April may bring showers, but it can offer good deals such as spring apparel finally hitting sale sections. You’re also likely to find free items on Tax Day and Earth Day, which always are good for the budget.
To learn about the best sales and what to avoid, here are tips for April shopping from DealNews.com:
7 things to buy in April
Spring clothing
Now that spring clothing has been on sale for two months, you can expect to see many deals on in-season apparel. This April, you’re likely to see the price of men's shorts to fall to $3 at stores such as Walmart, while dresses and sandals will likely start at around $6 at a number of outlets.
Tax Day freebies
Stores often offering free items on Tax Day include Great American Cookies, which will again offer a free cookie to customers on Tax Day, and Kona Ice, which routinely gives out of shaved ice each year. Also watch Planet Fitness' website. Last year, it offered a coupon for a free HydroMassage to those recovering from preparing their taxes.
Early Mother's Day deals
Mother's Day falls on May 13 this year, but you can find deals as early as the second week of April. Expect to see discounts as high as 90 percent off at Nordstrom Rack and TechRabbit, which both began offering their Mother's Day promotions in mid-April last year.
You should also see big price drops on designer brands such as Burberry, Versace, and Fossil at Amazon. Plus, discounted Mother's Day jewelry will likely drop to as low as $30 again at Zales.
Earth Day freebies and deals
Earth Day falls on April 22, when you can expect to find a limited supply of free LED bulbs and UTZ-certified coffee at IKEA. And if Staples offers the same deal as last year, you can recycle your camcorders and computer speakers, then get a $10 coupon for a future purchase of $30 or more.
You can head out on April 21, the day before Earth Day, for a fee-free trip to any U.S. national park to celebrate National Park Week. The next chance for a free visit is September.
Clearance Easter candy and gifts
Expect to see prices on chocolate and bunny-shaped items to be halved starting April 2, with deals at Target and Walmart from as little as a dollar.
Thrift store furniture, appliances, and clothing
April a good time to shop at thrift stores, as people are clear out unwanted furniture, appliances, and apparel during spring cleaning. A Salvation Army spokesperson says that donations increase in April and May. And while prices may not be lower, you’ll find a better selection, especially by shopping early in the week, as weekend donations start to be placed on shelves.
Select produce
It's best to shop in-season for fruit and vegetables. Food taste better, and you're likely to save up to 50 percent on your purchases. In April, you can find lower prices on asparagus, avocados, beets, broccoli, mushrooms, and citrus fruits.
4 things to wait on
Mattresses, tools, and appliances
Memorial Day falls on May 28 this year, and since it's one of the biggest shopping holidays of the season, you can expect to see better deals on mattresses, tools, and appliances around that time.
You can also expect to see an average of two more tool deals per day in May than in April, with the price of hand tools dropping as low as $3.
Laptops
Back-to-school discounts begin as early as June, which means that April isn't the best time to buy on a new laptop. Hold off for a few weeks, and you could save an extra $40 on low-cost touchscreen computers, while the cost of gaming laptops should drop by an extra 10 percent.
Gardening tools
April isn’t a terrible time to shop for gardening tools but prices will drop even further in May. Then, you can expect electric blowers to fall to as low as $16, a $9 drop since April, and trimmers could drop by one-third to around $20.
Running shoes
April inspires joggers to run more due to better weather. But know that April saw fewer deals on running shoes than March or May last year.
Top stores for April
Eddie Bauer: April may be the time to shop for spring apparel, but winter clothing should also hit final clearance at some stores, including Eddie Bauer.
Nautica: Another apparel store that hosted a great sale last April is Nautica.
Kohl's: April may not be the best month to buy appliances, with Memorial Day coming soon, but Kohl's may offer an exception. Last year the store reduced the cost of a wide range of small kitchen appliances down to a $2 with mail-in rebates, including a slow cooker, toaster, and coffee maker.
Sears and Home Depot: If you can't hold out until May to shop these stores' Memorial Day sales, know that each one hosted a Black Friday in spring promotion last April, during which they discounted thousands of home goods.
