What not to buy in April

Thomas Peter / Reuters

April shopping time is here, and we've scoped out all the best deals online and in-store. To help guide you towards savvy purchases, we dug through the DealNews archives from years past to see you should hold off on purchasing. 

Peruse the advice, then consider signing up for the DealNews Select Newsletter to get the best deals of the day delivered to your inbox.

For the best Apple watch deals, do not buy from Apple.

No one was surprised when Apple introduced new watch bands at its recent event, but the company did catch many off guard by slashing the starting price of the Apple Watch by $50 to $299.

However, we've seen the smartwatch available pretty regularly for $249 from resellers like Target and Best Buy, with refurbs priced as low as $200. As usual, we recommend not buying directly from Apple, and looking for discounts at certified resellers. Target has consistently offered $100 off the Apple Watch, so keep an eye out for it to drop to $199 there.

Wait 2 months for deals on the new iPad Pro.

Apple also introduced a new 9.7" iPad Pro with prices starting at $599, and we've actually already seen our first discount on the tablet. But this deal takes a meager $31 off one of the higher end models, bundled with AppleCare+, bringing it to $938. We expect the deals to get much better by summer.

Normally, iPads are introduced in October, right before Black Friday; if we exclude the usual holiday discounts that Apple tablets tend to see, then the first iPad deals usually come two months after the release — and are modest. Thus, we anticipate seeing the entry-level 9.7" iPad Pro for as low as $527 by the end of May. But if you wait an additional two months, you can expect to see the tablet starting from $467.

Wait until Memorial Day for mattresses, tools, and appliances.

Department stores almost always roll out special sales for holiday weekends, and Memorial Day usually provides excellent discounts on select home items. If you wait until next month, you'll find tools that are up to 50% off, large appliances for about 30% off, and mattresses that get an extra discount of 10% to 40% off.

In fact, for the past few years, we've seen much deeper discounts on mattresses in May than in April. Therefore, any discounts you see this month will very likely get even steeper if you wait.