In a lot of ways, the first winter months are like Tuesdays; you tend not to have “wild Tuesday nights” where you go out and get crazy and spend a lot of money. Tuesday has typically been the slowest day of the week when it comes to leisure spending, which is why restaurants and movie theaters often have Tuesday specials to lure you out. January and February are similar; people blew their budgets and waistlines over the holidays and spend the first few months of the year recovering, being a little more sensible and paying back credit card debt. (Well, that’s the theory, anyway.) And it’s for that reason that some of the best deals in home improvement, home furnishings and tools can often be found across the board in these months-of-the-doldrums; retailers are just dying for you to part with your dough again. Care to know what’s for sale this season? Here’s our list!
We turned to Lifehacker’s The Best Time To Buy Anything in 2012 for the scoop. Here are some items specific to around-the-home improvements:
- Gas Grills & Air Conditioners. These are obviously off-season and if you can find some in stores, they’re likely marked way down to remove them from inventory. You can see the prices for yourself right now at Amazon – check out this Char-Broil grill for $149, for example. Your local hardware or home improvement store likely have even better sales.
- Carpeting & Flooring. Shopping trends indicate that people try to get their flooring in before the holidays (often in preparation for having holiday guests!), which makes the period immediately afterward rather sluggish. Deals are a-plenty to get homeowners interested again. A quick spin around the web confirms this, where I found flooring on clearance by as much as 79% off.
- Furniture. February often marks the release of new furniture and styles in stores, so if you’re looking for a trendy refresh, you’ll soon be seeing whatever strangely-named thing from IKEA everyone will soon have. However, if a deal is what you’re after, end-of-January is where the sales are at. (The stores have to clear things out before they can bring in all those new KLÜRFs and VØØGRLENIs – and you might as well reap the rewards of that!) Take a look at furniture websites today to see all the “New Lower Price” stickers and sales.
- HDTVs & Home Theater Gear. If that archaic tube television of yours is on its last channel, so to speak, the time to upgrade is now. (Yeah, they really do put TVs on sale right before the superbowl – I googled ‘superbowl’ right now and the first thing that came up was an ad for a Sharp AQUOS 80″ Class TV!) Not only that, but many electronics stores offer generous no-interest financing plans to sweeten the deal – like at Sony Store.
- Linens & Bedding. January is known as the time for “white sales” – when bedding and towels are greatly discounted (and no, you don’t have to stick to white sheets! Any color goes!). We spotted pillows and blankets at JCPenney reduced by 60% – not too shabby!
- Gardening Tools. The seed catalogs have been out since late November and early December, and now gardening stores are hoping to entice the eager beavers with some tool deals. If you’ve spent the holidays with visions of gardening in your head, you can get closer to that dream from now until March with garden tool deals.
Have you found any great deals this winter? Let us know in the comments!
