SAN ANTONIO — After Christmas sales are a great way to use your holiday gift cards or Christmas cash to save if you still have the energy to do some shopping.
Christmas décor will be deeply discounted. Target is already offering 50% off seasonal items.
“If you want, you know, a new Christmas tree or some sort of special stocking or garland, obviously those are going to be on sale but also seasonal candy,” said Julie Ramhold, consumer analyst at Dealnews.com.
“Mainly they’ll be holiday-themed items, gift sets, as retailers are looking to clear that merchandise out,” said Trae Bodge, the smart shopping expert of TrueTrae. “We also see a lot of discounts in winter apparel as it’s getting closer to the end of the season.”
It can be a good time to stock up for children.
“We did this with our kids when they were younger,” said Kyle James of the savings website Rather Be Shopping. “We’d go out and buy a lot of apparel right after Christmas, you know, a size or two bigger than what they currently wear. I remember going to Old Navy and getting stuff 60% off and saving it for next fall or winter. It’s a great way to save some money thinking about purchases ahead of time.”
You also will find big bargains on open-box items. They are often gifts people open and returned but never used. Look at big box stores, department stores, eBay, and Best Buy. Plus here is the secret to finding deep discounts on Amazon:
“What they do is put them in their online warehouse and so if you do a Google search for Amazon warehouse,” James said. “You actually go in and you can shop all the returned items basically and you can save 20%, 30% pretty easily on stuff. What Amazon does is it tells you exactly what the condition is of the item. So it’ll tell you, okay, it’s missing the original box or it doesn’t have a manual or it’ll tell you if it’s brand new or it’s maybe just the box is damaged. So you know exactly what you’re getting and they kind of price it accordingly. The cool thing about it is you still get the Amazon return policy. You can still return it within 30 days and get your money back that way.”
It is also a good time to save on any gifts you will need in 2023.
“Maybe gifts you’re going to need to buy in the early part of next year or even into the summer,” James said. “So maybe you have some friends getting married, you know, maybe think about Father’s Day, Mother’s Day, and Valentine’s Day.”
Or treat yourself to a gift Santa did not deliver.
Look for sales from now until the end of January. Next month, you will also find discounts on fitness equipment as well as bedding and linens.