Teacher's Guide to Shopping at Target

Oh, Target ... how can we have such a love / hate combination going on here? You sell such amazing things and it's so hard for me to walk out of your store without 10 items in my cart, yet my bank account only suffers (although, I'm quite sure this doesn't just happen to me).

I've got news for you though, Tar-jay. I'm on to you. I know your game. I know how to work your isles and I know the "unofficial" schedule of when things go on clearance. & now I'm prepared to share my ways with the world (well, okay, only a select few people who decide to read this).

First, let's start off with the "unofficial" clearance markdown schedule. This little gem will come in handy, I promise! It's where my Target clearance journey began.

Seems pretty easy, right? For the most part. The best day, that I've found in my area, to check out the new markdowns is Saturday morning before 12-noon. Why? I wish I knew... and another tip -- some stores have better markdowns than other stores. It depends on what they carry in the specific store near you.

The second tip is to stroll the end caps of the isles. It's where most of your clearance items are placed, to make shelf room for newer items. Now not all of the end caps will have clearance items, it's easiest to find the majority of them here.

If you find that you aren't seeing any clearance end caps, then just glance down an isle and look for a red "clearance" tag popping off of the shelf. For each part of the store, there's typically a designated end cap or area where specific stuff goes. For example:

In my favorite clearance Tar-jay, this is where all of the stationary and school-type supplies go (one of my favorite spots!). A nice big sign to show off their markdowns... how convenient.

My last two tips come from The V Spot Blog. Tip 1 is for during the holidays. She says that target runs on a 3 - 3 - 2 holiday clearance schedule. What does that mean? The day after a big holiday (Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Valentine's Day...) good 'ole Tar-jay marks down the holiday items to 50% off. 3 days later, 70%. 2 days later, 90%. She even said that after that, if it doesn't sell it goes to the Goodwill.

Tip two from The V Spot Blog will help you notice if an item is marked down all the way or not. Rule of thumb, if the price ends in a 4, it's done being marked down. Usually the first and second markdowns end in a 8... so try and wait for that 4, unless you just have to have it (which I typically do!).

What are your favorite places to shop? Do you have any tips to shopping at Target?