What Should You Buy in August? My Local CBS Morning Segment

For the month of August many of the best deals are centered around the Back to School season. Whether your kids will actually be IN school or learning at home, pretty much everything your kids need for the school year will be on sale from school supplies to tech to clothing to dorm room essentials.

The good thing is that these means sales for everyone including grown-ups and people without children. To answer the question “What Should You Buy in August?” I chatted with Kim Johnson this morning on WCCO, our local CBS station, to discuss the items that you’ll find at great prices all month long. Read my recap here and see the video itself at the bottom of this post!

What Should You Buy in August?

School Supplies

The #1 best deal category in August is school supplies. During August you’ll be able to find things like pencils, pens, crayons, notebooks, glue sticks and more for just pennies. Be sure to stock up on enough for the whole school year because you won’t see prices like these again until next year.

Some examples this week include Crayola Crayon 24-packs and school glue each $.50 at Target and Staples. Staples also has notebooks for $.25. OfficeDepot and OfficeMax have both composition books and school scissors for $.50. If you don’t have kids in school, you can use many of these items for your home or office. Another option is to buy school supplies in bulk.

Laptops

Laptops can drop in price as much as 25% in August, which makes a big difference on this expensive item. Amazon has a Samsung Chromebook for only $139.99, which is 30% off. Best Buy has MacBooks on sale up to $300 off, plus you can get a coupon for an additional $150 off select models when you sign up for student deals. You can also visit Apple for the latest deals on a MacBook – which is my choice!

Printers are also on sale in August. While the prices on printers have gone way down in recent years, this month you’ll be able to find them from 10-25% off. This week Office Depot/OfficeMax has an HP Deskjet printer on sale for only $59.99, which is 40% off!

Socks and Underwear

Along with stocking up on school supplies, parents are buying new wardrobe basics for back-to-school too, which includes socks, underwear and t-shirts. But, the sales aren’t only for kid sizes, adults will find big discounts too. Some of the best deals are on multi-unit packages that also have a bonus thrown in like an extra pair added in to a package of 6. (The super cute socks above are from Sock Panda.)

Lunchbox Items

August sees lots of sales on the items that are typically packed in school lunchboxes. Granola bars, applesauce, crackers, lunch meat and single-serve anything from juice boxes, to crackers to snacks are on sale in August. Many of these items have a long shelf life so you can stock up. Keep an eye out for coupons to stack with store sales to give you a bigger discount. Coupons can be in your Sunday paper, printed at Coupons.com, in your grocery store flyer or smartphone app or through Ibotta or other savings apps.

Summer Clothing

Summer clothing has hit the clearance racks. Anything summer related from shorts to t-shirts to summer dresses is on sale. There are also big discounts on sandals and other summer shoes. Gymboree.com is having a big final sale with everything marked down to $4.97 and many of these items were originally priced at $20 or more. It’s also one of the best times of the year to buy swimwear with discounts on suits, swim shirts, cover-ups and more on sale 50% off at many stores and online.

Air Conditioners

August is the best time of the month to buy air conditioners at a low price with discounts as much as 40% off by the end of the month. I spotted a portable air conditioner at Best Buy for $150 off, taking it from $550 to $400. It’s also a great time to buy dehumidifiers and fans. In past years I’ve seen lots of each of these on clearance at target as much as 75% off by the last week of August.