March is the time to buy…

Certain times of the year are the best times to buy various things based on sales and availability. Here is your tip sheet for this month:

∞ Certain fruits: grapefruit, oranges, pineapple, and strawberries

∞ Certain vegetables: broccoli and rhubarb

∞ Frozen foods: March is National Frozen Food Month (I didn’t know there was such a thing.) That means you will find lots of coupons this month for frozen foods. That means good sales, too.

∞ Furnace: Spring and Fall are the best times to replace your furnace. This is because during winter and summer, contractors are busy with heating and cooling calls. They offer good deals during their non-busy seasons.

∞ Jewelry: January, March, April, July, August, and September (the non-gift giving months), are when stores offer their real sales on merchandise.

∞ Sandals: Retailers start making their first round of markdowns on spring shoes now.

∞ Snowblowers: The large home improvement stores want to get these out of their stores to make room for new seasonal merchandise.

∞ Televisions: The latest in models that are introduced in January will ship in March, which means big sales on the older ones.

∞ Thrift store deals: Spring is the best time to shop at thrift markets because people are spring cleaning. Some may choose to sell their wares at garage sales, while others take them straight to a resale or thrift shop. If the stores get really crowded with merchandise, store owners will mark down items, especially winter pieces.

∞ Video games: The new titles come out during the holidays, so after the holiday season, video games often go on sale. The sales may go from January to March.

Sources:
– “Buy Ketchup in May and Fly at Noon: A Guide to the Best Time to Buy This, Do That, and Go There” by Mark Di Vincenzo
– “Your Month-to-Month Guide to Shopping Deals” from Real Simple Magazine.

Related articles:

• The Difficulty in Recycling Frozen Food Boxes (1800recycling.com)
• March – Great month for Savings (savingminnesota.com)