Raving Toy Maniac

August 1, 2013 - As if the online coupons for the grocery store weren't annoying enough to keep up with, now Target is also doing it. They've added a thing called Cartwheel for more coupon options. If you have it, you can "stack" the Cartwheel discounts with your regular paper coupons and also any Target-issued coupons.

Smartphone users can install the Cartwheel app and then let the cashier scan their phone, or low-tech folks (myself included) can log in via Facebook and then print out a scanner code for the cashier to use. The printout also includes a nice checklist to remind you of what exactly you've loaded onto your account, what the discount it, and when it expires.

I noticed Cartwheel when I was checking their printable coupons for new toy coupons - they had a big banner at the top of the page that all but clicked itself for me.

Much to my lazy delight, Cartwheel's coupons can be browsed by category and they have 32 of them in the toys category, including several for an additional 5% off various action figures. Other toys have larger discounts. Hurry, though, as most of the action figure discounts look like they expire on August 3rd.

Right now, the discounts include: 5% off Classic Marvel toys from Hasbro, 5% off Iron Man 3 toys, 5% off Wolverine toys, 5% off Star Wars masks and lightsabers, 5% off Star Wars Fighter Pods, 5% off Star Wars figures and vehicles, 5% off Spider-Man toys, and 10% off Playskool Heroes figures and vehicles.

You can also have Cartwheel show you the "double dip" deals, coupons on things that are also in their sale ad for the week. Notably, men's graphic tshirts that are in their sale ad have a 25% off Cartwheel coupon available. The shirt pictured in the listing is a Superman logo shirt, so I added it to my checklist.

WARNING FOR FACEBOOK USERS: Dial back your privacy settings for this app, or it will let your friends see what coupons you have chosen. I was a tad startled to see a friend's profile picture show up in app and have it suggest coupons to me based on what they had chosen. Yes, it's Target and there's nothing overly embarrassing to be purchased there, but do you really want to know what brand of shampoo your friends would like to save an extra 5% on?

Good luck to everyone in remembering to use this. I anticipate remembering about as often as I remember to load the ecoupons on to our grocery store loyalty card, which is maybe once every other month.