Thrifty Thursday - After Christmas Sales

Image: Salvatore Vuono / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

If you know me, you know I love a deal.  I try to rarely purchase items unless they are on sale.  When can you find some of the biggest sales of the year? Well, if you are shopping for Christmas merchandise then the best time to do it is after Christmas.

Stores are anxious to unload this year's Christmas decor, and this is where you can benefit greatly.  But you don't even have to wait until after Christmas to get the bargains.  Saturday (1 week before Christmas Eve) we went to a home improvement store and saw all their Christmas decor was 50% off. There was still plenty of time to enjoy the items.  We bought another strand of Christmas lights that we needed, some ornaments and some decorations for our balcony.  Even the live Christmas trees were 50% off, so if you hadn't bought a tree yet, you could get quite the deal.

I usually find great deals on gift wrap at post-Christmas sales.  I have never actually purchased gift wrap the same year we have used it.  We always use gift wrap from last year's clearance sales.  Luckily no one notices that our gift wrap is so 2010!

Image: zirconicusso / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

If you decide to wait until after Christmas, the markdowns will be steeper, but your choices will be more limited because people will have already picked through the stuff.  I get almost all of my seasonal decor for all holidays at these kinds of sales.  Four days after Thanksgiving I went to CVS and they had their Thanksgiving decor at 90% off the original price.  There was only about 1 shelf of items, but you can bet I cleaned out that shelf.  I got a Thanksgiving door mat for $1.49!  For around $10, I got a huge box of Thanksgiving items.

Items don't get marked down 90% the day after a holiday, but within a few days you can usually find markdowns of at least 75%.  Now the issue with buying this stuff is that it will go straight into your garage, but for savings like this, I am willing to buy something and store it away for a year.  If you are like me and would never pay retail for holiday items, this is a great way to get some festive decor and supplies for next year.

Linking to: Monday: Made By Little Hands, Making the World Cuter, Motivate Me Monday, Sumo's Sweet Stuff, Embellishing Life, What I Whipped Up, Hey Mom, Look What I Did Tuesday: Too Cute Tuesday, Get Your Craft on Tuesday, ABC and 123 Learning, Show Me What Ya Got, Tuesday Time Out, Creative Creations Tuesday, Hope Studios, Sugar Bee Crafts, Project Queen, Passionately Artistic, Sew Crafty Tuesday Wednesday: Red Ted Art, Blue Cricket Design, Milk and Cuddles, We Are That Family, My Backyard Eden, Someday Crafts, Creations by Kara, Ginger Snap Crafts, The Shady Porch Thursday: Fireflies and Jellybeans, House of Hepworths, Creative Juice Thursday, What's Allie Making Now, 20 Below Thursday, A Glimpse Inside Friday: The Play Academy, Fun For Kids Friday, For the Kids Friday, Weekend Showoff Party, Whipperberry, Pity Party, Creation Corner, Tatertots and Jello, Lamb Around,Growing Up Gardner, Delicate Construction, Saturday: Homemaker in Heels, Show and Tell Saturdays, The Gingerbread Blog, Young and Crafty, Family Ever After Sunday: No Time For Flashcards, Flaming Toes, Seasonal Sundays, Sunday Showcase, Sundae Scoop