If you have kids, this is the month to do your back-to-school
shopping. You can find deals on school supplies, apparel and dorm
furniture. And 16 states will have sales-tax holidays in August --
12 are this weekend (see our
sales-tax holiday guide
).
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In addition to deals on back-to-school items, you'll find
discounts on several seasonal items. Here's what you can expect to
find on sale in August -- and what you should wait a little longer
to buy, according to
dealnews.com
, which analyzes deals from past years to predict what will be
discounted this year.
Best buys
Laptop bundles.
Some retailers may offer two-for-the-price-of-one deals on laptops
and consoles or laptops and printers. Be aware that to get these
back-to-school deals, you might have to have a .edu e-mail address.
However, deals from Newegg.com, OfficeMax and the Sony Store don't
require any credentials.
Grills.
Look for retailers such as Ace Hardware, hhgregg, Home Depot,
Lowe's, Sears and Walmart to slash prices on grills. As fall
approaches and the temperatures drop, this could be the perfect
time to buy a grill.
Summer apparel.
Retailers will dramatically mark down summer apparel as they try to
make room for fall clothes. Last year, the best deals came from
Converse, Dickies, Eddie Bauer, French Connection, Kenneth Cole,
Nautica, Old Navy and Patagonia.
Swimwear.
Retailers will clear out their inventory this month, so expect
retailers such as Kohl's, Land's End and Victoria's Secret to have
discounts of up to 70% on swimwear.
Cruises.
Carnival Cruises has been offering some of the lowest prices on
Caribbean cruises. Expect discounts this month as the hurricane
season hits it peak.
Purchases to avoid
Patio sets.
You'll see sales on patio furniture this month, but the best deals
will be in September and October -- at which time it might actually
be cool enough to enjoy spending time outside.
Kindle Fire.
There are rumors that Amazon will be releasing the Kindle Fire 2
soon, so dealnews.com expect the price on the Kindle Fire to drop
to at least $169 (from $199) when the new version hits stores.
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