Clothing

It's easy to know that you're getting the best deal around when shopping through dealnews, but sometimes you want to plan for purchases in advance. So to help you out, we've mined our archives of product prices, sales, and coupons to see what consumer goods are best buys throughout the month of May.

While every month features its own unique deal fluctuations, we often see overlap across months, especially when they fall within the same season. As such, some of the advice for May might sound familiar if you've diligently followed the April guide. That said, May has some unique shopping characteristics to take note of, like stellar Memorial Day sales later this month. So dive in and brush up on the best and worst things to buy in May.Read more

Winter is thawing out, and spring is upon us. So what's a good buy in April, and what should you hold off on buying?

Cruises
Typically, April is a good month for cruises. But we discovered last month that cruise prices in general have been dropping when compared to last year, likely due to the industry's tumultuous string of recent public disasters. In fact, when compared to similar cruise deals from this time last year, 2012's offers are as much as 11 percent less. And we have continued to see an increase in the sheer number of cruise deals as well, making it still a good time (price-wise) to look into a vacation on the seas.

Spring Apparel… Almost
The general rule of thumb is to wait about two months after a new line of apparel hits stores to start seeing some of the better discounts. Many retailers began to debut their spring merchandise in late January and February, so that places April at about the two-month mark for some. Look closely at the discounts though: a spring sale that takes 30 to 40 percent off is still a mid-season promotion; you'll want a sale that takes at least 50 percent off or more, and if you can hold steady for a stacking coupon code, all the better. If you truly want the lowest prices — which of course comes with reduced selection — you'll likely want to wait until May.Read more

March is here, and even though you may be planning to stay glued to the couch for all of March Madness, you'll also be doing a bit of spring shopping — so the editors over at dealnews have mined their extensive archives for sales, coupons, and individual products from the past few years to guide you in your quest for the most savvy purchases this month. Here's what they found.

Make Way for the 2012 TVs
With the holidays and the Super Bowl now behind us, TV-buying season is officially over. March won't see the same head-turning price points we've been used to (we already saw some slight price upticks in February), but there is some good news at the end of the tunnel. HD Guru reports that Samsung's 2012 CES TVs are slated to enter the market this month, which could mean some surprise discounts on older 2011 models.

3D fans should also take note, last month we listed the first ever third-tier 55" 3D LCD HDTV courtesy of Sigmac. The $699 TV is to date the least-expensive 55" 3D TV we've seen and could help pave the way for even lower-priced name-brand 3D TVs.Read more

September is here. What are the best purchases to make this month? The worst? Good shoppers know that sometimes, to get the best deals, you need to plan. Arm yourself with the dealnews September buying guide, and you'll know exactly what to look out for this month.

Labor Day
Just because it's a holiday weekend doesn't mean you should automatically whip out your credit card. We saw numerous sales and coupons from popular retailers, but few were much better than what we had seen in the months immediately leading up. There were a handful, however, that were either Editor's Choice worthy or tied for the best sale we'd seen that year; that included sales from Converse, Bath & Body Works, Men's Wearhouse, Forever 21, Sears, and Eddie Bauer. That doesn't mean the remaining are bad deals per se; a 25 percent off coupon to the Gap (like we saw that weekend last year) is still an extra 25 percent off. It's just not the best we've seen.Read more