3 Things You Should Buy In January, and 3 You Shouldn't
So many people believe that the best time to buy, well, everything is during the holiday season. And with so many stores and sites offering exaggerated discounts from Black Friday through the end of December, it can definitely seem that way. But there are a few things that see even better deals after the holidays have come and gone—the kind of big tickets items that you monitor throughout the year, waiting for the price to drop, like pricey fitness equipment you’ll use to work towards your New Year’s resolution.
If you plan to invest in a home gym this month, this is a great time to build up your trove of credit card rewards. Both the Amazon Prime Rewards Visa Signature Card and Target REDcard cards offer 5% cash back on purchases made at their stores, with no annual fee (though you must be an Amazon Prime member to get the Amazon credit card).
But not everyone likes exercising at home. If you’d prefer to hit the gym, there’s a no annual fee credit card that Wirecutter recommends that offers bonus rewards for your gym membership (this is pretty rare, and we haven’t found another card we recommend that does this).
Sally French, a Wirecutter Money writer, fitness instructor and two-time USA Powerlifting national medalist dug into the topic of the best credit cards for gym benefits. “The U.S. Bank Cash+ earns 5% cash back on up to $2,000 in total spending per quarter across two specialty categories that you choose, and options include gyms/fitness centers and sporting goods stores,” she says. “You also earn 2% cash back in one category of your choice (from grocery stores, gas stations and restaurants), and 1% on everything else. Among the gym memberships that qualify toward the 5% back are 24 Hour Fitness, Crunch Fitness, Equinox, Orangetheory Fitness, Pure Barre and Soul Cycle.”
Whether you’re out to meet your fitness goals this January or just looking for great deals on the things that have long been on your wishlist, here are the best things to buy this month — and what you’d be better off pushing to another month — according to Nathan Burrow, Deals Editor at Wirecutter.
What to Buy in January: Big Fitness Equipment
If you resolved to work out more in the New Year, the sales gods are on your side: January usually offers the best deals on big fitness equipment like treadmills, spin bikes, or ellipticals. There’s no better way to follow through on a promise you made to yourself than committing to an in-home treadmill—it makes it easier to stick with it, too, since you won’t have to brace the winter weather to get to the gym. Also keep an eye out for some nice deals on smaller fitness must-haves, like wearable fitness trackers, smart (and not so smart) scales, and water bottles.
What Not to Buy in January: Amazon Products
Although it's nearly six months away, the best time to splurge on Amazon’s branded collection of smart speakers, tablets, and ebook readers will be during Prime Day. If you can hold out until July 2020, the discounts will definitely be worth the wait. Amazon offers such good pricing on its own merch during Prime Day—the only other time of year when prices drop so significantly on all of these items at once are during Black Friday and Cyber Week.
What to Buy in January: TVs
Most people think the best time of the year to buy a new TV is during Black Friday, but in reality, many of those blowout deals are on off-brand televisions with low specs that aren’t worth buying. Instead, you’ll see the best deals on higher-quality TVs in late January — just in time for an upgrade before your Super Bowl party.
What Not to Buy in January: Mattresses
January is not the worst time to buy a mattress, but it isn’t the best. That would be during President’s Day sales in February, when prices on direct-to-consumer mattresses (the foam ones shipped straight to your doorstep in small boxes) will drop substantially. But if you need a mattress now and waiting for a better deal isn’t an option, keep an eye out for the discounts that will start to percolate come late January.
What to Buy in January: Linens and Bedding
Unsurprisingly, January’s white sales still provide the perfect opportunity to stock up on household linens and bedding. White sales first started back in the late 1800s, when department store monoliths decided to sell their excess all-white bed linens at steep discounts to drum up business and clear out lingering inventory. More than a hundred years later, the steep discounts still stand, but the color spectrum has (thankfully) broadened.
What Not to Buy in January: Personal Care
January is not the best time to invest in new personal care items like electric razors, hairdryers, or electric toothbrushes. This is because the pricing on these always-needed picks just dipped during the holiday season, so now they’re returning to their normal sticker price. Better sales will come in the next few months, so of course if your hairdryer decided to die on you this month, buy a replacement. But if you want the best price, you’re better off waiting until July, when sales typically come around.
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