So I’m a first year student this coming fall, and I’ve been looking on discount sites for mattress toppers and sheets and such. It looks like the prices have been cut low and there are some coupons out, and I’ve heard to start buying early because they run out fast. Should I wait until back to school sales in mid-July or take advantage of the slow season and buy now?
Whenever you like - but there will be sales during back-to-school time, too. I think it also depends on where you intend to buy it from, and how fancy it’s going to be. Lower cost retailers like Target and Walmart have big back-to-school sales; department stores in the midrange don’t have the big blowout back-to-school sales in the same way, and tend to have Fourth of July sales or other summer sales in July.
I also don’t know that they run out fast. You can get a mattress topper and bedding and sheets pretty much any time of the year, and these companies stock big over the summer because they know they’ll get a school rush in August. If you have to get a twin XL set in a big college town you might have trouble - I grew up in Atlanta, which is a big college town where most people stay local to go to school, and so finding twin XL stuff very close to the beginning of the school year was sometimes a problem (or rather, the selection was limited). But I also went off to college before online shopping was a huge deal and so you’ll probably have fewer problems.
And hey, if you buy from a place with a good return policy, you can always buy something now and then see if there are better deals in August.
D and I opted for one of the packages from the school - the Residence Hall Linens program. She’s actually not the first in the family to order, and we’ve had good experiences every time. They both just really liked the patterns, and that everything coordinated. It took a lot off the list in one shot. Good Luck wherever you shop!
Look in the sale stuff in stores and online anytime you want. While there might be big blowout back to school sales at some stores, many have sale items all the time. For example, Pottery Barn Teen has a whole sale section on their website that still miraculously has nice styles and patterns at good prices. They also have sets with duvets, covers, and sheets/pillowcases that all coordinate like the RHL deals, and are really good quality.