Best and Worst Buys of May 2013

You'll find deals on clothing, TVs and more this month.

You will find deals on plenty of items in May, especially at the end of the month when retailers have Memorial Day sales. Usually these sales feature some of the best discounts on apparel and home goods of the year. Here’s what other items will be great buys in May -- and what you should wait a little longer to buy, according to dealnews.com, which analyzes deals from past years to predict what will be discounted this year.

Clothing. Retailers discount spring apparel by as much as 75% this month. Hold out until Memorial Day sales, though, for the best deals. Look for coupons to help lower the price even more on Memorial Day sale items.

Gym memberships. As the weather heats up and people head outside to exercise, gyms often have promotions to lure customers back inside. They usually offer discounts on initiation fees or the first few months of membership. But dealnews.com recommends haggling to get even more discounts.

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HDTVs. Brand-name 60-inch LCD HDTVs are now about $50 cheaper, on average, than off-brand versions. Prices on name-brand models are near $700. You also can find name-brand 55-inch 3D HDTVs for $750 to $799 and the off-brand Coby HDTV at an all-time low of $649.

What a little longer to buy ...

Gaming consoles. Dealnews.com reports that it's a bad time to buy a PlayStation 3 or Xbox 360 because new versions of both will be released soon. Prices on the current systems will likely drop after the Electronic Entertainment Expo in June. According to dealnews.com, Microsoft may even cut the price of the Xbox 360 to $99.

Video games. The price of Xbox and PlayStation games might also drop when new versions of the consoles are announced because there's a chance that the current games might not run on the new systems, according to dealnews.com.

What not to buy...

Jewelry. You should consider buying your mom or wife something other than jewelry for Mother's Day because prices spike before this holiday (and you won't find deals after it).

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Cameron Huddleston
Former Online Editor, Kiplinger.com

Award-winning journalist, speaker, family finance expert, and author of Mom and Dad, We Need to Talk.

Cameron Huddleston wrote the daily "Kip Tips" column for Kiplinger.com. She joined Kiplinger in 2001 after graduating from American University with an MA in economic journalism.