Summertime Savings Tips

Save money on cellphones, swimsuits and maybe even an African safari with these summertime savings tips. — Photos by Getty Images, Ignacio Ayestaran/Flickr/Getty Images, Ryan McVay/Getty Images

Summertime living is easy, and it can also be less expensive, if you know what bargains to look out for. As temperatures rise, prices on some popular items drop — and I’m not just talking about the peachy deals you can get on summer fruits and vegetables.

My favorite seasonal-deals guru, Mark Di Vincenzo, author of the best-selling book Buy Ketchup in May and Fly at Noon: A Guide to the Best Time to Buy This, Do That and Go There, recently shared some of his best advice for summer shopping.

Mark tells me that July is a good month to buy most jewelry, since it’s one of the six “non-gift-giving months” of the year (i.e., months without a traditional gift-giving holiday or occasion), so jewelry prices tend to drop. That makes sense. But he also says that July is a good time to find sales on bottled water; one would think that demand — and prices — would peak in the hottest (and thirstiest) month on the year. Go figure.

Here are some of Mark’s other tips for summertime savings:

May

As per the title of his book, buy ketchup in May, Mark says, “and lots of other picnic supplies, including paper plates, cups, hot dogs and buns. Memorial Day is the start of the summer picnic season, and most grocery stores deeply discount these traditional picnic items to get you in the store, so stock up for the whole summer.”

June

“Tools don’t go on sale that often, but they do in June, usually the week before Father’s Day. Expect to save as much as half on some small tools and about 25 percent on certain higher-priced tools,” Marks says. June is also a good month to shop for cellphones (“parents are buying lots of them to keep in touch with their kids during summer vacation, so there’s stiff price competition”) and refrigerators, since stores often discount existing stock to make room for new models that arrive in the summer.

July

Save money on swimsuits in July? It seems to me that they’d be priced at a premium during the heat of summer, but Mark says stores actually start to discount swimwear in July because most everyone who is going to buy a new swimsuit for the season has already done so. You can also save some big money by shopping for furniture in July, since stores typically receive their new inventory in August so they often mark down remaining inventory. And — who knew? — July (as well as June) is a great month to find deals on butter and other dairy products, since dairy production is up during that period; remember, you can stock up on butter and freeze it for use later.

Next: Looking for some travel bargains? »