How to shop Memorial Day sales the right way, according to experts

For What It’s Worth is a live podcast about the stuff we use, the trends we question and the products we can’t stop talking about. Stream new episodes bi-weekly on YouTube , hosted by NBC Select editorial director Lauren Swanson and NBC Select reporter Zoe Malin . Shop our product picks below and on Amazon .

You’re only going to see more and more retailers kick off their Memorial Day sales in the next few days, but especially if you’re tightening your budget due to rising gas and grocery prices, knowing what’s actually worth buying is key. In this episode of NBC Select’s For What It’s Worth Podcast, editorial director Lauren Swanson and I break down exactly that: the best Memorial Day sales to shop, what categories to stay away from right now and how to get extra money back while shopping. Find that information and more below.

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Episode transcript

ZOE : Welcome back to our Memorial Day episode.

ZOE : Are you someone who considers Memorial Day the official start of summer?

LAUREN: I can’t say that I’ve ever really thought about it. I’m not a big summer person, so I don’t really celebrate it.

ZOE : I couldn’t agree more with you. I don’t celebrate the beginning of summer either. I actually feel sad when it’s Memorial Day, because I know the weather is about to be horrible.

LAUREN : I do find Memorial Day more hopeful than Labor Day.

LAUREN : It’s more energetic out of the three-day summer weekend holidays. This goes against what the days are actually about, but Memorial Day is more happy and Labor Day feels more somber.

ZOE : Because you’re mourning the seasons rather than the meaning of the holidays.

ZOE : I would completely agree with that. That’s so funny. But I do feel like May is a hopeful month, and it is, if you’re not already starting to prep for spring or prep for summer in April, I feel like you get to May and you get to Memorial Day, and you’re like, all right, time to buckle down.

LAUREN: And it’s a grilling holiday for sure.

LAUREN : It’s an outdoor holiday. Sometimes the weather isn’t always hot, hot, hot. May and Memorial Day, at least here in New York, still have a cold, crisp morning feel. It’s hot during the middle of the day, and then it’s comfortable.

ZOE: Is that the first firework holiday? Yes, right?

LAUREN: They do fireworks for Memorial Day? I’ve never gone to them. Parades, yes.

ZOE : Maybe I’m thinking about parades, but you know, it’s celebratory.

LAUREN : Growing up, Memorial Day parades had this big hype, but as a kid I didn’t like it because they didn’t throw candy at the Memorial Day parade.

ZOE: Oh, interesting. I mean, listen, I would also be there for the candy.

LAUREN: The reason for the season is not that you’re there for the candy.

ZOE : Well, a reason for the season is partly shopping.

ZOE : We are here to talk about sales, and do I shop Memorial Day sales? I was trying to decide.

ZOE: I do think I shop Memorial Day sales, because I feel like once we get to May, I have gone through my closet enough to decide if I have enough warmer weather attire to last me May through August. I think if the answer is no, I get some essentials during Memorial Day sales.

ZOE : I definitely feel like I’ve gotten some cute little flowy dresses at Old Navy and Gap.

LAUREN : You’re a sucker for a summer dress.

ZOE: Yes, during Memorial Day. I think that that has been the avenue I go down recently.

LAUREN: So, once again, you’re our what to buy and what to skip shopping expert for these sale event days.

LAUREN : What do you recommend that people skip? Let’s start with skip, because I feel like that’s always more fun and easy.

LAUREN : What do you recommend that people skip during Memorial Day sales?

ZOE : Here’s the thing: Memorial Day is the beginning of a season. It’s the beginning of the summer, and because of that, a lot of people start thinking about what they do not have, like I just said. You do not have your warm weather attire.

ZOE : You do not have your beach gear. And are those things on sale? Yes. Are they the best deals? No. The best deals are going to be after Labor Day, because that’s when retailers want to clear all that stuff off of shelves.

LAUREN: Except for Amazon Prime Day in July. [ Editor’s note: Amazon recently announced that it’s hosting Prime Day in June this year, a deviation from the norm .]

ZOE : That’s true, that’s very true. But during Memorial Day, would I skip those things if you do not need them? Yes, I would. I would wait until after Labor Day when the clearance sales start. But at the same time, if you do need them, and you genuinely are not going to be able to live without them for the next few months, this is your time to buy them. That goes for your fashion. It also goes for cooling appliances like air conditioners and fans. You’re not so much in the thick of the warm weather that prices on things like patio furniture, grills and cooling appliances are skyrocketing. We’re still kind of at the beginning of the season, so if you have to buy those things and you cannot live without them, fine, buy them during Memorial Day, because at least you’re saving something. But they also are in the skip category, if that makes sense, so you kind of have to decide what your compromise is there.

LAUREN: Well, that kind of goes back to our general principle with any sale, regardless of whether it’s Black Friday, Cyber Monday, Amazon Prime Day, Memorial Day, Presidents’ Day, whatever it is: If you don’t genuinely need it, it is not a good deal.

ZOE: I completely agree, and it is the end of May, so you then have all of June with no sales. I was trying to decide if there were any sales in June, but there are not. Well, actually, the end of June is really when July Fourth sales start, and then you have Amazon Prime Day. So, basically, July is a whole big sale. So if you can wait on any of those summer things to see if they drop any more in price once we get to July Fourth and Amazon Prime Day, do it. There are things that you might not need immediately during the rest of May and early June, but if you do need them and you can save on them, fine — get the summery dress, get the cute sandals. It is what it is. But the absolute best thing to buy during Memorial Day are those typical three-day holiday weekend products: the large appliances, the furniture and the mattresses and bedding. Those still are the best deals to buy during three-day holiday weekends.

LAUREN: When would you say is a good time to buy tech? We talked about this: It’s Black Friday and Cyber Monday, right?

ZOE: Tech is hard. During the beginning half of the year, the sales are not great. They really aren’t.

LAUREN : So you’d skip tech for Memorial Day? ZOE : I would skip tech during Memorial Day. The first time tech deals are genuinely great is Amazon Prime Day. Amazon Prime Day is really when they discount most Amazon-owned devices, and that goes for things like Ring, Echo and the Kindle — anything that Amazon owns. But a lot of brands that sell tech, especially these smaller tech devices like Apple Watches and AirPods, all those kinds of things have great sales during Prime Day. Then, during Labor Day, some tech sales are good if they are school-related, like a laptop, a tablet, an e-reader — anything someone might need to bring to college, so college tech you’ll find some good sales during Labor Day. And then the best time of year overall is Black Friday and Cyber Monday. That’s when the TVs and the gaming stations are on sale.

LAUREN: Because Memorial Day sales are kind of right around graduation season, is there anything that maybe new grads — high school grads going into college or college grads going into their first apartment — should look for during Memorial Day?

ZOE: I would say furniture pieces, 100 percent. If you can buy them during Memorial Day sales and store them until you go to college or until you’re moving into your first apartment, do it. There are great sales. The same goes for mattresses. If you’re moving between, let’s say, Memorial Day and July Fourth, or July Fourth and Labor Day, and you can get that mattress during any of those sales, it will pay off. It’s annoying because if you’re moving into a new apartment, you probably need a new TV, and that’s not a great thing to buy during these sales. Are there sales? Sure, but they’re not phenomenal. So, I would definitely stick with the mattresses and the furniture if you are someone who is moving, or, like you said, are going into a dorm or something like that. That’s really where you can save a lot. But the deepest back-to-school related discounts are during Labor Day and Prime Day. That’s when any of those accessory type items — backpacks, lunch boxes, anything you need to decorate your dorm, the little shower caddies — that’s when you’ll see those types of deals be more prevalent.

LAUREN: So, skip that for Memorial Day, buy it for Labor Day.

ZOE: Yes, but it’s annoying because some colleges start before Labor Day, and then in that case, you’re going to have to buy during Amazon Prime Day, so it’s a puzzle with all of these sales.

LAUREN: You probably need a patchwork of buying different things at different times.

LAUREN : Which is the smart way to do it: buy this during that sale, your other thing during this sale. And that’s the way you can get the biggest bang for your buck.

ZOE: And also, if you shop during these three-day holiday weekend sales, retailers are much more likely to offer you additional incentives. They’ll give you free delivery and free installation. They might take your old mattress away. If you don’t buy during one of these big, marquee, three-day holiday weekend sales, and you just buy during one of their random one-off sales, you might not get all the added stuff that genuinely does save you a lot of money. Installation of a dishwasher can be $200, so if you can save that because you bought it on Memorial Day, lucky you. I would also say during Memorial Day, when it comes to summer products like beach accessories and all of that, again, we do tend to see the best deals after Labor Day, which is counterintuitive, because you want to use them before Labor Day. So, if you see something that you absolutely need, buy it, but just know that you’re going to be frustrated in a few months because that same thing is going to be on sale for less during Labor Day. Just say that to yourself. You’re like, I have to make this decision now because I need it, and I cannot give it up. Just make peace with it. You’ll save on something else. That’s my advice.

ZOE : It does. It definitely does. And also, if you are following the rules of shopping these sales 70 or 80 percent of the time and doing the work, and the other 30 or 20 percent of the time you’re impulse buying a little bit or you’re not making the best decisions, I feel like it all balances out in the end. So that’s our advice.

LAUREN: Great. Any final thoughts on Memorial Day shopping?