Buying From Target.com - Maximizing Spending

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I've talked about buying from Target.com before, but I made a new order tonight and I have a little extra information here (hint- It's at the very end) so bear with me.


My family spends a lot of money at target.  At this point, we buy diapers and wipes for two sets of children and baby formula.  All that adds up big.


Here are my steps for maximizing my savings:

• Target Red Card - 5% off and free shipping with no minimums.  As I will explain, I pretty much never use this card anymore, but I still get the extra 5% discount.
• Taking Charge of Education - Pick your favorite school and Target will donate an additional 1% of your purchase to that school.  If you have no school, please pick Jewish Heritage in Amherst NY.  School ID 118518.  They have a small budget so every dollar matters.
• Buy Gift Cards 
• I am consistently checking giftcardgranny.com for discounted target cards, which is a aggregate site for websites that sell discounted gift cards.  I will usually buy anything better than 4%, but let's assume 4%. Tonight I was able to buy it for 6.7% discount.  Here is a picture of it after I already bought it.

• Top Cashback - Most of the time, GiftCardGranny will report that Raise.com has the best value.  I know that if I go to Top Cashback first, I will get extra cashback.  Right now it is at 2% so my 6.7% from Raise was really 8.7%.
• Credit Card for Gift Card - You get your normal rewards from your credit card when you buy the discounted gift card.  Unfortunately, Raise.com does not accept American Express so I can't get 2% back so I am stuck with only 1.5% back.  8.7% just became 10.2%
• Paying at Target.com - my Target Red Card is connected to my Target.com account. I assume this happened when I saved the card for future purchases, but I'm not positive.  Since the Red Card is connected, I get 5% off and free shipping even when I use a gift card for the entire purchase!  I get the benefit of the Red Card without ever using it!.  10.2% has now become 15.2% with free shipping!  Savings like a Boss!