Because of a favorably located meeting this morning, I had the opportunity to make a few stops and still make it to work on time. First, I ran into Target. Over the weekend, my husband brought home a big bottle of our laundry detergent that, I noticed, happened to be on 30% clearance.

I thought perhaps I would find a few more bottles at that great price, but I’ve also been hearing about some crazy good finds (A color printer for $20? A double stroller for $30?) so I basically cruised the clearance end caps in a few departments and found something fantastic! We’ve had a Panasonic cordless phone set we’ve loved for years but have always wanted a 3rd handset. I found this:

The original Target price was $119.00, the clearance price was $29.99, and when I paid I got a $5/$50 coupon that printed with my receipt. (You can get the same phone for $71 at Amazon right now, if you’re in the market. And unfortunately, the laundry detergent has mysteriously returned to its normal price.)

My next stop was our local department store, where I happened to be about 4th in line for the big cosmetics class action settlement. I got my free Clinique and I was out of there to a neighboring Children’s Place where I returned some holiday sleepers we got as gifts for a larger size. (Why am I buying 12-18m items for my babies? Where has the time gone?) I owed them $0.43 in order to get the sleepers in the patterns I wanted.

I was happy, for obvious reasons, but also because I had three really painless transactions for things I could really use. I got $200+ worth of merchandise for $30.42 (or $25.42 if you factor in the coupon that printed), too. If you have the discipline not to blow your budget or buy things you don’t really need, it looks like Target stores are indeed full of good finds.