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Digging The Deals: What To Buy Where

Does it pay to shop around? According to DailyFinance, you can get better deals on certain things at different big-name retailers.
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"Expect more. Pay less." That's what Target says, anyway. 

But according to a DailyFinance article, you can expect more, but you're probably going to pay more, too — at least for certain things. 

Let's look at items for parents of babies, for example. Take infant formula — let's be real, that stuff is expensive anyway, but you can save a few bucks depending on where you go. 

Target brand's Up & Up baby formula is $23.49 for 40 ounces. It's $20.47 for 35 ounces of Wal-Mart brand formula. Compare that to Costco, which takes the formula cake. It sells three 40-ounce canisters of its name brand for $62.99 — that's about $21 apiece. 

And then you know what happens after babies drink up that formula. You know where it all goes. You're going to need diapers. 

Target's Up & Up diapers are $28.99 for a 128 count. It's $27.94 for 156 of Wal-Mart's Parent's Choice diapers. However, if you use your resources here, the price of that pack of Target diapers be competitive.

You can save an additional 5 percent by using a Target RedCard. That makes Target's diapers $27.54, although you're still not getting as many per pack, since Wal-Mart's has 156 to Target's 128 in size 5. Wal-Mart is still the winner when it comes to price per diaper. 

Target also has a Cartwheel app that offers various coupons. Right now, it's offering 5 percent off Huggies Pull-Ups. 

The brand name is listed as $24.99 for 56. With the coupon, that knocks it down to $23.74. With the RedCard 5 percent savings on top of that, it's $22.55.

The same pack is $24.94 at Wal-Mart without coupons or any special discounts.

So it's possible to make Target cheaper than other retailers; you just might have to work a little harder to get the deals. 

We're starting to feel a little bit like an extreme couponer. 

"The candy retails for 50 cents apiece, but Angelique has a $1-off-two coupon that will get her all 600 packages for free."

Angelique might've owed sales tax, but she still got a steal. We're not that pro ... but at least we could save a couple bucks.

DailyFinance writes Costco basically wins over Target and Wal-Mart when it comes to getting good deals because you can buy in bulk much easier there. Let's take K-Cups, for example:

"If you are a K-cup coffee fanatic, Costco is your destination, with 100 count K-cups for $36.99, as opposed to an 18-count package for $10.99 at Target and $10.98 at Walmart."

The article also suggested shopping for organic food at Trader Joe's, gift wrap and batteries at dollar stores and books and movies from Amazon.