Finding the best deal on whatever you are looking for has become infinitely easier with the advent of smartphone apps that allow instant comparison shopping, and buyers’ clubs that offer discounts with membership. You can, however, realize ever greater savings when you know the best time of day, week or year to shop. Whether you need to restock your pantry, want to update your wardrobe, or see a new vehicle in your future, knowing when the best prices will be available could help you keep more money in your pockets.

Best time to shop for clothes

Clothing shopaholics may already know that Thursday evenings is the best time to find deals in apparel stores, given that this is when most retailers reorganize, re-stock, and mark down items in anticipation of the weekend rush. For seasonal changes, you can expect better prices if you are able to wait six to eight weeks into the season rather than shopping when new fashions first hit the salesroom floor. Similarly, you may be able to get steal-of-a-deal bargains on your perennial favorites if you buy them at the end of a season when retailers want to move out last season’s stock to make room for next season’s must-haves. Signing up online for a marketer’s newsletter is yet another way to learn firsthand about flash sales and other bargains that may not otherwise be advertised.

Best time to shop for a car

While your motivations for buying a car may be varied, your pursuit of the best price on your new set of wheels will most likely be single-minded. When shopping for the best car deals, remember the “end ofs” – end of the day, end of the month, and end of the model year.

The best prices are generally available at the end of a model year, mostly late-summer to early-fall, when car dealers will want to free up their lot and salesroom space for the next year’s models. Dealerships are also motivated to make better deals at the end of the month in order to reach sales quotas. Also, according to the AutoTrader car-buying website, you are more likely to get a better deal at the end of the day when salespeople are less likely to let a promising buyer walk out the door without making the sale.

In addition, the day of the week when you shop for a vehicle can make a difference in the price you pay. A study conducted by TrueCar.com found that a shopper who purchases a car on a Friday could pay $2,000 more than a shopper for the same car would pay on a Sunday.

Like clothing and cars, there are best shopping times for almost every item we want and use in our daily lives. Knowing that the best time to shop for an air conditioner is when the weather is coldest, or that there are fewer grocery coupons in the Sunday paper during summer months than winter months, can have a positive effect on a household’s budget. Thrifty shopper put the old adage “time is money” into good use by learning the rhythms of retailers and putting that knowledge into action.