I've been tracking Amazon prices for years now and the one thing I keep telling people is: stop buying on impulse and start buying on a schedule. Amazon has a predictable rhythm. Once you know it, you stop paying full price.

January -- Post-Holiday Clearance Is Underrated

Everyone's broke from Christmas and Amazon knows it. January is actually one of the best months for home goods, small appliances, and holiday-adjacent stuff (think string lights, wrapping supplies, storage bins). Clearance discounts run 30-60% on seasonal items. Also: fitness gear. Amazon loads up on yoga mats, resistance bands, and home gym equipment right after New Year's and burns through inventory fast. Catch it in the first two weeks.

Subscribe & Save tip for January: this is a good time to set up subscriptions on household staples. Prices on cleaning supplies and pantry items tend to dip slightly in January as Amazon clears Q4 overstock.

February -- Super Bowl TVs Are Actually Real

The Super Bowl TV deal is not a myth. Every February, 65"+ TVs drop 20-35% as retailers compete for that game-day impulse buy. I picked up a 75" Toshiba Fire TV in February a couple years back for $480 -- same model was $699 in December. Amazon, Best Buy, and Walmart are all in a race that week. Amazon tends to move faster on price cuts, so check daily the week before the game.

Beyond TVs, February is quiet. Valentine's Day gifting bumps prices on jewelry and flowers. Skip those categories entirely.

March -- The Spring Sale Nobody Talks About

Amazon started running a formal Spring Sale around mid-March a few years ago and it keeps getting bigger. Garden tools, outdoor furniture, patio stuff -- this is the event for all of it. Discounts are usually in the 20-40% range, not as deep as Prime Day, but the selection for outdoor living is actually better in March than it is in July.

Luggage also goes on sale in March. People are planning spring trips. Amazon floods the page with suitcase deals. If you've been putting off replacing a broken carry-on, March is your window.

April and May -- Honestly Just Wait

These are the two weakest months for deals. There's no major shopping event anchoring them, prices float back up to normal, and Amazon is basically just running the business. Nothing to see here. If you need something urgent, buy it. Otherwise hold off.

One exception: Mother's Day in May bumps competition slightly on kitchen appliances and beauty products. If you're buying for someone else anyway, sometimes you can catch a sale stacked with that gifting pressure. But don't hold your breath.

June -- Pre-Prime Day Leaks and Early Deals

Amazon starts teasing Prime Day in late June now. They'll drop "early access" deals that are sometimes legitimately good. I've seen Kindle Paperwhites and Echo Dots hit Prime Day pricing in late June -- occasionally even lower because Amazon is trying to build momentum.

This is also when CamelCamelCamel becomes essential. Go to camelcamelcamel.com, paste any Amazon product URL, and you'll see the full price history. That "was $149, now $79" badge Amazon shows you? Check the camel. Sometimes that $149 hasn't been real since 2022.

July -- Prime Day Is the Real Deal

Prime Day is Amazon's biggest event and it's genuinely worth getting worked up about. Over the years the discounts have gotten deeper and the event has stretched to two full days. Best categories: Amazon's own devices (Fire tablets, Kindles, Echos, Ring cameras) which routinely hit 40-60% off. Electronics broadly do well. Instant Pots, robot vacuums, headphones -- these are Prime Day staples.

My actual strategy: I build a wishlist in June and add everything I've been considering. Then on Prime Day I go through the list and check each one against its CamelCamelCamel history. I only buy if it's actually at or near the historical low. Most years I buy 3-4 things. Most years at least one of them would have been a mistake without the price check.

Non-Prime members can still see many deals but you'll miss the member-only ones. A free 30-day trial counts for Prime Day access.

August -- Back to School Has a Real Window

Laptops, monitors, backpacks, headphones, storage drives -- August is the back-to-school push and the deals are legitimate. 15-30% off on laptops is standard. Chromebooks in particular bottom out in August as every parent and student is shopping at once and competition is fierce.

Also: dorm/apartment supplies. Sheet sets, pillows, storage organizers, mini fridges. Amazon stacks these against Walmart and Target and the prices get competitive.

September and October -- Big Deal Days Snuck Up on Everyone

Amazon added a second major sale event in October called Prime Big Deal Days. It's smaller than July Prime Day but it's real. Electronics and Amazon devices get the same treatment -- 30-50% off on Echos, Fire tablets, Ring stuff. Laptops and headphones are competitive.

The strategic angle here: October Big Deal Days is two months before Black Friday. If you're planning to buy something for the holidays anyway, consider buying it in October. Prices in October vs. late November are frequently within 5% of each other. You just get the thing two months earlier without the stress.

November -- Black Friday / Cyber Monday

Here's the truth about Black Friday on Amazon: it's good, not magical. Amazon spreads deals across the entire month now. The "Black Friday" label shows up on things starting November 1st. Actual deepest discounts on TVs and big-ticket items tend to land the Monday-Wednesday before Thanksgiving.

Cyber Monday is legitimately strong for electronics and laptops specifically. If you're buying a laptop for someone as a gift, Cyber Monday is probably your best shot all year. Typical discounts: 20-40% on mid-range laptops.

Toys are also peak-discount in November. 30-40% off popular toys is normal, and this is the time to buy before specific items go out of stock entirely.

December -- Act Fast Early, Then Clean Up Late

First two weeks of December: prices are elevated. Amazon knows you're panicking about shipping cutoffs. Don't buy anything you can wait on.

December 26th onward: one of the best clearance events of the year. Anything holiday-adjacent gets slashed 40-70%. Set your CamelCamelCamel alerts and check back December 26-31.

The Subscribe & Save Timing Play

Subscribe & Save gives you an additional 5-15% off depending on how many subscriptions you have active. Stack that on top of a sale event and you're looking at serious savings on stuff you buy every month anyway. Best time to set up new subscriptions: Prime Day, Black Friday, or any sale event. You lock in the sale price for that first delivery, then manage from there.

The One Tool That Changes Everything

CamelCamelCamel. Free. Paste the Amazon product URL and see the full price history. Set an alert and it emails you when the price hits your target. I've been using it for years and it has saved me from buying things at "sale prices" that were actually regular prices with a fake strikethrough. Do not buy anything over $50 without checking it first.