Shop The After Christmas Sales

A few thoughtful presents for those close to you and an assortment of general gifts on hand, available for people you forgot to buy for or those who unexpectedly gave you a gift, are all that you need on the big day. Children, coworkers & associates (your hair stylist, babysitter, etc..), neighbors, parents and girlfriends or boyfriends / fiancees are the most important people to have gifts ready for. Timing IS important for these gifts. You don't want to show up at the holiday party empty handed. Children deserve to wake up Christmas morning with Christmas gifts. You may be single soon if you don't have a gift ready for you significant other!

Anyone who you won't see on Christmas can have their gift presented the next time you see them. Married couples on a budget may choose to save on gifting by waiting until after Christmas passes and the sales start. If you won't be seeing friends until New Year's, get their gifts after Christmas (promptly) and have them ready for any New Year event you might see them at.

After Christmas sales are also great for stocking up on next year's Christmas decorations and Valentines Day gifts like jewelry, perfume or bath/body products. That is just the start of reasons why you CAN wait until the After-Christmas sales arrive.

According to SmartMoney.com's Kelli B. Grant, the Three Best Holiday Deals of December 2009 were: game consoles, video games and Blu-Ray discs. Some of the retailers mentioned in the article are Amazon, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Best Buy, Buy.com and Wal-Mart.

Those interviewed for their opinions in this article included the General Manager of Techbargains.com, Yung Trang, and Dan de Grandpre, Chief Executive of DealNews.com. In addition to mentioning these pre-holiday deals, de Grandpre mentions waiting a day or two after the December 26 sales have taken place. His reasoning is that it takes this amount of time for the retailers to gauge foot traffic, what is and what is not selling, as well as to react to competitor's prices.

Another suggestion? Hold on to your receipts and watch the prices AFTER you buy your item. Why? Many retailers offer price-match plans. After-Christmas clearance sales can be the best time to take advantage of this program.

Check here to see an alphabetical listing of what the big sales themes are at the top After Christmas Sales, along with some of the highlighted doorbuster deals and their advertised sale prices. This area will be updated as information becomes available.

- K-Mart - KMart's "Storganization" sale is offering 50% off on storage and organizational products sold online at K-Mart.
Click here for up to 50% off Storage & Organization including bins, hangers and more: now through January 1, 2011.

Follow this link to view all after-Christmas specials available online at Kmart.

- Macys - No information has been released yet for the 2010 After Christmas Sales at Macys. Check back soon for sales updates.

- Sears - No information has been released yet for the 2010 After Christmas Sales at Sears. Check back soon for sales updates.

- Target - No information has been released yet for the 2010 After Christmas Sales at Target. Check back soon for sales updates.

- Wal-Mart - No information has been released yet for the 2010 After Christmas Sales at Wal-Mart. Check back soon for sales updates.

All year round you can be getting ready to stock up large on reduced merchandise after the next big round of Christmas shopping. The After Christmas Sales exist to clear a store of leftover inventory quickly: they want to stock the shelves with the new 'it' items for the upcoming year. The public has just been blitzed with the marketing and mass hysteria of the holidays, consumerism at its strongest. When the returned gifts return to the stores, becoming an unpredictable inventory, this furthers the store's goal to clear its shelves as soon as possible.

Decide what you'll be buying during the holiday season now, and what purchases can wait until the After Christmas Sales. You can make the most sane and informed decisions when you're not counting the days you have left until Christmas shopping is over.

Electronics Purchases - If you're considering the purchase of a big ticket electronics item during the next year you can start your research now. Find out what the major brands are and what different features they offer. What are their return policies like should something go wrong? If you're making a gaming purchase, how is their backwards compatibility and will the games you want to play typically be made for the gaming system you are looking at? Will it be easy or difficult to upgrade your purchase once the time comes for that? These are all questions you can be thinking about now. You'll be in a much better position to make a smart purchase when the time comes for doorbuster sales if you know what you'll be getting into.

Cosmetics and Wellness Items - These have a shelf life and are consumed throughout the year, regardless of the season. You won't find many after Christmas discounts on single items. Many unsold gift sets will be around though - much more than a store would probably like to keep on hand after the holiday shopping season. If the set is wrapped in holiday-themed decor thats even better for you! The store won't want to carry Christmas-themed sets when March rolls around. Figure that your cosmetic items will last approximately 6 months (you should discard cosmetics after this length of time). With this in mind, July should be the last time before the After Christmas Sales, that you make a major cosmetics purchase during the year. When your summer cosmetics are almost exhausted, you'll have the January After Christmas Sales gift sets to select from!!

Clothing and Accessories - In many northern states in January, severe winter weather has yet to come. You'll have at least a good 3 more months of chilly temperatures as well. Stock up on winter apparel and be prepared. Don't go for trends, those change yearly. Now is the time to stock up on the staples: black tights, heavy socks, thermal underwear, wool sweaters, turtlenecks in basic jackets, skiwear, leather gloves.

After Christmas sales are an ideal time for you to use that Christmas cash you got and also a great way to spend your gift cards you received. You can use this opportunity to get things you may need with your gifts (docking stations for iPods, games for that new gaming system, a carrier bag for your laptop, etc..). You can buy the needed materials or furniture to store new stuff you got - think bookshelves, DVD towers, plastic shoeboxes for kids toys, drawer liners, storage benches or underbed storage for sheets and such. Finally, you can really think ahead and buy gifts for the next holiday, Valentines Day!

The key to successfully shopping the After Christmas Sales is to have a plan. Before you even start looking at the advertisements, write a list of what you need. After you've written your list, then start looking for the best place to find a good deal on those products. You should start on this step before Christmas - so you can relax on the holiday itself and not worry too much about shopping preparations.

With all of the information that was presented here, do you feel like you should've started your personal shopping research a while back? Being a savvy-shopper is a full-time, year-round job. Here are a few ideas that you can implement year-round to get the best bargains possible.

• January - Shopping the returns - Stores are still liquidating their holiday merchandise. The returned items are also starting to appear back on shelves. You're still After Christmas shopping at the January Sales!


• February - You've already got Valentines Day taken care of! - Those perfume & cologne gift sets that were in the after Christmas sales? You took care of it! Maybe you even bought some jewelry too! Clever you, you also bought red wrapping paper! Did you get champagne in the New Years Sales? Now just worry about dinner, chocolate and flowers.


• March


• April


• May


• June - Start tracking prices. - Retailers are in the summer slump months and aren't generally raising prices. You should think about any high-end jewelry or technology purchases you may be making in the next year and start a journal to track these prices. Shop around and see who carries these items. What sort of prices are they? Don't jump at the first sale, these items follow a cycle. Just keep track of it so you can recognize truly good deals during the end of year clearance sales.


• July


• August


• September


• October - Getting out holiday decorations and taking inventory


• November - Figuring out what you need - Maybe you can set up gift registries online to make sure you don't get duplicate or unneeded gifts. Having an idea of the sorts of items you'd like makes it easier on everyone. Also - if you KNOW you'll get something (like lots of new toys in the house if you have kids) - you can be thinking about where you'll put all this stuff! You should already have an idea of what brands and products you'll specifically be looking for when it comes to technology. Smart shoppers will also have been watching the prices for these items for a few months now: you'll be able to spot the REAL deals when you see them!


• December - December 26 through New Years Sales - This is where you find the doorbuster items and big December 26 sales. Get your returns ready with gift receipts. Organize the gift cards you've received so you can put them to the best use. Check the flyers and online for where the sales will be and devise your plan of attack. Then - go shopping!