海角大神

On the first Friday and Saturday of August each year, Iowa has a聽聽on 鈥渟elect clothing and footwear,鈥� which actually translates into 鈥渧irtually all clothing and footwear.鈥�

It鈥檚 at a great time of the year. A lot of parents are ready to start shopping for back-to-school clothes for their growing children and may be looking for new fall and winter items for themselves, as the weather starts to cool off starting in September here in Iowa.

Thus, the savvier shoppers in Iowa tend to do much of their clothes shopping on that weekend.聽

Of course, smart retailers recognize that there will be a lot of clothes shoppers out and about that weekend, so they advertise hard for their business. They usually run pretty strong sales to get those savvy shoppers into their stores.聽

Add those two together and you end up with some pretty steep discounts on clothing. In fact,聽the only time each year that I buy clothes (other than emergencies) is that weekend.

Thes sales tax holidays happen in聽聽at various points throughout the year, and they include many different items, including computers, school supplies, firearms, energy efficient products, and hurricane preparedness materials (though clothes are the most common item). Most of the time, these holidays are on consistent dates from year to year 鈥� check your local state for more details.

My experience with other state sales tax holidays has been much like my experience in Iowa: savvy shoppers waiting until the holiday and retailers fighting for customers with big sales.

So, what can you do to maximize this?

If your state or an adjoining state has a sales tax holiday, be patient.聽Keep track of the things you need that match your state tax holiday and wait for that holiday to come around again before buying.

Plan ahead a little.聽If you know you鈥檙e going to need new winter clothes for your little one, buy them early during the holiday and stick them in storage until you need them.

Save up.聽Buying a wardrobe refresh for everyone in the family at once can be pricy. Don鈥檛 go into credit card debt for it. Sock away a few dollars each month so that you have a healthy budget of cash to spend when the tax free holiday comes around.

Planning ahead can save you a lot of money.

This post is part of a yearlong series called 鈥�365 Ways to Live Cheap (Revisited),鈥� in which I鈥檓 revisiting the entries from my book 鈥�365 Ways to Live Cheap,鈥� which is available聽at Amazon聽and at bookstores everywhere.