WASHINGTON, DC (WUSA9) -- It's that familiar shopping shuffle. The holidays are just around the corner, and the mad dash to get the perfect gift is already underway.
"I usually start in the summer and I'm done before Thanksgiving," says one shopper.
Another shopper says, "I kinda know what I want when I come out looking."
But what you see on a price tag may not tell its full story.
"Did you know there's a way to crack the code at different stores to get a good deal?" says anchor and consumer correspondent Lesli Foster.
"No, I didn't. You're going to have to share," this shopper says.
For answers, we turn to savings guru and Rather Be Shopping blogger Kyle James. He says there is a better way to get to the "real" deals. We start at Target.
"Let's says a bunch of an item that you like is 15% off. Well, a Target employee told me that in seven to 10 days, they will do their own markdown," James says.
The key is to look for the sticker on clearance items with a small number in the corner, that's the discount. Target cuts its sale items by 15, 30, 50, 70 up to 90 percent off.
James says, "If you're shopping early December or even Black Friday and they have a ton of something. If you wait and come back, you know, it's gonna be cheaper,"
At Old Navy or Gap, he says if the price ends in 47, 49, 97 or 99, it's a discounted or clearance price.
"They're famous for having these Black Friday clearance coupons or Cyber wide sales. So, if you go in there on Black Friday or Black Friday weekend, you can save like 70, 80 percent," says James.
If it's office supplies you need, he says you can rack up the savings at Office Depot. That's where they do four different markdowns. Prices ending in 1, like 31, it's the first discount, ends in 2, it's the second, 3 the third and 4 is the final clearance price.
What does he tell people who say, you know what, this is just a little too much work.
James says, "If you like paying full price, then you know, don't do the work. But, the coolest thing about this is, it doesn't take too much time."
You may not enjoy the extra work around holiday shopping, but everyone enjoys saving money.
