Saving Money

Summer is Over For Retailers, Which Means Great Bargains for You!

Earlier this year, my wife and I were looking for some new patio furniture. Thanks to my wife we scored a great deal. We’ve been enjoying the new furniture throughout the summer whether we’re entertaining friends and family or it’s just a family s’more night around the fire table. As the summer has progressed, my wife determined that she really wished we had purchased an umbrella to create shade when it was sunny and hot.

After work yesterday my wife found out that Summer is apparently over on July 20^th because all the seasonal summer items are on clearance. The number of items in stock were low, but if we looked hard enough we might just find a great deal.

After a few phone calls, we headed out to a couple of stores and scored some great deals.

• Patio Umbrella #1 : We found a patio umbrella at Bed, Bath, and Beyond that would provide perfect shade on our deck which gets a lot of morning and afternoon sun. The original price was $149.99, but it was on clearance for $49.99.
• Patio Umbrella #2: We also have a large cement patio off the back of our home where we do most of our entertaining. It gets a lot of evening sun and requires a bit larger umbrella. We found an umbrella on clearance at Costco, regular price $239.99, but sale price was a mere $79.
• Lounge Chair: We hadn’t planned on getting a lounge chair, but this was too good of a deal to pass up. My wife had actually seen the heavy duty wicker chairs earlier in the year and wanted one, but the $330 price tag was too high. Next to the umbrellas sat a display model that was on sale for $59.

The three items we purchased had a total original price tag of almost $720, but we paid just under $188. That’s almost 75% off! We placed the items on our deck and patio, and they look marvelous. Retailers may be closing the book on the season, but there’s still plenty of summer to enjoy outdoors.

Image courtesy of Stuart Miles at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Have you picked up any summer items on clearance this year? What was the best bargain you’ve found?

Brought to you courtesy of Brock

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Brock Kernin

Brock is a software engineer by day and personal finance blogger at night. He is a fitness junkie and enjoys grilling and smoking meat. Married with two children,  Brock strives to improve his skills as a husband and father, and is always on the lookout to stretch his family’s budget as far as he can.