Best things to buy in November

There are good deals to be found year-round for just about anything.  However, it's the nature of business that a lot of deals happen at the same time during the year.

Best things to buy in November

First, a word of warning: This month starts the beginning of the holiday shopping season. A whole bunch of stuff goes on sale once we're in shooting distance of the holidays.

Electronics are typically a biggie during Black Friday and the like, so buy pretty much everything with a whole lot of caution before Thanksgiving.

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• Large appliances. If you're looking for a new dishwasher, vacuum cleaner, chest freezer, or some similar Energy Star® appliance, November may be a great month to get a deal.
• Small appliances and cookware. Not sure why these are on sale this month, but there you go. You can prepare to get your holiday party host(ess) on with deals on cookware and small appliances (think OXO or Crock-Pot).
• Candy. Especially marked-down Halloween candy. Our local Walmart was already putting out Christmas candy! (So it begins.) I'm not really sure what the sweet spot is for deals (sorry, couldn't resist!) but the discounts will get greater as the choices of what's left get slimmer.
• Wedding dresses. My wife and I got engaged in June, but apparently, this is the popular time to get engaged. The quarter from November to January capture 43% of the engagements. So this is the time that shops are stocking up on dresses.
• Electronics, electronics, and more electronics. Older iPhones, 4k televisions, laptops, some video game consoles, PC games, video games, Apple watches, curved TVs — November is electronics' heyday for the most part. (You might want to wait on higher-end computers, though.)
• Seasonal fruits, nuts, and veggies. There's always something in season, and it's cheaper and healthier to get it in season. Some favorites for November for fruits are apples (these are in season pretty much for the rest of the year), chestnuts, cranberries, elderberries, passion fruit, pears, quince, and walnuts. Also in season are these veggies: artichoke, beetroot, butternut squash, celeriac, celery, jerusalem artichoke (which look nothing like the other artichoke), kale, kohlrabi, leeks, parsnips, potatoes, pumpkin, swede (a.k.a. rutabaga), turnips, and wild mushrooms.
• Seasonal meats, fish, and poultry.  I never thought of these things as having a “season” but here you go: brill (!), crab, goose, haddock, hake, halibut, john dory (!), lemon sole, lobster, monkfish, mussels, oysters, plaice (!), scallops, sea bass, squid, and turbot (!) are good in November. Some of these things I've never had — particularly the fish with exclamation points next to them. They're all pretty funky-looking, too.