I may not talk about it often, but I really love finding ways to save money on the things we buy regularly. I’m NOT a couponer, really, for the sole reason that we hardly ever buy anything that a coupon is offered for. We eat pretty healthily, so most of the things we buy are found around the perimeter of the grocery store…and it’s rare to find coupons for those items (I’m looking at you, fresh produce, eggs, meat…).
With that said, I HAVE found a savings app that I love and that actually saves us money on things we actually buy! Enter Target’s Cartwheel app. I have been using the app casually for several years, but only in the past year or so have I gotten serious about scanning every single item in our cart before entering the checkout line.
Target always has some great sales going on at any moment (like kids shoes are BOGO 50% off right now!), but you can actually save even more on some of those sales with Cartwheel. Clothing and shoes are almost always up there for 20-30% off, lots of makeup, toiletries and household goods, and of course, food as well (though we don’t buy much of that from Target). They definitely offer name-brand deals, but some of the best ways to save are by purchasing anything that is Target brand (up&up, Market Pantry, Simply Balanced, etc.), which are almost always less expensive than their brand-name counterparts anyways. Some of my favorite savings on Cartwheel are (and these vary, but I’ve found these items available pretty often):
- Method foaming hand soap
- Mrs. Meyer’s dish soap and surface cleaner
- Coffee-Mate Natural Bliss creamer
- up&up diapers (great quality – we switched Blair over from Honest Company to these around 15 months old)
- up&up paper towels
- Market Pantry baking supplies (baking powder, sugar, etc.)
- up&up cotton balls & cotton swabs
- La Croix water
- Annie’s Yogurt, Macaroni & Cheese, Cheese Bunnies
Honestly, there’s no reason to NOT use Cartwheel when shopping at Target, since all you need to do is scan the item barcode when you put it in your cart (or you can search for it in the app). FYI, if you don’t want to download the app – you can also visit the desktop site, add the coupon for the items you plan to purchase and print out a custom barcode that can be scanned in the store at checkout.
We’ve saved over $200 on things we would buy ANYWAYS, so I call that a win!
Do you use Cartwheel? Any other awesome money-saving apps I should know about?!
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