Target Shopping

I decided it was time for a rare trip to Target last Friday.
Basically I had a fist full of gift cards(some free from other Target deals, some from c/c points and one was a discounted gift card I bought last December).

There were two food Qs last week......a get a $5 Gift Card when you spent $15 on beverages and a get a $5 Gift Card when you spent $20 on meat/seafood.
Sounded like this could be a good deal to me!

Here is what I bought........

On the drink deal I got--
3 x Pepsi brand 12-packs
1 x Gatorade 8-pack
2 x Target brand bottled water

Regular prices were 4/$12 Pepsi, $5.29 Gatorade, $3.58 but there was additional 25% off the Pepsi items(Cartwheel)so that's why I bought over $20 instead of $15 worth so I qualified for the $5 gift
card.

On the meat/seafood deal I got--
2 lb. Ground Beef $7.99
3 lb. Ground Turkey $8.99
1.50 lb. Perdue sliced Chicken Breast $7.52
Then Turkey and Chicken each had a $2 discount sticker on them so my $24.50 worth of meat came to $20.50 so I qualified for the $5 gift card.

I also bought a gallon of milk($3.53)and a bag of Doritos for Ex-CB($2).

And this is where the wheels flew off that bus.
I was busy loading and unloading everything from the cart so I wasn't watching the cashier/register fully.

Near the end of the order he scanned and put a Target gift card on the counter for me but I didn't see another $5 gift card for the second deal.  So I mentioned I was suppose to get 2 gift cards(1 for drinks/1 for meat). So he took out an ad, flipped through it and started looking at what I bought on the register screen.  He then said, I'm just going to take $5 off your total as "the Cartwheel was already applied".(In lieu of giving me what I thought was a second $5 gift card.)  Sounded fair to me.

In the end my total was $41.35 with sales tax and I used all my free Target gift cards to pay plus $4.91 of the discounted Target gift card too.  That $4.91 cost me $4.41 w/the discount when I bought the card so I am putting $4.41 OOP in my July food tally for this Target trip spending.

I can never make heads nor tails out of Target's receipts. I've tried before to reconcile them and they are always just off, something under $1.  It is something I have accepted in my life but I still go over the receipts and try to make sense of them. lolz

So I am reading over the receipt and I get down to the store coupons applied and see that the gift card the cashier gave me is for $10 not $5.  He never said, "I've combined the 2 $5 deals and am giving you 1 $10 gift card which contains both", when I questioned getting 2 gift card/doing 2 Target gift card deals.
I double checked online the amount on the gift card and yes, it is $10 not $5.

So it looks like he gave me an extra $5 discount on the bill.  This cashier looked really tired and haggard so I guess instead of talking to me he just wanted me out of his line and gone and just gave me an extra $5 off.
Ok, if that's how it's going down I'm fine with that. 8-)))

Total Savings of $24.12 off regular price according to the receipt and plus the $36.94 paid on free/discounted gift cards gives me a savings of $61.06.

A nice little break from spending our regular income on foodstuffs.

Sluggy

My Weis & Target Scores + Gift Cards for Xmas

I hit the meat department at Weis(PMITA)Markets on Thursday and found some good deals.
The actual cost per pound/per piece after sale/stickers is in parentheses.

1.24 lbs. Angus Bottom Round Steak for 6.19-$2 Instant Sticker=$4.19 ($3.38 lb.)
2 x Marinated Chicken Breasts(4.62 lbs.)for $6.14 total-2 x $2 Instant Stickers=$2.14 (.46¢ lb.)
.84 lb. Angus Cube Steaks on sale for $4.52=$2 Instant Sticker=$2.52 ($3 lb.)
2 x packages Uncured/No Preservatives Hot Dogs on sale for $8 total- 2 x $2 Instant Stickers=$4 (.25¢ per hot dog)

$12.85 spent OOP on $24.85 worth of meats.
Savings rate of 48.29%.
8-)


I don't go to Target very often, maybe twice a year, but Hubs and I went on Monday.
Target had a Spend $50 on Food/Get a $10 Gift Card Deal that was only for Sunday or Monday of Labor Day Weekend and I wanted to see the damage I could do. ;-)

I used sales, coupons, instant meat discount stickers, rebates and a free(cashed in credit card points)$50 Target gift card and bought what's pictured below.......

4 x Tyson Chicken Tenders(on sale $4.99)=$19.96
2 x State Fair Corn Dogs(on sale $6.69)=$13.38
2 x Market Pantry Apple Juice(after 5% off Cartwheel $1.70 ea.)=$3.40
2 x Crunch Master Crackers(on sale $2.50)=$5.00
3 x 8 oz. Cheese Chunks(on sale $2 ea.)=$6.00
2 x 1 lb. 73% Ground Beef($3.79 ea.)=$7.58
1 x 2 lb. 93% Ground Beef=$10.49
1 x 1.5 lb. Stew Beef Cubes=$8.99
Sub Total..........$74.80

Coupons and Discount Stickers
4 x $1/1 Tyson Chicken product IPQ=$4.00
2 x .55¢/1 State Fair product IPQ=$1.10
2 x $1/1 CrunchMaster product IPQ=$2.00
2 x $1 Instant Meat Sticker=$2.00
1 x $5 Instant Meat Sticker=$5.00
1 x $4 Instant Meat Sticker=$4.00
Total........$18.10

$74.80-$18.10=$56.70

I used my free $50 Target gift card and paid $6.70 OOP.  8-)))

Total saved was $46.23 + $50 on free gift card turns this into $96.23 saved, or a 94.60% savings rate.


I earned $25 in new Target gift cards--1 x $10 for Buying $50 of food in one transaction, 3 x $5 for buying 2 frozen meat products(4 x Tyson, 2 x State Fair).

Plus I earned a $1.50 Checkout51 cash Rebate for buying 2 boxes of Crunch Master crackers.

So in the end I brought home all that food and am out $5.20 cash and have $25 in new Target gift cards for later.

The breaded chicken was for the BF(and for emergency meals when I can't cook), the corn dogs and apple juice also for the BF.  The cheese was because, well, you can't live without cheeses, the crackers to pair with cheese, and all that meat-I'll blend the 73% and 93% and make meatballs to put into the freezer for later and the stewing beef will become chili one night soon when the weather cools off some more.

After meat sticker discounts, the 73% Ground Beef came to $2.79 lb., the 93% GB came to $2.25 lb. and the Stewing Beef came to $3.32 lb.  Of course I paid with a free gift card so the whole lot cost me pennies in the end. 8-)

I bring a calculator when food shopping and regularly calculate the cost per oz./lb. for meats/seafood.  It can help your food budget to have clear limits on how much you willingly pay for things(this is why you keep a price book too).   A hunk of meat may seem like a good deal on the surface, even with an instant meat discount sticker on it, but until you know exactly how much you are paying, you really don't know if in fact it IS a deal.  The 93% was an amazing deal at $2.25 lb. while the Stewing Beef was an ok deal at $3.32 lb.

As for the gift cards earned....
I'll add this $25 in new gift cards to the $30 in Target gift cards I have stashed at home(that were earned for deals while spending other Target gift cards earned with c/c points)and that's $55 in free gift cards I currently have tucked away for Christmas.

Since it's past Labor Day I need to drag out the Xmas box and go through to assess where I am at in the "acquiring process" for Holiday gifties.  After buying a few things while on vacation in August I should be mostly done with gifts.  Now it's a question of where to find the cash component without pulling from regular income for that.
More on all that later.......

I just had to share these Weis and Targets trip as I thought I did so well. ;-)

Sluggy