The Best Things to Buy in June — and What to Avoid

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This post comes from Benjamin Glaser at partner site DealNews.com.

June marks the official start to summer, which for most people means spending more time outdoors. Add in graduation ceremonies and Father’s Day on the horizon, and June can quickly turn into an expensive month. To ensure you don’t blow through your summer budget in the first few weeks of the season, we’ve created a buying guide of items you should and shouldn’t purchase this month.

Lingerie

June has traditionally been a great month for lingerie sales, and few stores can rival the Victoria’s Secret Semi-Annual Sale, which typically lasts three to four weeks. The sale takes an impressive 70 percent off a variety of items. As we noted in our analysis, discounts get better toward the latter half of the sale.

As a result, we encourage shoppers to wait a few days and take advantage of the more aggressive discounts that come later in the month. The merchant’s shipping threshold, for instance, gets lower as the sale progresses, starting off with free shipping on purchases of $100 or more and later changing to free shipping on $25 or more. In terms of purchases, we recommend looking at deals that offer low per-unit prices when you buy multiples, such as three bras for the price of two, or five pairs of panties for $27.

Although the Victoria’s Secret Semi-Annual Sale is the most prominent lingerie sale this month, it is by no means the only one. Last year, we saw Soma offer even more deals on intimates in June, including all of the Editors’ Choice deals in this category. Look for 50 percent off already-reduced prices, five pairs of panties for $6, and more. Sears cut up to 80 percent off lingerie prices, and provided stackable coupons as well. And Frederick’s of Hollywood provided similar deals.

Food deals for Dad

Although Father’s Day sales don’t get as much hype as Mother’s Day sales, retailers will still offer a variety of deals on gifts for your dad. You should avoid buying predictable gifts like grills (see more on that below) and shirt-and-tie combos, which won’t offer much in terms of savings.

Instead, look for deals on nontraditional gifts, such as free entrees at select restaurants, which is a popular deal among nationwide chains. Last year, we saw Carl’s Jr. offer a coupon for 2-for-1 El Diablo Thickburgers on Father’s Day, while Hurricane Grill and Wings offered 2-for-1 entrees. Various museums and zoos across the nation will also offer free admission for dads, and sometimes also for accompanying children.

Free doughnuts for National Doughnut Day

June 3 is National Doughnut Day, and no matter which chain you side with — Krispy Kreme, Tim Horton’s, or Dunkin’ Donuts — your chances of scoring a free doughnut on this day are very high. Last year, all three chains offered their customers a free doughnut — some required a purchase, but Krispy Kreme didn’t! You can expect to see similar doughnut sales again this year. The offer will be valid for one day only, and quantities may be limited. But if you’re lucky enough to live near all three chains, you could have your doughnut fix for the whole week in one day.

Outdoor gear

With warmer weather on the horizon, more people will want to exercise outdoors, rather than inside a gym. The good news is that June is traditionally a good month for sales on fitness apparel and accessories. Look for up to 55 percent off from stores including REI, Dick’s Sporting Goods and L.L. Bean on sporting goods and outdoor equipment.

Laptops

Although June is traditionally when students wrap up their school semester, many retailers use this month to launch their back-to-school sales. The Apple Store typically offers an everyday educational discount that takes up to $200 off, and the store will offer an additional freebie during back-to-school season. Last year, Apple offered a pair of Beats headphones with the purchase of an eligible Mac computer. Apple rarely experiments with its sale, so it’s likely we’ll see a similar offer again this year.

But remember that stores like Best Buy and Amazon traditionally match, if not beat, Apple at its own game, so you’ll want to compare prices before committing yourself to a sale.

And definitely don’t shop for Apple laptops until after the Worldwide Developers Conference in mid-June, when a new line of MacBooks is likely to be introduced (more below).

As for PCs, mainstream 15-inch laptops continue to hold at about $350. If you’re willing to go for older tech, we saw a 16-inch laptop with a Celeron processor for under $300, while laptops with the current-gen i5 Skylake chips start at just over $400.

Just keep in mind that back-to-school sales won’t begin until late in the month. Moreover, our data shows that the best sales traditionally arrive in August, so if you can afford to wait, we recommend holding off on any laptop deals you see in June.

The do-not-buy list:

Grills

Nothing evokes thoughts of summer like a backyard barbecue. But as tempted as you may be to purchase a new grill this month, our research shows the best time to buy a grill is in August and September. That’s when you can find discounts that take up to 50 percent off your favorite name-brand grills. If you can, make do with your current grill and upgrade at the end of the season.

Apple products

June is traditionally a busy month for the folks at Apple, and that means consumers should make Apple purchases with caution. On June 13, Apple will commence its annual Worldwide Developers Conference where it’s rumored Apple will unveil a major overhaul of their MacBook laptops, and possibly a second-generation Apple Watch. In any event, new models will mean big price drops on older items.

HDTVs

If there’s one thing you should avoid buying in June, it’s a new TV. The summer months are traditionally bad for TV deals in the sense that you don’t see many offers, and prices are higher than usual.

However, if you must buy a new set, we recommend sticking with 55-inch TVs. Sets of this size have plateaued in price around $550 for name brand, and $400 for off-brand

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