1. I have a friend who refers to Target as the $100 Store. She says she can go in with the intention of picking up a prescription and buying toothpaste, and she'll come out with an extra bag of groceries, a new shirt and -- as others have said -- unnecessary household crap. It always costs her $100 to go into the store. Why? Because they are masters of marketing and staging. Their decorations, their sales, the location of things, their music, their clean and wide aisles are all laid out to make you buy.
2. The Catholic Church has a concept -- not being Catholic, I don't know the name of it, but a friend told me about it, and it makes perfect sense: basically, you should avoid places that cause you to sin. So if you're an alcoholic, you should not frequent bars. If you have a problem with pornography, you should not have a computer in a private place. And -- more to the point -- if you overspend in Target, you should stay out of Target. If you know you're going to give in to temptation, just avoid the pace.
3. Has any one read The Tightwad Gazette? It's a bit dated, but it's full of excellent strategies for frugal life. One of the best is the concept of keeping a price book, and it's particularly good at keeping me from spending at the wrong stores The author suggests putting together a loose-leaf notebook listing the prices of all the consumer goods you buy on a regular basis AND their prices at the store near you. It'll take you a good year to complete such book, but here's what kind of information I have discovered:
Food Lion has the best prices overall. They have the best price on frozen chicken / goes on sale OBGOF every six weeks.
Target has the best prices on paper products, especially store brand toilet paper.
Walmart beats them all for canned goods, dried beans, peanut butter, and baking items.
Harris Teeter has excellent sales but awful everyday prices.
I also have entries for the Asian grocery store, a health food store, Aldi's, and a food salvage store.
By having this information recorded -- all specific to my area -- when I go to Target, I know whether an item is a good price or not. Everything that's labeled "on sale" isn't really on sale. When you KNOW that a product is cheaper elsewhere, it's easy to leave it on the shelf.