How I saved over 60% ($150 in savings) in one shopping trip!

Easy peasy! I watched a simple webcast hosted by Angela from The Coupon Project and Christy from Thrifty and Thriving...two local area mom "deal/coupon" bloggers! Luckily for me, they were kind enough to record it for everyone so I could watch it (at my convenience) after my son went to bed. They talked about tips on how to save even more money at Target than I already do! Target being one of my family's favorite weekly shopping stops!

This particular webcast gave great tips on what to look for, timing, scanning to check current pricing, days of the week different departments go on sale, etc. but it primarily focused on an upcoming, semi-annual (one in July too!) unadvertised toy clearance that was about to happen "any time now". Or maybe that was what I was focusing on! ;-)

Now, I did go the night before just to get the lay of the land, as I had never been on a clearance hunt before! I quickly walked the store in 15 minutes to check out different clearance locations, learn the sale signage, and scan end caps to map out my plan of attack on the big day and to make sure I didn't miss anything that I wanted to make sure and get on this special day of clearance. On a side note, that night I did pick up 2 cute sweaters, nicely constructed by the way, on clearance for under $4 each! But I digress.

So, I had my plan in mind. As there was nothing pressing that I needed in the other departments, I decided to focus solely on the kids toy clearance. I monitored the FB postings and the Twitter tweets. And there it was...

ThriftyThriving Christy

Today (Thursday) should be the day Target marks down the clearance toys to 70% off. Woo Hoo! Let's hear what... fb.me/1mEktpq2m

12 Jan

 

A tweet at 12:01am (yes, I was still up) from Christy at Thrifty and Thriving saying I think today (Thursday) is going to be THE DAY - which meant toys were going to go to 70% off for the clearance.  I had semi casual plans that day and canceled them. Yes, I canceled them. I dropped my son off to preschool and headed to THE SALE!

As I pulled into the Target parking lot, I saw moms coming out of the store with all kinds of (big and lots of!) toys. Oh no, was I too late? Did I miss it? I got my cart and headed straight to the toy section. There I found only a handful of moms and wondered "did they follow the blogs and know?; happen in here by a happy accident?; or were they in search of a birthday present for some kid and lucked out?" Who knew? But I was a little curious as this was my first clearance quest.

In the toy section there was ONE AND A HALF AISLES dedicated to clearance. Now, not all of the clearance was 70% off. Some were 50% and some were 30%. I checked some with the store's scanner to make sure this wasn't a mistake. Ok, I guess ALL of it can't go to 70%, that would be wishful thinking, but MOST of it was!!

So, all in all it took me about an hour, as I loaded my cart, to figure out who I would buy for and for which holidays, birthdays, etc. This, I think, was a rookie mistake, as I was a newbie. Next time, I will have a list of who to buy for and for which occasions so it will go quicker. This time as I shopped I had in mind my son, his cousins, his friends, donations, and Easter, birthdays and Christmas. I don't know if I missed anything. But next time I will have it written down to make the trip more efficient and go faster.

Needless to say I was ecstatic with my haul! And so glad I followed the blogs and watched the webcast. A very short time investment and I already saved $150 on my yearly budget in one shopping trip...and also saved time and gas by buying "bulk"...and I had fun too!  Thanks Angela and Christy for all that you do. And to my readers...I hope this inspires you too!

The Newbie's Haul!

Ok, so here is the semi breakdown of "The Haul":

Three small Easter gifts for son
Two gifts for donation
Three gifts for birthdays
Four gifts for Christmas 2012

BTW - the picture shows all gifts for boys but there were a ton available for girls too!

12 Items Retail pretax $241.13 

                    purchased for $ 91.90 + tax

                                             Savings $149.23  approx 62%

If you would like to see the full individual breakdown of prices let me know and I will update this post.


For more info. on Angela and The Coupon Project go here.

For more info. on Christy and Thrifty and Thriving go here.


Now go and SAVE!