The 2026 Deal Calendar — Which Categories Hit Their Lowest Prices When

Every category has a real annual low and several fake annual lows. The fake ones are when retailers run "biggest sale of the season" marketing on flat pricing. The real ones are when manufacturer or retailer pressure forces a meaningful price drop.

Below is the 2026 month-by-month calendar, organized by what genuinely hits its lowest annual price each month. We focused only on real bottoms — events where the discount typically beats the rest of the year by 10%+. Smaller fluctuations are noise.

January

• Fitness equipment. Treadmills, bikes, rowers, weights. New Year resolution surge drives 25 to 40% discounts on Peloton, NordicTrack, Bowflex. Real. Window: full month.
• Premium TV clearance. CES launches push prior-year flagship OLED and QLED to clearance. LG C-series and Sony Bravia OLED routinely 25 to 35% off through late January. Better than Black Friday on these specific lines.
• Bedding and home organization. January is the year's deepest window for sheets, comforters, storage bins, closet organizers. Container Store, Bed Bath & Beyond, Target.

February

• Mattresses (Presidents' Day). Third Monday of February. Roughly matches Memorial Day pricing on most brands. The mattress year has four price bottoms and this is one of them.
• TVs (Super Bowl pricing). Late January through mid-February. Best Buy, Costco and Walmart compete on TVs sized 65" and up. Often beats Black Friday on the very large screens (75", 85", 98").
• Winter clothing clearance. Coats, boots, sweaters. Often 50 to 70% off as retailers clear winter stock for spring arrivals.

March

• No major category bottoms out. Mostly a transition month. The exception is winter clothing clearance continuing into March.

April

• Tax refund spending. Retailers know this and run modest sales on furniture, gardening tools, and home improvement, but the discount depth is small. Skip unless you have a specific need.

May (Memorial Day, last Monday)

• Mattresses. First major mattress event of summer. 30 to 60% off MSRP, often with bonus pillows or sheets.
• Big appliances. Refrigerators, washers, dryers. Last year's models clear out.
• Grills. Weber, Char-Broil, Pit Boss, Traeger. Full season ahead, deepest manufacturer-direct pricing.
• Patio furniture. Early-summer pricing window. Not as deep as Labor Day but selection is wider.

June

• Father's Day (third Sunday). Tools, tech accessories, grilling gear. Real but modest discounts.
• Mid-month tech pre-Prime-Day. Some Amazon-branded devices (Echo, Fire TV) start dropping in late June ahead of Prime Day.

July (4th of July + Prime Day)

• Mattresses (4th of July). Matches Memorial Day pricing.
• Grills (4th of July). Manufacturer end-of-Q2 push. Often the deepest grill pricing of the year.
• Big appliances. Continues from Memorial Day.
• Echo, Fire TV, Kindle, Ring (Prime Day). Year's lowest prices on Amazon hardware. 40 to 60% off MSRP.
• Mid-tier wireless earbuds. Soundcore, Tozo, JLab, EarFun bottom out on Prime Day.
• Robot vacuums. iRobot Roomba, Eufy, Shark routinely 30 to 50% off during Prime Day.
• Kitchen appliances (Prime Day). Instant Pot, Ninja, KitchenAid attachments, air fryers. Often the year's lowest pricing window for these.

August (back-to-school)

• School supplies. Late July through first ten days of August. Walmart and Target loss-leader pricing.
• Mid-range laptops. First three weeks of August. The $400 to $800 student-targeted laptop window. Often matches or beats Black Friday on this specific tier.
• Dorm essentials. Mid-August at Walmart, Target, Bed Bath & Beyond.
• Tax-free weekends. Seventeen US states run tax-free shopping windows; check your state DOR.

September (Labor Day)

• Patio furniture. Year's lowest pricing window. 50 to 70% off as retailers clear summer inventory before winter freight.
• Grills (clearance). Display models and end-of-season clearance.
• Mattresses. Third major mattress event. Roughly matches Memorial Day and 4th of July; selection is thinner.
• Last year's major appliances. Deeper clearance on prior-year refrigerators, washers, dryers.
• Summer-weight clothing. 50 to 70% off at Old Navy, Gap, Macy's, Target.

October (Prime Big Deal Days, mid-month)

• Amazon hardware (round 2). Slightly weaker than July Prime Day but still meaningful for Echo, Fire TV, Kindle.
• Halloween candy and decor. Real but obvious.
• Toys (early holiday). Some major retailers start holiday toy pricing in late October to spread inventory.

November (Black Friday + Cyber Monday)

• TVs. Year's deepest pricing on mid-range and premium. The single most important TV-buying window.
• Laptops (premium and gaming). Apple, Dell XPS, MacBook Pro, gaming laptops. Best Buy and Costco lead Apple discounts.
• Apple products. AirPods Pro, MacBook Air, iPad. Best pricing of the year.
• Headphones over $200. Sony WH-1000XM, Bose QC, AirPods Max.
• Gaming bundles. PS5, Xbox, Switch with extra games and accessories.
• Software and digital subscriptions (Cyber Monday). Microsoft 365, Adobe Creative Cloud, antivirus, VPN.
• Toys. The full holiday window. Lego, Barbie, Nintendo Switch, learning toys.
• Kitchen appliances. Often matches Prime Day; sometimes beats it on larger appliances.

December

• Last-minute holiday deals. Mid-December clearance on toys and gift items that did not sell during Black Friday.
• Boxing Week (December 26 to January 1). Year-end clearance across most categories. Usually shallow but useful for items missed during Black Friday.
• Digital gift cards. Amazon, Apple, Steam, Xbox often discount digital cards in mid-December for last-minute gift-givers.

Categories that have no real annual low

Some products do not meaningfully discount, no matter what the marketing says:

• Current-generation iPhone. Apple maintains tight MSRP control. Real discounts are 5 to 10%, even on Black Friday. The carrier promos require 24-month line commitments, so the headline savings comes with strings.
• Current-generation flagship Samsung Galaxy. Same dynamics as iPhone.
• Gaming consoles (PS5, Xbox Series X) at launch pricing. Console hardware rarely discounts; bundles add value but the console itself stays at MSRP.
• Apple Watch (current generation). Real discounts are 5 to 10% during Black Friday and Cyber Monday only. Outside those windows, expect MSRP.
• Nintendo first-party games. Nintendo holds prices firm; their games rarely drop below 20% off MSRP even years after release.

For these items, the buying decision is "now or 18 months from now when the next generation drops." The "wait for a sale" strategy will not save meaningful money.