Target is insane on Saturdays and Sundays. For a long time, D.C. did not have a Target, and my Target was the closest one to the District. Now D.C. does have a Target, in Columbia Heights, but this Target still draws quite a few D.C. shoppers in addition to the teeming masses of Northern Virginians such as myself.
Thus, fearing the stampede that is Target on a weekend, I decided to do my shopping on Friday night. Yes, I have a life, why do you ask? Harumph. Anyway, here is my haul.
Since I needed a bunch of stuff this week that wasn’t on sale at any of the grocery stores, I thought I would test the hypothesis that Target would be a cheaper place to get it, even without doubled coupon magic.
- Drano, $3.89, minus coupon for 55 cents off = $3.34
- ReaLemon lemon juice, $1.77
- Market Pantry (Target brand) potatoes, five-pound bag, sale $1 (!)
- Sweet Baby Ray’s BBQ sauce, $1.67
- Kraft mac and cheese, three boxes at 87 cents each
- Herdez salsa, two jars, sale $1.79 each
- Market Pantry tortillas, eight big ones, $1.97
- Market Pantry pasta sauce, two jars, $1.67 each
- Market Pantry powdered sugar, two pounds, $1.84
- Two 12-packs of Pepsi, sale $2.75 each, minus two printable coupons for $1 off each = $1.75 each
- Market Pantry eggs, $1.32 for a dozen
- Market Pantry butter, two pounds, sale $1.99 each
- Up & Up (Target brand) freezer bags, sale $2.19, minus coupon for 50 cents off = $1.69
- Bounty paper towels, sale $5.99, minus coupon for $1 off = $4.99
- Up & Up facial tissues, $1.07, minus coupon for 50 cents off = 57 cents
- Purina cat treats, two bags, sale $1.24 each, minus printable coupon for $1 off two = two for $1.48, or 74 cents each
The total was $38.84, and the receipt told me I saved $16.48, though they don’t break it down much more than that or provide original prices for sale items, so I don’t know where they got that number. Anyway, that’s 30 percent, which … meh. Just for fun, though, I checked Harris Teeter’s website for their cheapest prices on this stuff:
- Drano, $4.99
- Harris Teeter lemon juice, $2.79
- Five-pound bag of potatoes, $3.49
- HT barbecue sauce, $1.17 (Sweet Baby Ray’s was $2.59)
- Kraft mac and cheese, $1.25
- HT salsa, $1.97
- Tortillas, $1.99
- HT pasta sauce, sale $1.18
- Powdered sugar, $1.09 a pound
- Pepsi 12-pack, sale $3.14
- Dozen eggs, $1.99
- Butter, $2.47 a pound
- HT freezer bags, sale $1.37 (far fewer bags, though)
- Sparkle paper towels, eight rolls (same as the Bounty), sale $5.99
- HT tissues, $1.17
- Cat treats, $1.50 each
So with the exception of the barbecue sauce and the pasta sauce, it looks like everything is indeed cheaper at Target, sometimes by quite a lot. In other words, I feel justified in going to Target if the sales aren’t good at HT or other grocery stores. Even if my mad coupon skeelz do not come into play as impressively there.
Also, if you go? Go on Friday night. It’s a veritable oasis of calm in comparison to its normal state. Possibly because everyone in the world has a life but me, but there you go.