Secret Sales Schedule Reveals Best Months to Buy Food and Goods

There's a good time to buy something, and there's a great time to buy something. The trick is trying to do most of your shopping when prices are at their lowest point of the year. Surprisingly, it's not as hard as you think. Retailers and grocers use the same sales schedule year after year, so it's easy to plan purchases and save your hard earned cash.

The complete food and non-grocery items sales schedule is posted below, but first, a couple of money saving tips. If you can wait to purchase certain goods and time it to the yearly sales, you'll save a bundle. If you can't wait, try and do as much of your shopping online as possible, you'll almost always get the lowest price, plus if you use a combination of online coupons and cash back, it could easily save a single person or a family thousands of dollars every year, year after year.

My favorite free online resources to save include:

Coupon Mom - this wonderful site will show you how to save hundreds of dollars every month on your grocery bill. Step by step guides on how to match weekly coupons with grocery store sales in your area, and you won't even waste hours every week clipping coupons. Coupon Mom is a goldmine!

Live.com - for years this search engine lagged behind Google and Yahoo, but last year Microsoft integrated a fantastic cash back program into the site. Now shoppers can get cash back at the highest levels of any cash back site on the Internet, and save at thousands of stores. By doing almost all of my Christmas shopping last year through Live.com, I saved several hundred dollars. I look forward to see how much I can save over an entire year. Here's how it works. After you register for a free account, you pick a store you want to shop at or search for a specific item. For example, Shoebuy.com, one of the largest online shoe stores, offers cash back for making a purchase through a Live.com link. At the time I'm writing, Shoebuy is offering 15% cash back, but at one point last year it was a crazy 62.5%! Cash back amounts can change daily. Ebay has even offered cash back through Live.com several times, as high as 40%. You'll pay the full price upfront, but in 60 days the cash back is deposited in your Live.com account, where you can request payment.

Ebates.com is another cash back site that works like Live.com, offering payments 4 times a year. Ebates typically offers a lower percentage cash back than Live.com, but Ebates has many other merchants Live.com does not, like Walmart.com. I use both sites regularly. By the way, Walmart is a great site to use cash back on because they have low shipping costs and also offer free delivery to your local store, so you don't even have to pay for shipping. 3% cash back may not seem like much, but if you shop at Walmart, Target, Gap, etc. regularly, that money adds up very quickly. And, when you sign up for a free account Ebates will give you $5 extra after you make your first purchase, no minimum required.

Retailmenot.com is a great source for online coupons for thousands of stores. Don't mix online coupons with cash back because it will void the cash back, but when shopping at stores that do not offer cash back, or the coupon is better than the CB percentage, definitely go with the coupon. Just go to Retailmenot.com and enter a store, like OmahaSteaks.com, and you'll see all the current coupon codes.

Listed below is the sales schedule retailers and grocers use to determine what goes on sale, when. Bookmark this and email it to friends and family, they'll be grateful you helped them save money, too.

The easiest way I've found to use this list is to print it out and tape it to my calendar. Then I write in on the first day of the month, or near the top of every month, which items I need that will be on sale. That way if I am thinking about buying tires, I can quickly find that April and October are the two big tire sale months, and I'll try to set aside enough money to make my purchase then.

Another example is that August and September are the months to stock up on cereal and peanut butter. When the kids go back to school grocery stores try and get parents into the habit of buying those items regularly for their children. Unopened boxes of cereal and jars of peanut butter will easily keep for up to one year, so take advantage of those deals. If you save your Sunday coupons and use CouponMom.com to match coupons to sales, there's no reason you should pay more than .50 for large packages of name brand cereals and peanut butter. You may feel strange bringing home multiple boxes of cereal in one trip, but when they are free or next to free, saving $4 per box adds up quickly.

In addition, if you're not picky about which brands of soap, deodorant, and toilet paper your family uses, CouponMom.com will help you get those items for pennies or free, almost every single month.

If you spend just a little time managing your shopping instead of letting your shopping manage you, you'll find you can live comfortably for far less than you're currently spending.

Good luck, and happy savings!

January

Food:
Chocolate (Christmas clearance)
Soda
Diet foods
Frozen finger foods

Non-food:
Linens
Electronics
Computers
Small appliances
Air conditioners
Carpeting and flooring
Furniture
Winter clothes
Toys (on clearance after the holidays)
Bicycles
Christmas gift wrap
Christmas decorations
Athletic shoes
Exercise equipment
Motorcycles
Houses
Boats

February

Food:
Chocolate (post Valentine’s Day)
Steak (post Valentine’s Day)
Seafood (post Valentine’s Day)
Oatmeal

Non-food:
Big screen TVs (before the Super Bowl)
Boats

March

Food:
Frozen foods

Non-food:
Boats

April

Food:
Candy (Easter clearance)
Eggs
Ham
Cheese
Mustard
Ready-made dough
Dinner rolls
Frozen pies
Cake mix
Cake frosting
Pie crusts

Non-Food:
Electronics
Vacuums
Cookware
Tires and other car care supplies

May

Food:
Hotdogs
Ground beef
Hamburger and hot dog buns
Condiments (ketchup, mustard, barbeque sauce, relish)
Salad dressing
Chips
Ice cream
Popsicles
Frozen pies
Soda
Bottled water

Non-food:
Party supplies (disposable plates, cups, napkins and utensils)
Grill supplies (charcoal, lighter fluid)
Vacuums
Cookware

June

Food:
Ice cream
Popsicles
Soda
Bottled water
Iced tea mix and bags

Non-food:
Tools (around Father’s Day)

July

Food:
Hot dogs
Ground beef
Hamburger and hot dog buns
Condiments (ketchup, mustard, barbeque sauce, relish)
Salad dressing
Chips
Ice cream
Popsicles
Soda
Bottled water
Iced tea mix and bags

Non-food:
Grill supplies (charcoal, lighter fluid)
Party supplies (disposable plates, cups, napkins and utensils)
Furniture

August

Food:
Cereal
Breakfast bars
Peanut butter
Jelly
Lunch meat
American cheese
Yogurt
Chips
Snack cakes
Cookies
Ice cream
Soda
Bottled water
Iced tea mix and bags
Drink boxes

Non-food:
Pool supplies
Outdoor toys
Outdoor furniture
Bathing suits
Summer clothes
Summer shoes

September

Food:
Cereal
Breakfast bars
Peanut butter
Jelly
Lunch meat
American cheese
Yogurt
Chips
Snack cakes
Cookies
Hot dogs
Ground beef
Hamburger and hot dog buns
Condiments (ketchup, mustard, barbeque sauce, relish)
Salad dressing
Canned fruits and vegetables
Soups
Broth
Frozen pies
Soda
Drink boxes

Non-food:
Grill supplies (charcoal, lighter fluid)
Party supplies (disposable plates, cups, napkins and utensils)
School supplies
Large appliances (refrigerators, stoves, washers, dryers)
Cars
Lawn mowers
Grills

October

Food:
Canned fruits and vegetables
Dried fruits (raisins, apricots, cranberries)
Soups
Broth

Non-food:
Large appliances
Lawn mowers
Grills
Tires and other car care supplies

November

Food:
Turkey
Butter
Cheese
Baking supplies (flour, sugar, yeast chocolate chips, baker’s chocolate, sweetened condensed milk, cooking oil)
Pie crusts
Ready-made dough
Dinner rolls
Frozen pies
Cake mix
Cake frosting
Pie filling
Spices
Nuts
Dried fruits (raisins, apricots, cranberries)
Oatmeal
Candy (Halloween clearance)
Marshmallows
Soup
Broth

Non-food:
Aluminum foil
Plastic wrap
Disposable baking pans
Cookware
Electronics
Tools
Carpeting and flooring

December

Food:
Ham
Butter
Cheese
Baking supplies (flour, sugar, yeast chocolate chips, baker’s chocolate, sweetened condensed
milk, cooking oil)
Pie crusts
Ready-made dough
Dinner rolls
Frozen pies
Cake mix
Cake frosting
Pie filling
Refrigerated cookie dough
Spices
Nuts
Dried fruits (raisins, apricots, cranberries)
Oatmeal
Soda

Non-food:
Disposable baking pans
Aluminum foil
Plastic wrap
Electronics
Computers
Carpeting and flooring
Tools
Toys
Winter clothes
Cars
Motorcycles