Why You Should Try Target Drive Up Today

This is my personal Target Drive Up review and experience. The good, the what to know before you go and the why you should try Target Drive Up today!

Do you ever wish you had an extra hour or two during the weekend for time with family, friends or even to get work done? As a solo entrepreneur and a mom, I always wish for more hours in the day.

The great news is there is a simple way to reclaim some of your time. If you haven’t tried shopping for your regular household goods online yet my Target Drive Up review is for you.  You are going to thank me!

Why Try Target Drive Up?

When Walmart grocery pick up arrived in my city I tried to use it a couple times. Neither Shipt or Instacart was in my city yet and I had a new baby and a job with A LOT of travel.

The Walmart Grocery app was new and glitchy. I had troubling finding some of the fragrance free household items I wanted and who the heck knows how many pounds of banana you have to buy to get 3 bananas.

The biggest hurdle that I couldn’t get past was that you couldn’t select same day pick up. The concept was so popular and so limited in my city that sometimes it was three days out until a pick up time was available.

That just didn’t work for me.

To be fair, they have since added same day pick up and now let you select fragrance free items, but last I checked they still required a minimum purchase.

You might be wondering what my Walmart Grocery experience has to do with Target Drive Up.

Save Time and Sanity!

I LOVE Target. My preschooler loves Target. I always buy more then what’s on my shopping list at Target.

I had a really hard time getting passed my Walmart Grocery frustrations to give my beloved Target’s Drive Up a try.

And then my daughter turned two.

Have you ever been at Target when you see a mom leave her full cart in the middle of an aisle and exit the store empty handed except for the thrashing screaming toddler in her arms?  Or maybe that’s been you before?

When my daughter hit the stage where her love of shopping turned into crazy temper tantrum shopping I knew I needed to let go of my Walmart Grocery frustrations.

It was time to modernize the way I shopped for household goods. It wasn’t fair to the other shoppers and it wasn’t fair to my daughter.

Shopping Made Simple

When it was time to decide which store or delivery service I should try first I wasn’t sure where to start. There are so many options. My first instinct was to try Sam’s Club, Costco or even Amazon.

The thought of the never-ending pile of delivery boxes kept me from trying those.

Just as I was ready to put automating my errand running on the back burner, my friend Chrysti at Margin Making Mom told me about her Shopping Made Simple workbook.  It has pros and cons of so many of the options. 

I didn’t even know about some of the automated shopping options! Chrysti even includes worksheets to help get organized and save even more time.

I read through Chrysti’s workbook.

Then I finally put aside my fear of missing out on seeing the all the cute stuff Target stocks its shelves with. I’m not the only one with Target FOMO, right?

I joined the modern world and I am so glad I did. Target Drive Up is amazing. I cannot believe it took me this long to buy into the hype.

How Target Drive Up Works

What’s holding you back from trying Target Drive Up? Is it the unknown of a new app or website?

Step 1: Shop Online

It took me just a few minutes on a Friday night to shop – using the regular Target online shopping cart – while my husband and I watched TV.

Step 2: Submit Your Order

Saturday morning before my daughter and I left for a birthday party I submitted my order.

Step 3: Tell Target You Are On Your Way

After the party, I loaded my exhausted daughter into the car and told the Target app we were on our way.

A short drive later – with a now sleeping preschooler in the car – I pulled into Target.

Step 4: Tell Target You’ve Arrived

I told the Target app we were there.  The Target associate came to my car and loaded the trunk with my purchases.

Less then 5 minutes later we were headed home with the shopping done and my daughter still asleep.

Truly shopping made simple.

The next weekend we tried it again at another Target in town.

I did my online ordering again on Friday night and then took my daughter to story & craft time at the library the next morning.

Instead of spending our Saturday morning in Target we did a fun activity together. I even made coffee at home instead of my Saturday splurge at the Target Starbucks.

And again, we were in and out of the Target parking lot in about 5 minutes.

What to Know Before You Go!

To be fair this is a review, and neither of my first pickups were perfect.

Tip #1: Click on your way BEFORE you are at the parking lot.

The associates are given a very short amount of time to grab your bags and get to your car when you tell them you have arrived.

Clicking the “on your way” button before you are turning into the parking lot helps them get to your car in the time allotted.

Tip #2: Double check your bags.

During my first drive up, the associate was moving very quickly and I didn’t realize I needed to double check my order.

I was also eager to keep my daughter asleep so I didn’t ask a lot of questions.

When I got home I realized I ended up with a couple boxes of tissues I didn’t order and without the baby wipes I did order.

During my second drive up the associate was super sweet. I knew when she walked toward my car with only one bag that some items were missing.

She took a couple photos of my order from my phone and within minutes was back out to my car with the rest of my bags.

Tip #3 Always check your email account after you submit your order

Target had sent me an email that baby wipes mentioned above were no longer available. But I didn’t check my email until we were already home and I’d missed it.

Also, there isn’t a way to select a different item or size for that pick up if it’s not available. They will offer to send it to you 2-day free delivery instead.

To pick up a comparable item at the same time you need to submit a second drive up order.

Can you Use Coupons?

I get asked a lot if you can use coupons with Target Drive-up.

You can’t use coupons.

But you can use your Target Red Card for 5% off and Cartwheel has always worked for me. 

Don’t have a Red Card yet? Sign up for your Target Red Card here!

The trade off of not being able to use coupons is that you don’t have an opportunity for in-store impulse purchases.

I saved much more by not even going into the store then I would have using coupons.

And there no cost to use Target drive up. Just shop on the app, drive up and drive away with your Target errand done!

Conclusion

If you’ve been curious or need a little more help to get started with Target Drive Up or another online shopping system, my friend Chrysti at Margin Making Mom put together a great Shopping Made Simple workbook with pros and cons of many options.

She even includes worksheets to help you get organized and save even more time.

Sure I could have figured it out on my own and so can you. But Chrysti’s workbook has all the information and insights in one place, It makes it much easier to take the plunge and change the way you shop.

As for using Target Drive Up for your household goods, it is truly shopping made simple. It’s not only a time saver but a money saver as well.

All you need is to find a few quiet minutes to place your order and then make sure to check the bags when they are loaded into your car.

What will you do with the extra 60-90 minutes you didn’t spend in a store?

If you haven’t tried ordering your household items online what’s stopping you?

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