My New Favorite Money Saving App: Target Cartwheel

I still remember the day that I learned to do a cartwheel.  I must have been about 5 years old.  My neighbor shared the basics with me: hand, hand, foot, foot.  Pretty simple.  When I finally successfully turned my first cartwheel it was a rush.  It was late on a summer evening, between the lilac bushes that separated my house from my neighbors'.  When I was able to shift my weight from my feet to my hands, and then back again; it was magic, it was exhilarating, and it was addictive. Twenty five years later I still haven't stopping turning cartwheels.  When the snow melts, and the grass is green, you'd better believe that the palms of my hands will be stained green once again.

Today I'm thrilled to teach you a little bit about a different type of cartwheel; one that will be just as magical,  exhilarating,  is going to save you money, and one that is sure to be just as addictive.  Target has recently released a new in-store, money saving app called Cartwheel, and I love it.  

A look at my Cartwheel from my home computer.

I'll explain the basics of how it works.  First off, you can download the app to your smart phone, tablet, laptop, or home computer.  The app is available through Google Play, or the Apple App Store. Once you have the app, you create an account. You can do this using your Target.com account paired with your e-mail, or you can link it to your Facebook account. Should you choose to log in through Facebook, like I did, you don't have to allow Cartwheel to post on your behalf, you can adjust your settings.  

Once you have created your account, you get to choose your coupons.  Cartwheel has over 700 money saving coupons available.  You are able to choose the offers that you want to use, and are add them to your Cartwheel.  Everyone starts out with 10 available coupon spots, but you easily earn more spots, allowing for greater savings.  Cartwheel offers are typically a percent off of specific items.  For example, on my last target trip, I saved 20% off M&M's, 25% off my new shower curtain, 30% off my new vegetable peeler; and 10% off diapers, dish soap, detergent, and toilet paper. Awesome right.  Who doesn't love saving money.

 Once you've selected your Cartwheel offers, you can either print off a computer generated barcode from your laptop or computer, or use a digital barcode on your phone or tablet.  The barcode is scanned at checkout, and your savings are applied to your purchase.

Being able to save a percentage off of products you are already buying is great, but you can make the savings even sweeter. Target allows you to combine your Cartwheel savings with Target coupons, manufacturer's coupons, sale prices, gift card promotions, and by using your Target RED Card for 5% savings. 

Target Cartwheel savings are applied after Target coupons savings, and before manufacturer's coupons.   So, on my recent Target purchase I bought 4 bags of M&M's. They were on sale for 2/$6. I had one Target coupon for $1.50/3 bags, two manufacturer's coupons for $1/2 bags, and my 20% discount from Cartwheel.  Here's a breakdown of the savings

4 bags of M&M's ($3 each)                                        $12

1 Target coupon $1.50/3  (-$1.50)                              $10.50

Cartwheel savings 20%  (-2.10)                                  $8.40

2 Manufacturer's Coupons $1/2 bags  (-$2)                $6.40

Apply RED card savings 5% ($0.32)                         $6.08

                                     Product Total                         $6.08

                                    Total Savings                          $5.92

Another example of price breakdown on my new vegetable peeler.

Vegetable Peeler $7.99

Target Coupon (20% off)(-$1.58)                      $6.39

Cartwheel (30% off $6.39) (-$1.91)                   $4.47

RED card savings (5%) (-$0.22)                        $4.23

                                Product Total                     $4.23

                                Total Savings                     $3.76

Cartwheel offers are also available for multiple uses.  For example, I bought two packages of diapers, scanned my cartwheel barcode, and saved 10% off of each pack.  Then, later that day, I decided I should stock up on more diapers, went back to Target, bought two more mega packs of diapers, saved 10% off of each pack, and earned a $10 gift card with a sales promotion.  Cartwheel offers can be used on 4 items per transaction, and up to six cartwheel transactions per day, so if I had really wanted to stock up on diapers, I could have purchased 24 total packages of diapers in six transactions.  

 One of my favorite features of the Cartwheel app, is that if you have a smart phone you can scan a barcode of an item to see if there is an applicable Cartwheel offer.  For example, I wanted to see if this accent rug had an offer.  There was a 25% off Threshhold area rugs, excluding doormats.  I wasn't sure if the accent rug was considered a doormat.  I scanned the barcode on the sales tag, and found out that it was not included in the offer.  Sad, but a lot better than getting up to check out only to find out that it was an exclusion.

 I may not be an extreme couponer, but in a world where businesses seem to be limiting the number of coupons that can be used, it is nice that Target has found a fun way for us to save even more.

Be sure to download the Cartwheel App to your mobile device, or check them out online at http://cartwheel.target.com.  You'll be happy you did.

Blogher and Target are teaming up  for a $1,000 gift card sweepstakes.  Official rules can be found below.  To enter, simply leave a comment on this post telling me what Target items you purchase most often, or what you like to save money on most.

Sweepstakes Rules:

No duplicate comments.

You may receive (2) total entries by selecting from the following entry methods:

1. Leave a comment in response to the sweepstakes prompt on this post
2. Tweet (public message) about this promotion; including exactly the following unique term in your tweet message: “#SweepstakesEntry”; and leave the URL to that tweet in a comment on this post
3. Blog about this promotion, including a disclosure that you are receiving a sweepstakes entry in exchange for writing the blog post, and leave the URL to that post in a comment on this post
4. For those with no Twitter or blog, read the official rules to learn about an alternate form of entry.

This giveaway is open to US Residents age 18 or older. Winners will be selected via random draw, and will be notified by e-mail. The notification email will come directly from BlogHer via the sweeps@blogher email address. You will have 72 hours to respond; otherwise a new winner will be selected.

The Official Rules are available here.

This sweepstakes runs from 1/30 - 2/28.

Be sure to visit the Target Cartwheel brand page on BlogHer.com where you can read other bloggers’ posts!