Home Good Sale Shopping Calendar

Shopping can be hard. Especially when your shopping for expensive things. Few things are more complicated to shop for than home goods. It’s easy to go to cheap and end up having make a return or start again. This can quickly gets complicated if you're buying something large or if it's a faulty appliance. Plus you may not get a refund on the money you’ve shelled out;  meaning you’d have to start over but without the money you already spent. Alternatively, you could overspend on something and end up eating sandwiches for a month on a stove that isn’t all that great, and you won’t even be able to enjoy until you can afford groceries again. There is no need to despair over your shopping woes for there are glorious things called sales that exist; but how are you supposed to know which ones are worth your time and your money when the market is oversaturated with advertisements and fake sales where the prices have been jacked up so they can be brought back down to the same price? Well, you’re in luck, here’s a month by month list of when you can find the best sales for whatever household good you’re looking for.

January: After Christmas sales trump the Christmas sales almost every time.

Storage Stuff (good for organizing all the stuff you accumulated over the holidays), Bedding and Linens (the white sale strikes again! (If the store is out of what you want in stores you can probably ask for it and get what you actually want at the discounted price)),  Major Appliances (Stores are trying to get in new inventory, which means there are good sales to be had on last year’s model of whatever your looking for), Flooring and other Renovations (Most people don’t do any major work on their house during or just after the holiday season so those jobs are going to be cheaper during this season), Paint (again nobody likes to do stuff during holiday season, they’re just happy you’re buying something), Roof (Who gets their roof done in winter? You now), Furniture (New furniture is coming in February so it goes on sale January).

February: Good for buying more than just leftover pink and red stuff from Valentines day

Mattresses (Presidents day has arrived and brought sales with them. You get major sales on mattresses around this time!), Roof (You heard me).

March: The Spring sales are starting!

Winter Stuff (You know when winter stuff is on sale? When you don’t need it anymore. Snowblowers for everybody!), HVAC Equipment (When you don’t need a heating system installed? The spring, so I guess it’s time to buy one),

April: Spring sales in full swing!

Winter Stuff (You know), Vacuum Cleaners (New models come out in June so the old ones go on sale to make room). HVAC Equipment (Same).

May: End of the Spring Sales

Mattresses (Memorial Day, second verse same as the first. Major mattress sales!), Vacuum Cleaners (I already told you why), Paint (I don’t know, it has something to do with mercury), Roof (Materials are at their cheapest at this time).

June: Here comes summer.

Power tools (Apparently dads like tools so they go on sale for father’s day).

July:

Grills (no, not in time for the 4th,  right after it. You missed the holiday and now grills are on sale in time for you to enjoy the second half of the summer), Furniture (New furniture is coming in August so it goes on sale July).

August:

Grills (Just when you have one month left to enjoy it), Storage Stuff (good for storing all the summer stuff you’ll need to put away over the next season).

September:

Plants (People don’t usually garden as the season are turning colder but that doesn’t mean you can’t. Research what plants will thrive if you buy them in September. You’ll get them between 30% and 50% off )

October:

Major Appliances (Stores are trying to get in new inventory, which means there are good sales to be had on last seasons models of whatever your looking for), HVAC Equipment (Moderate temperatures mean not a lot of work for HVAC people… so it’s a good time to buy one).

November:

HVAC Equipment (Moderate temperatures mean not a lot of work for HVAC people… so it’s a good time to buy one).

December:

Powertools (Apparently dads like tools so they go on sale for the holidays), Flooring and other Renovations (Most people don’t do any major work on their house during or just after the holiday season so those jobs are going to be cheaper during this season).

Adding a Fireplace

Ready or not it’s winter! The solstice has come and gone. The days may be getting longer but it’s still gonna be cold out for the next two months. What better way to wait out cold winter days than in front of a fireplace? So what if your house doesn’t actually come with a fireplace. You can always get install one. Yes, I just told you to install a fireplace in your already fully built house.

Here’s the thing, we’re deep into the late 2010s. You don’t need to take out part of a wall and build a chimney to get a fireplace if you truly desire one. It’ll definitely cost money, a lot of money… it’s an investment. Think of a fireplace as a slightly risky investment, an investment you can enjoy and could, maybe payoff.   

So, fireplaces are a desirable feature. Almost 40% of homebuyers said they would pay extra for a house with a fireplace. The best way to maximize the payoff of a fireplace is to ensure that the price of the fireplace is proportionate to the overall value of the house. A fireplace isn’t calculated separately in a professional home appraisal a $10,000 fireplace holds its value in a $1 million house because buyers expect this feature in an upscale home but a $10,000 fireplace won’t be such a crucial component of a $100,000 house. The fireplace is not going to be the main draw of a lower scale home… so maybe focus on other stuff, like curb appeal.

Also, put it somewhere it’ll actually be used, like a den, family room, great room, etc. Equip your fireplace with energy-efficient glass doors and an exterior venting system that prevents heated air from being pulled out of rooms. If you want fireplaces for smaller rooms, if you are so inclined, to think about a small gas fireplace that’s easy to maintain.

Packing up the Holidays

The holidays are here but all I can think about is having to put all my decorations away
afterwards, hopefully before valentines day this year. So how do we make a generally
fun experience (decorating), not terrible doing it in reverse (packing up), cause honestly,
packing anything sucks. Especially when you're trying to put away your holiday
memories and traditions without accidentally shattering them, while also being mindful
of the fact that you need to find these things next year. So… what can you do?

Looking at it all as one big task will be to overwhelming and your decorations will be
up until next December. If you think about it all as small tasks it’s going to be tedious
and you’re going to procrastinate until something forces you to do it, and I don’t know
you, maybe you don’t have someone who will judge you harshly enough to drive you
to finally do it.  My suggestion is you break it down into a few sweeping tasks. Take
down all ornaments, the ones decorating the tree, the ones in bowls decorating the
table, on wreaths, and in garland. Then move onto gathering all the wreathes and
packing them away, and then the garland, and then the tree. envision yourself removing
all of those items task by task, you’re pretty close to done, aren’t you? That was only
four tasks and your already almost done! You can do it like that or you can do it by
section, fireplace, table tops, wall hangings or you can do it room by room, living room, kitchen, lobby, den.

So, once you get everything away how do you keep them straight and easily findable
for the next holiday season? You can either sort out a clear labeling and storing system
for yourself, or you can get clear bins. I still suggest you store your stuff in a methodical
order, so you know what you’re going to pull out first and what you’re pulling out last.

The best way to keep yourself from accidentally destroying childhood memories is to
be prepared while packing everything away. Have your bins as close as possible to
minimize travelling distance between it’s where it’s been and where it is going. Also
have whatever you’re using for cushion on hand from the tree, to the old news paper,
straight into the bin. Don’t pause, don’t pass go, right into storage. That’s the safest
thing you can do. Don’t forget there's always a chance you drop your bins on the way to
wherever you store them. So, don’t overstuff your bins, pack them lightly and with lots
of cushion.

Finally, don’t forget that it’s okay to wait a little while. It would be super depressing if
you cleared everything up along with the wrappings from the presents. It’s the most
wonderful time of the year! Let it linger a little longer. Just try not to wait until
Valentine’s Day.