January is a great time to reevaluate your habits and choices, and while many set goals related to health and fitness, there are plenty of others who choose to focus on their financial health instead. In fact, the 2022 Forbes Advisor-Ipsos survey found that consumers are curbing their spending.
In case any of you are working on improving your financial fitness this year, I thought it would be a great time to freshen up some of my best money-saving tips for savvy shopping! And one way to get the best possible deal on the things you need (and the things you want, for that matter!) is to buy them at the right time.
So today I’ll be sharing a list of items that are best to buy during the month of January. And here’s to us all becoming savvier shoppers and better bargain hunters this year! :-)
For more monthly buying guides, check back in around the beginning of each month throughout 2021!
January Is The Best Month To Buy…
1. Holiday Decor & Gift Wrap
If you’re in need of new holiday decorations, or you depleted your stash of wrapping paper, January is a great time to stock up. You’ll find steep discounts on holiday items at almost every store, so you can get everything you need for next year at a fraction of the cost. (The only problem will be finding somewhere to store it for the next 11 months!) ;-)
Related: Kraft Paper Christmas Decor
2. Linens
In January of 1878, American merchant and marketer John Wanamaker pioneered the first “White Sale” on white linen bed sheets. His sale made a lasting impression, because over 140 years later, January is still the best time to find deals on bed linens!
If you’ve been thinking about replacing your bed sheets or upgrading your duvet cover, now is a great time to do it. (But don’t worry—you’ll have plenty more color options to choose from than just white!) :-)
3. Toys
A lot of stores stock way up on toys during the holidays. Once the holidays are over, they offer steep discounts on unsold toys to make room for other items.
If you have kids or grandkids, this month is a great time to stock up on toys for future birthday presents (or even next year’s Christmas presents!)
4. Exercise Equipment & Scales
At the beginning of every year, scores of people resolve to lose weight or get fit. Retailers know this all too well, and seek to make the most of it by offering great deals on health and fitness items throughout the month of January.
Look for great prices this month on things like treadmills, ellipticals, weight sets, and of course, bathroom scales.
5. Winter Clothing & Sports Gear
A lot of people stock up on winter gear at the end of the year, but you can find some great deals if you hold out until January. Expect to find sales and discounts on snow clothes, gloves and hats, goggles, and ski and snowboarding equipment.
6. Flooring & Carpeting
If you’ve been dreaming about putting in new floors or carpets, January is a great time to buy! A lot of people spring for these items in preparation for holiday entertaining, so you can find some great deals and discounts at the beginning of the year.
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7. Video Games
A lot of video game releases are timed for the end of the year to coincide with the holidays. But if you wait until January, you can find sales and discounts on even the season’s hottest video games!
8. TVs
If you’ve been waiting for a great deal to upgrade your old TV, it’s a good time to start looking! You’ll find deals on TVs of any size with all the latest tech, like Smart TVs, 4K resolution, and more.
9. Suits
January is a great time to save money on professional attire like suits. It tends to be a slow month for suit sales, so you can benefit from the retailer’s sales and discounts. (Even if you won’t have to wear it for a while, it’s always good to be prepared!)
10. Cars
And finally, if you’ve been thinking about upgrading your ride, January can be a great time to do it! A new year means a new model year for cars, so many dealerships will start offering deals and incentives on cars from the last model year. (Yes, even on cars that are still brand new!)
Which deals are you looking forward to this month?
We got an amazing deal on our SUV when we bought it in January years ago. We actually tried to buy the same SUV over a month earlier and they wouldn’t deal on the price. When we got it in January it was still brand new, only had single digit test drive mileage on it & it was the very last of the previous year model on the lot, so they were ready to deal. My Mom worked as the office manager & title clerk of a dealership for 30 years. She always saw the invoices & new exactly how much they paid for a vehicle since she processed all the paperwork. When we were young adults buying our first cars without our parents she said to always offer 25% less than asking price as a starting point in the negotiations & that the later in the year it got (or like in our case, early the next year when they needed to get rid of the previous year models) the better the deal for the buyer. She said that how many cars a dealership sales this year determines how many new cars they are sent to sale the following year, so always go for the oldest cars on the lot for the best deals.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.What are the 11months left?
Please log in or create a free account to comment.We’ll be posting a similar post on the first of each month this year!
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Another caveat when purchasing a new car is that the salesperson from whom you bought your last two new cars, now thinks that “you belong to him or her.” They will not give you the best deal as they think that you “consider them your friend.” If you cannot dicker with that former salesperson, go to a different franchise, we did when we bought our last Honda and saved $2,700. When the former salesperson seemed “disappointed” she said that “she could have given us a good deal, and would have taken the money from someone else?.” We did not want her to overcharge anyone to give us a “deal.” The issue with our former salesperson is that she works for a small franchise in a small town. If you buy a car and can drive a bit longer pick a franchise in a large city with many car dealerships as there is more competition.
So when is the best time to buy a new mattress? These old bones been begging for one for quite a while
Please log in or create a free account to comment.May is generally the best month for mattress prices, but there are also deals around President’s Day, Labor Day, and Memorial Day :-)
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Thank you. My body thank you too
Hi Jillian,
Let me start by saying that I am in Canada, not sure where you are. I love your blog but I do have to comment on one item you have on here today. I was in the auto industry for 10 years. New Model years on vehicles start to come out in about Feb or Mar. So this year you will see 2019 model year start in Feb or Mar. The auto makers stagger the new model year through the whole of the year. All the the 2018 Model year vehicles are already out (or most of them anyway). If you are looking for a great deal in January you have to be ready to take whatever color and trim they might have left. I usually buy my vehicles in October. Still a decent choice of colour. I always get 0% financing so I can use someone elses money for 5 to 7 years, this way I keep my capital to invest elsewhere and earn. If you are in the States I do not know about the financing aspect of a vehicle purchase.
Dawn
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Thanks. That’s an awesome tip!
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Great ideas. At our house the chocolate would be gone long before then. Where we live there used to be Russell Stover outlet stores not far from us. My folks would go stock up on the candy when they would mark them 50% or more off. They would go other holidays like after Valentines, Easter, etc. The outlet stores have since closed down.Wrapping paper and Christmas cards are also good to stock up on. Not sure if my mom bought any this year after Christmas.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Hi, great ideas, but doesn’t the chocolates or truffles have an expiration date? I am always worried, that they may get expired before the next holiday season.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.You are keeping them for a year!?! The power to just keep them frozen or refrigerated cancels out your savings!
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Don’t be foolish — your refrigerator or freezer is already connected to a power source and running (I hope), so I really don’t believe that a couple of boxes of chocolates would cost anything above what you already are using for other foods.
ROFL, I tried that ploy and found that chocolate tastes great when it is frozen. I .especially like that dark chocolate and I am told it is “good for you.” I like that idea.
They do put a expiration date on the chocolate. But it will still be good a year later. I worked at a chocolate candy maker one year. They had outlets all over the county. The boxes that had expired were sent back to the factory and put in the vats to be melted back down and reused. Chocolate kept in the fridge or freezer may have a gray coating, but it doesn’t effect the taste or safety at all. And yes, I gained three pounds in the two months I worked there.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Hai… tomorrow 2nd of January I will take some of my friends to a shopping trip to two specific supermarkets, to stock up on half price luxury chocolates, winter truffles, some gifts. And above all the leftover boxes of ‘marrons glacés”, the ultimate luxurious sugary chestnuts, that are so expensive that in our Belgian chocolate shops they are sold by the piece. It is also stuff that has a really long shelf life.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Why ‘specific’ shops? When I discovered this in a Delhaize store (compare it to Walmart), I went to check on two of my local same brand shops… and they had nothing, nada except for some stale lettuces ;-((. So it is regional, and some stock up more on luxury goods to serve a more wealthy regional clientèle. The other one is because I saw on Saturday the 30 th that they still had a LOT of fancy patés etc. And it is always a calm supermarket, in a less wealthy town. So sure there will be some tasty leftovers for us ;-))
Hi, great ideas, but doesn’t the chocolates or truffles have an expiration date? I am always worried, that they may get expired before the next holiday season.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Yes there is an expiration date. Though I think the point of buying holiday chocolates on discount is to enjoy them much sooner than a year from now, rather than keep for the following year’s holiday. Yesterday I found a selection that was marked “75% off” which is great since it’s chocolate I would be eating anyway and at a really low cost! No big deal that it has holiday themed packaging.