Hi! Thanks for the sale guidlines! It is very helpful. For those who have a Family Dollar by them, the best days to get the best deals are Tuesdays and Wednesdays. They usually have carts full of stuff marked down cheap!

Daily Markdowns – In addition to the odd lot items that may be lurking among the regular merchandise and could be haphazardly stashed at the end caps, Target has a system for marking down their merchandise weekly:

Monday - Electronics, Kids Clothing and Stationary (Cards, GiftWrap, etc.)
Tuesday - Domestics, Women's Clothing, Pets and Market (food items)
Wednesday - Men's Clothing, Toys, Lawn & Garden, Health and Beauty items
Thursday - House Wares, Lingerie, Sporting Goods, Shoes, Music / Movies, Books, Decor and Luggage
Friday - Auto, Cosmetics, Hardware, and Jewelry

By closely following the markdown schedule, and hitting the stores early in the morning, it is possible to get what you want before anyone else knows about it. (We often hit the food items on Tuesday morning and come home with armloads of canned goods, boxed dinner kits, and gourmet juices for pennies!)

Holiday Deals – Target participates in a generous markdown after major holidays, as well. Clothing is at a fabulous price during their after-holiday clearance, with many Valentines or Independence Day t-shirts for under a buck. (By picking some generic prints and designs, they can be worn year-round.) Their holiday markdown schedule is usually as follows (with the exception of Christmas, which can vary):

50% off the day after holiday for three days
75% off the fourth day after holiday for three days
90% off the seventh day after holiday for 1-2 days.

Some additional points to note about Target shopping:

If you find an item at 75% off, and you want it, don’t let it get away! They rarely mark down non-holiday items below this discount.
If it the price ends in the number 4, you may be looking at your last chance to buy.

At Costco, if the price ends in .97 it's on clearance. I love the .97!

Macy's starts their markdowns on Sunday. Their goal is to be at 100% marked down by Wednesday, close of business. Once you see things at 75% off, you should get it, as it will rarely go any lower, since the next week they will box it up and ship it out to their clearance stores.

FYI...all former May Department stores and all Federated Department stores are on this same markdown schedule.

I heard from a former co-worker who worked at Target parttime that women's winter clothing is clearanced on the 23rd of December. She said that is the time to go shopping for yourself. This was a few years ago. We are in MN so not sure if it still is clearanced at that time or if it was just her store that did it that way....

Wal*Mart has price changes EVERYDAY.......no rhyme or reason that I can see.

Thank you for you'r info. I worked at Target for over a year and still did not figure out their schedule. This will help ALOT. p.s. get to know the people at you'r local stores, it was great talking to cusomers on the phone and in person. The more I got to know you as a guest at Target the more I would do for you. I miss working at Target they were a great group to work with. (Target, West St.Paul, MN.)

Another thing about clearance @ Target. Once the items are marked down to 75% off, a week or so later the items will be taken down, boxed up and shipped to a GOODWILL store near that Target, or other places like the salvation army. As soon as they start transitioning, or taking down parts of department for the new season merchandise, you will now know were the items go.

Just a note, our target sends clearance items to Goodwill and pricing as it is at our Goodwill, you can actually end up paying more for clothing items. It is best to keep an eye on those clearance racks.

Hi everyone! I'm new to the site...like what I see so far! I wanted to input that Gap (kids and baby) marks their stuff down about every two weeks. Even brand new stuff..I fell in love with these cute beach roll up pants for my boys, but I was not about to pay $39.99 a piece. I waited and went back about 3 weeks later and got them for $12.99 each. They have got some GREAT turquoise girl stuff on sale now and I'm going tomorrow to see if it has comedown anymore.
Also, if the price ends in .97 it will not be marked down any lower.