Top Ten Tips - Hitting Holiday Sales

Think Ahead - If you buy certain items every holiday, make a list. For instance, it may be greeting cards or holiday-themed napkins. You may want to try and get them cheaper after the holiday to stock up for next year.

Buy The Day After For Prime Holiday-Specific Items - The items won’t be too deeply discounted at this point, perhaps only 10 to 20 percent off. But if you want prime items, now is the time to get them, because they are cheaper and will go quickly.

Wait Three To Four Weeks For Best Sales On Holiday-Specific Items - At the end of January, Tip Diva hit her local chain drug store and found all Christmas items for 90 percent off, including cards, candy and pre-wrapped holiday gifts. Some deals she found included 29-cent bags of Whoppers Sno-Balls, a 39-cent Bing Crosby CD and 19-cent boxes of Christmas cards. Although cheap, it’s harder to find quality items at this point, because everything’s been cherry picked.

Look Beyond Normal Holiday Items - Look beyond the candy, cards and flowers. You may find clothes, cosmetics, stationery, gift baskets and special holiday boxes of regular groceries that are cheaper just because they have hearts, pumpkins or shamrocks on them.

Check Items Before Buying - A lot of the items you find in after-sales have been sorted through by many hands and may be broken, missing pieces, ripped or stained. Check the item to make sure you’re getting enough bang for your buck. And if it’s not up to par, ask for an additional discount. The store may not give it to you, but you’ll never know unless you ask.

Be Careful What You’re Buying - Sure, buying 40 bags of cookies at 50 cents each may seem like a bargain, but are you going to eat those cookies before they get stale? Think before loading your cart, because you may find some things going to waste.

Make Sure You Only Buy What You Need - Like above, make sure you only buy what you’re going to consume or use. What’s the point of having something that’s just going to clutter your home?

Check After-Holiday Sales - Some stores, especially department stores like Macy’s and J.C. Penney, have after-holiday sales for almost every holiday, including random ones like Presidents Day. They usually have some good specials these days.

Buy Online - You may find the same discounts in the physical store, but you have benefits of using coupons from places like eDealInfo.com or Ebates.

Know Your Prices - Just because something’s on sale after a holiday doesn’t necessarily mean it’s cheap. Some products may have been marked up from usual prices because they were special holiday versions. For instance, that box of chocolate in a heart-shaped box is 20 percent off, yet the generic box of chocolates that you can buy every day is priced better.