Carolyn J. Braden • 3 Minute Read
Our Target Shopping List and Deals Strategy
If you are an avid deals and steals type of a shopper like us, you do lots of price checking, research and more to make sure you are getting the best deals. I will often use my Target app to figure out the pricing sweet spot and where I’m going to purchase a home necessity, a clothing item, beauty products and more.
With Target’s many sales and bonus programs (like the 5% Red Card discount), they often have the best prices. Here are some of the items I frequently shop from Target and more about my Target deals strategy.
Money saving tips when shopping Target
The items I’ll discuss below often have the lowest prices. I’m not saying they are always the lowest, but often are. Some of the items are also Target exclusives, meaning you can only get them from Target. Brand loyalty enters my shopping brain zone when a product and a price fits into my budget and I will actually use or need the item.
Let me give you a quick tip on using your Red Card if you have one. Pay it off each time you use it. The 5% discount/the money you saved goes always completely if you end up having to pay interest. Do this actually with any credit card you have if there is a bonus savings that encourages you to use it. Read on for more tips.
Minnie Pearl loves my Target mushroom stool
Target Home Décor
One thing I like about Target is their home décor. They have collaborations with several designers and often churn out very cute décor at great prices. If they run out of an item I had my eye on (I do often wait for sales!), I like how you can set the app to let you know when it’s back in stock. I’ve done this on several items like my all-time favorite Target mushroom stool. This stool is just like my mother-in-law’s vintage stool that I used during our hurricane Ian evacuation time at their home, and I love it. It’s super cozy to sit on for doing your makeup or putting on shoes or more.
We buy 100% cotton sheets, as my husband and I get the night sweats. We like soft sheets and even though the blankets cover them, I still like a pretty sheet too. We started buying Target’s Opalhouse 100% Cotton Percale sheet sets and our night sweats have lessened. After washing them, they are soft and cute, which I love! We wrote about our making our bed “cooler” (as in temperature) in this article.
Carolyn Braden wearing Target jean shorts
Target Clothing
Anyone that follows me on social media will often see me wearing a plain white V-neck t-shirt. I love a plain white tee. You can wear it with shorts, jeans and more. The ones I wear are Hanes Men V Neck Undershirts. I buy a big pack of them and layer them with many outfits.
My Fireside slides remind me of my fluffy girl, Minnie Pearl
I also buy most of my slippers from Target and love the Fireside collection from Dearfoams. I recently bought a pair of Fireside Canberra fluffy wool slides that are extremely comfortable for wearing around the house or around the fireside, as the brand states.
My husband wears Hanes Men S Tank tops under his shirts daily and has for over 20 years. He loves them. If you ever see me in cut-off jean shorts, they are probably from Target. I wear these the Universal Thread high rise midi jean short almost daily in warm weather. I wait for them to go on sale, then buy up a couple pairs at a time.
We like to use a shield when spraying our hair
Target Beauty
While I love experimenting with lots of beauty products, I buy Not Your Mother’s Plump for Joy Dry Shampoo and use it every other day. It plumps my roots and dries up oil so I don’t have to wash my hair every day. My husband often steals my Cremo Coconut and Mango Shave Cream. It’s thick which makes a little go a long way and it smells like the tropics.
Every night I use ELF Holy Hydration Cleansing Balm to remove my makeup. Even waterproof! We recently started using Tresemme again (as it is cruelty free!) and love their Tresemme Freeze Hold Hairspray. My husband doesn’t like his hair to move, and this does the trick. It’s also a very affordable price compared to many higher end brands.
See me use the ELF Holy Hydration Makeup Cleansing Balm in my YouTube short video below or via my channel @carolynjbraden:
To keep our teeth white, clean and cavity free, we’ve been using Tom’s of Maine Luminous White Anti-Cavity toothpaste for many years. It’s not super sweet, which is what I look for in a toothpaste. It’s also cruelty free. With the recommendation of my dental hygienist, I started using Therabreath Mouthwash too. It’s not sweet, it got rid of a spot in one of my gum areas that I had a small issue with, and it makes my mouth feel clean.
My husband likes Olipop sodas
Target Food
My husband started liking Olipop sodas. They have some strange flavors, like Crisp Apple that actually tasted like apple, and it’s a small soda indulgence he has from time to time. He’s a soda lover, so with the Olipop brand being non-GMO and created with ingredients we actually understood (it has no unpronounceable chemical ingredients), he feels better about his soda brand choice now. The improved health of his teeth also agrees.
We eat a half of a peanut butter dark chocolate Kind bar every afternoon. It’s made with nuts and dark chocolate, so it satisfies our afternoon hunger pains without raising our blood sugar levels.
Target has good deals on toilet paper
Target Household Cleaning
After the great toilet paper shortage of 2020 due to COVID-19, we had to buy many different brands during that time period. It was basically a great way to experiment. We had to buy Cottonelle Ultra Comfort Care several times, and it ended up staying in our brand rotation. It’s soft and truly does the job. The big rolls last a long while in our house too.
I know that the color of your trash bag is one of the least important things in the world, but Glad started making cherry blossom pink garbage bags and I bought them. I already was using the brand and saw the pink color and it was in impulse buy that worked out. They smell good too.
When Seventh Generation changed their pour spout (oh, the leaks it created!), I searched for a new brand. You don’t think a pour spout could make someone stop buying a product, but it did for me. I don’t have the time to tell every brand what they did wrong in a new product design, but I can tell them with my money. I started buying Target’s brand Everspring Lavender Bergamot Liquid Laundry Detergent instead and love it. It’s plant-based, better for the environment than many other detergents and has a great pour spout/lid.
I do still use Seventh Generation Fabric softener sheets. Their box is easy to use, the dryer sheets are not full of chemicals, and they help my laundry be soft.
We use Target’s brand of make-a-size paper towels. They are thick, but not too thick, and I like being able to select a small towel because not all cleanup jobs need a full paper towel.
I always buy Method Gel Cleanser refills. I like the Sweetwater scent because it’s clear in color (won’t stain my counters) and it smells sweet and soft. I pour them into my plain farmhouse style glass pump bottles that I keep near every sink in the house. I keep it on hand so I can easily refill as soon as we run out. It’s one of those things you buy when it’s on sale because no matter how many you have already, you’ll always run out of and need more.
The cute Target dog symbol
More About Saving Money At Target
The Target app has many coupons in the app. If you click “wallet” on the app, you’ll often see sales at the top of the Wallet screen. If you click on the plus icon, it saves the sale to your wallet. Then show your barcode at checkout to get the deal.
My only current complaint about Target is the “in store” versus “pickup” versus “online” pricing. If I see something in store that is cheaper on their app, I will show the app price at checkout and I always get the lower price. You can actually do this at many stores now days.
We like saving money by shopping at Target
Target is great about returns and price adjustments. If you buy something at Target and see it cheaper within a reasonable amount of time, you can call their customer service phone number and they will make a price adjustment. You can do this in store too. Their in-store customer service has always been good for us. We did have an issue with one of their products bleeding and staining our dryer (this has only happened to us one time in our entire life…it was strange!), and even though it took some time, they took care of us.
If you haven’t shopped Target in a while or if you shop it every day, tell us about it in the comments below! Share your favorite Target deals with our community!
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Carolyn J. (C.J.) Braden is a regular contributor and editor for Carolyn’s Blooming Creations. She has been featured in numerous media publications such as InStyle Magazine, on HGTV, on Bustle.com, and more. She is the author of the books Georgia McMasters in Amethyst Lake Cemetery, How To Be Yourself: 3 Ways To Help You Being You, and the illustrator for the children’s book Bridging Connections. She is a former classroom teacher that now dedicates her life to educating others on how to live their most healthy, creative and happy life. Learn more about her visiting our About Us page.