The Seasonal Deals Calendar

Quick answer: buy each category in the season opposite to the one it is used in. Patio furniture in September, air conditioners in October, heaters in April, fitness gear in January, toys in November. The discounts are real because the seller is paying to store what you are willing to take.

January

Fitness equipment, smart scales, supplements, meal-prep containers. New Year demand peaks, but so does retail competition, and the two weeks after New Year's resolutions fade are the cheapest of the year for home gym gear. Also the best month for returned electronics, which Amazon resells at a discount.

February and March

Tax-season office gear, filing and printers. Winter coats, boots and snow gear get cleared at 50-70% off. If you live somewhere with a real winter, this is when you buy next year's jacket.

April and May

Space heaters, humidifiers, dehumidifiers, air purifiers. Anything that kept a house warm or dry is now dead stock. Lawn mowers and grills appear at full price - do not buy them yet.

June and July

Prime Day lands in July and it is genuinely the best moment for Amazon's own devices, robot vacuums, earbuds, tablets and small kitchen appliances. Fans and portable air conditioners are at their most expensive; buy those in September instead.

August and September

Back-to-school: laptops, backpacks, monitors, dorm gear. Then, in the last two weeks of September, patio furniture, grills, pool gear, robotic pool cleaners and camping equipment fall off a cliff. This is the single best month of the year for outdoor categories.

October

Big Deal Days brings a second Prime Day, and the deepest discounts are on winter preparation - space heaters, generators, snow blowers, tires - because retailers are competing for exactly that shopper. Halloween costumes are cheap in the first week and impossible in the last.

November

Black Friday through Cyber Monday. The widest selection of the year: TVs, headphones, laptops, cameras, toys, small appliances. Toys peak here and do not get cheaper before Christmas, so buy then or wait for the January clearance.

December

The last ten days are bad value for almost everything except gift cards and streaming hardware. The exceptions are holiday decorations, which collapse in price from December 26, and Christmas trees and lights, which are worth buying at 70% off for next year.

How to use this without overthinking it

Pick the category, then ask whether you need it in the next ninety days. If you do, buy the best product you can afford and stop watching. If you do not, put it on a list and revisit it in the month above.

We date every price in our guides so you can see what the product cost when we last looked, and we name a runner-up for the weeks when the top pick is at full price.