .40
     -make your own garland kit regularly $1, I paid .10

Assuming my math is right, I paid $15.10 for what was originally $151 worth of stuff! All coupon free too :) Yes there were other things purchased, but they are not included in this post!

Here is what I got - let me know if you got any good deals this year and where you got them!

The haul

My favorite buy - a set of "12 days of Christmas" ornaments!

Dominick's Deals

More Dominick's deals! I'm working on stocking the pantry :)

-2 boxes of Nature Valley Oats and Dark Chocolate granola bars at $3.59 each (these are really good! plus dark chocolate is an antioxidant :P)

• Used the store card to bring the price down to $1.67 each

-2 boxes of Fiber One Chocolate Caramel Pretzel bars at $3.79 each

• Used the store card to bring the price down to $2.99 each
• Used a Just 4 U coupon to bring the price down to $1.99 each
• Used a $1/2 coupon to bring the final price to $1.49 each

-1 box of Nature Valley Peanut Butter Dark Chocolate protein bars at $3.69

• Used the store card to bring the price down to $2.99
• Used  Just 4 U coupon to bring the price down to $1.99
• Used a .50/1 coupon to bring the final price to $1.49

-1 bottle of Fuze Pomegranate Berry at $1.79

• Used the store card to bring the price down to $1
• Used a .75/1 coupon to bring the final price to .25

-4 jars of Barilla Tomato Basil sauce at $2.99 each

• Buy One Get One Free sale, so $5.98 for 4 jars, or $1.49 per jar
• Normally I prefer to make my own sauce, but this was a reasonable sale and the jars had hang coupons where if you buy 2 jars of sauce, you get a free box of pasta!

-2 boxes of Barilla pasta at $3.98 each

• Used 2 of the coupons from the pasta sauces to get the pasta free!

-1 bottle of Method hand soap (Mimosa sun) at $3.69

• Used the store card to bring the price down to $2.50
• Used a $1/1 coupon to bring the price down to $1.50

-Total after tax: $16.14

Dominick Deals!

One of my favorite blogs is myfrugaladventures.com - the girl who does the blog has all sorts of great deal ideas, which help me, along with many other people, save money. Some of my bargains are from her blog, others are entirely my own :)

One of my favorite things about her blog is that she'll tell you what transactions will trigger catalinas (the coupons that print out at the register), which can help you save extra money.

This week was a very good week for deals at Dominick's (parent company Safeway). I have their store card, and you can sign up online for their Just 4 U program to get exclusive coupons, deals and prices!

This trip was split into 2 transactions.

Transaction #1
-10 9oz tubs of Oscar Mayer lunchmeat at $5.29 each 

• Used the store card to bring the price to $3.99 each
• Used a Just 4 U deal to bring the price down even more to $2.49 each
• Used a Just 4 U coupon to bring the price down to $1.38 each

-Total after tax: $14.04
-This generated a $10 catalina to roll into the next transaction!

Transaction #2
-3 Herbal Essences shampoos at $3.49 each

• Used the store card to bring the price down to $2.99 each
• Used a Just 4 U coupon to bring the price down to $2.49 each
• Used 1 $3/2 Herbal Essences coupon and 1 Get any Herbal Essences product free coupon (good for up to $2.99) to bring the price for 3 shampoos down to $1.48

-2 20oz Jennie-O ground turkeys at $6.49 each

• Used the store card to get a Buy One Get One Free deal to bring the price down to $6.49 for 2

-Gevalia coffee at $8.99 each

• Used the store card to bring the price down to $7.99
• Used 1 $2 coupon to bring the price down to $5.99

-1 sour cream at $2.49 each

• Used the store card to bring the price down to $1.99

-Total after coupons, tax and $10 catalina from the first transaction: $6.80

Total out of pocket: $20.84

These sale prices are good through Wednesday, 9/5, so go visit your local Safeway store if you need lunchmeat!

Cheap Crackers

Bargain time :)

Today's bargain was found at Jewel-Osco (parent company Albertson's for those of you not in the Chicago area). 

Selected varieties of Nabisco crackers (Wheat Thins, Triscuits,etc) were on sale for $2.84 a box (not a great price) with a store coupon that dropped the price to $1.37 a box (good for 3 boxes), a far better deal. Of course, to make this deal an even better deal, there were manufacturer coupons to stack with the store coupon!

-3 boxes of Wheat Thins at $1.37 each
-1 box of Triscuits at $2.84

• Used 1 Buy Two Get 1 Free (up to $2.50 value) coupon and 1 $1 coupon from the Nabisco Facebook page

-Total after coupons and tax: $3.57, really good price for 4 boxes of crackers.

This deal is good through Wednesday, 9/5, so if you like Triscuits or Wheat Thins, go and pick up a few boxes! I recommend the Sundried Tomato and Basil flavor!

The First Bargain post!

I love a good deal and I love coupons. Think Extreme Couponing, but less psychotic (none of that turning your kids' room into a cereal warehouse business here, dumpster diving for coupons). I have reasonable stockpiles of toothpaste, shampoo/conditioner, cereal, pasta, etc. 


As some of you already know, I have a love for Target. I even went the morning I had Eva (maybe that is why she loves going there with me)! It is easy to save money at Target - they let you combine store coupons with manufacturer's coupons and when you stack that on top of a sale...well, you get the picture.

Here's today's haul...

This trip was split into 2 transactions to minimize out of pocket expenses.

Transaction #1
-3 Dove shampoos at $2.99 each
-1 Dove conditioner at $2.99 each

• Used 1 $3/2 Dove hair care coupon (from the Sunday inserts a few weeks ago) and 1 $1.50/2 coupon (from the Dove website, if I had a second newspaper coupon, this would've been a better deal) for a final price of $7.46 for 4 shampoos/conditioners

-Extra 5 cents off for bringing my own bag :)
-Total after coupons and tax: $7.93, purchasing 4 Dove hair products generated a $5 gift card making an okay sale into a good deal!

I took that $5 gift card to roll into my second transaction (since these generated gift cards have to be used on a future transaction, which I think is silly, but whatever).

Transaction #2
-1 Method kitchen cleaner, lemon verbena scent at $2.99 

• Used $1/1 Target coupon and $1/1 mf (manufacturer) coupon for a final price of 99 cents

-1 Method Mickey Mouse soap at $3.49 

• Used $1/1 Target coupon and $.75/1 mf coupon for a final price of $1.74

-2 boxes of Quaker bars at $2 each 

• Used $1/2 Target coupon and $1/2 mf coupon for a final price of $2, or $1 per box

-1 2-pack of contact lens solution at $3.84 

• Used $1/1 Target coupon for a final price of $2.84 

-Extra 5 cents off for bringing my own bag, even though the cashier did just put everything into the same bag from transaction 1.
-Random side note: the cashier tried telling me that hand soap wasn't a personal care item and that the store coupon wouldn't work...even though hand soap IS a personal care item and the coupon did work in the end. Stand up for yourself!
-Total after coupons, tax and $5 gift card from the first transaction: $3.06

Total out of pocket - $10.99

All in all, a good trip :) Let me know if you have any questions!