Secret deals at Target! Secret deals at Target!

Yeah, thought that would get your attention. Much as I want to be all high-minded about avoiding big box stores and their aisles of cheap Chinese crap, I'm totally Target's bitch and I'm willing to bet given the hordes of fellow parents I see there who would typically not be caught dead in a discount store, you are too. Cute kid's clothes! Fashionable shoes and clothes for you! Well-designed housewares! What is not to like?

So I found this post on Wise Bread and got, I confess, just a little tingly.

It lays out what goes on clearance when – for example, today, Thursday, is housewares, lingerie, shoes and sporting goods, among other things. Kid's clothes get marked down on Mondays and toys on Wednesdays.

Target sometimes marks things down in some stores and not others, or puts items on clearance that aren’t tagged as such. A quick scan with those self-scanner thingies they have everywhere can reveal a bargain and is worth a shot if it's something you want but aren’t sure you want to pay full price for.

I can attest to the fact there are deals to be had if you search the endcaps – we scored the Sit-and-Stand stroller we'd wanted anyway for like $85 by catching it on clearance, and it wasn't on clearance anywhere else or on their website. It's normally $125 or so.

There are apparently whole web forums devoted to catching the secret deals, according to Lindsey at Wise Bread. Hmmmm….

Photo: MSNBC.com