What to buy now until the end of the year!
Well here’s something that might cheer you up: The last 4 months of the year is the BEST time to shop. Whether you want to increase your stockpile, get home décor, electronics, stock up on supplies for your office, holiday gifts or just get something for yourself, this is the time of the year to do it!
September Sales
Starting as early as the end of August, the back-to-school sales will be in full force. Stuff for breakfasts and lunch boxes will be the BIG DEALS at the grocery store. Keep your eyes out…. My suggestion, buy as much as you can! A lot of this stuff has a long shelf like. Make sure you check the expirations dates though. Next HIDE it! If your kids are anything like mine they will eat everything in sight! If you keep it out and tell them it’s for their lunches they will nag you until you give in. (Well I always did …..Anything to get them to stop whining… 🙂 )
Labor Day will be your last chance to get really good prices on anything barbecue related. This includes barbecue sauce, condiments, marinates and salad dressing. This will also be the best time to stock up on soda as this will most likely be the lowest prices we will see them at for a while.
Right after Labor Day, I really do mean that Tuesday, get your summer clearance items. As you know Labor Day is the unofficial end of summer and retailers want that stuff gone! (They are already making space for Christmas and Halloween stuff is probably up taking up room too..) You can stock up, summer toys, pool related items, coolers, outdoor furniture, lawn mowers, grills and sunscreen. You can probably buy your next year’s supply of sunscreen as they are usually good for two years. Make sure you check the expiration dates.
By the end of September all the back to school stuff will go on clearance. Think next year and your home office. Or, if you have a college student, like me, next semester. This stuff will be much more expensive in January. There will be no back to school deals then and the clearance will be long gone…
Also you might want to pick up a spare back-pack or lunch box. They will be so cheap it would be nice to have spares if your kid loses theirs, especially the lunch box. I can’t tell you how many times my kids have left theirs on the bus or at extended dayl!!
Apples, Apples and Apples. Did I mention Apples? 🙂 This is the best time of the year for apple anything. If you keep them in the refrigerator, they can last 6-8 weeks! Perfect to use for your Thanksgiving baking.
October Sales
I didn’t mention this earlier, but it’s also the time to buy anything Pumpkin flavored. In fact this probably started in August… It definitely a fall thing so make sure you stock up now while there is still a variety of products left. If you are daring, you could wait until November when it’ll all be on clearance. They need to unload it to make way for everything peppermint, sugar cookie and gingerbread flavored!
The back-to-school related clearance will continue. You will find the best deals on clearance dorm items now including bedding and bath stuff. If you wanted to do a bedroom over in your house or spruce up your linens for the holiday season, take advantage of the low prices now.
If any stores still have any summer inventory left, scoop it up NOW. They are dying to get rid of it at this point and the prices will be at the lowest ever!
November Sales
Get your discounted Halloween candy and any decorations you want for next year. I like to buy the Halloween candy and use it in my kids Christmas stockings. Candy is candy, right? I don’t feel like candy for Christmas HAS to be red and green. If you want it to be, wrap.it in the red cellophane you bought right after Valentine’s Day. (You did buy it, right?)
Turkeys! If your family loves turkey all year long, buy a few now. Most stores will do anything to beat their competitors so you will find it at the lowest price this time of year. According to Butterball, you can store an unopened turkey in your freezer for up to 2 years! (I don’t recommend doing that though. They take up A LOT of freezer space. You need that space for frozen food month in March!)
This is also the best time to buy all Thanksgiving items and stock up on them to use throughout the year. This includes, gravy, cranberry sauce, stuffing, yams, fried onions, boxed potatoes, etc,
Baking sales will also be in full swing. Stock up now on the best prices of sugar, flour, cake mixes, brownie mixes, chocolate chips etc.
Then we get to the holy grail of sales at the end of the month. Have you ever heard of Black Friday? Well according to this site’s owner, this day should be a national holiday… Black Friday is a whole different topic unto itself. So I will leave out the details here and refer you to this HERE. The one thing I will say about Black Friday, Don’t forget the drug stores. They usually have a TON of freebies before and after!
December Sales
Get all your discounted Thanksgiving themed items now. Stores as more than eager to get rid of this stuff to make way for MORE Christmas stuff. There will be BIG discounts on anything Thankgiving themed food and drinks. It’s still good, just has a Thanksgiving theme. Do you really care?
Pretty much anything you can think of will be on sale in December. Retails will do anything to lure you in for the holiday sales. Make sure you check all the competitors before purchasing something large or you will kick yourself later! Most large retailers have price matching guarantees.
Take advantage of gift card promotions. A lot of places will give you incentives to buy their GC’s for people on your holiday list. For example, Chipotle was offering a free burrito for buying a gift card of $25 or more. Well you just got yourself a gift you had to get anyway and a free burrito for yourself. SCORE!
As far as grocery items. Baking items will still be the big thing along with Christmas dinner items both similar to the Thanksgiving sales in November.
At the end of the month, stock up on clearance Christmas EVERYTHING, including candy and decorations. Also look for clearance napkins, plates, paper towels all in holiday patterns. Do you really care if you use a napkin that has a Christmas tree on it in March? I wouldn’t for the price we are going to pay.
And just in time for New Year’s Eve, look for great deals on champagne. Liquor stores will sell it dirt cheap just to get you in the store. They think you will buy other things to offset the cheap price they are selling it for. I guess they don’t know us. Just cheap champagne for me please….
Now use that that champagne to toast in the New Year and to yourself for finding all the great bargains the last few months!
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