The big question that many of you are asking upon reading this title is … well, what exactly is a “white sale?”

During the month of January, many retailers offer sales on household goods, particularly bedding and bath supplies, such as bedsheets, towels, blankets and other household cloth items. This is a long tradition in department stores, dating back to department store competition in the late 1870s in Philadelphia, and gradually spreading across the country in the following decades.

If you look around at the retailers in your area, you’re likely to find some white sales going on right now. Here are five strategies that will help you take advantage of these sales.

Take stock of what you have. Look through your linens, towels, blankets, washcloths and other such household cloth items to figure out what you own and whether or not you actually need anything. This should always be the first step when approaching a sale, after all. Do you need any of the stuff on sale?

If so, this is a great time to refresh your closets, especially if your items are starting to become threadbare. Bedsheets can wear and tear. Towels gradually lose their fibers and softness. Kitchen hot pads can eventually lose their ability to protect your hands and countertops. Accidents can also ruin items, and you might have fewer than you might actually want on hand.

Those are all great reasons to replenish your inventory. But don’t bother looking at white sales unless you have a real reason to go shopping. Buying more of something you don’t need isn’t a good use of money. If you think that you might need it in a year … well, wait a year for next year’s white sales!

Shop around before you buy anything. The first thing you should do is identify which stores are actually having white sales. You can start by checking the websites you shop at regularly for bedding or linen sales, as well as the brick-and-mortar stores you frequent. Other specialty stores like Bed Bath & Beyond are also worth checking out.

Get an idea of the respective sales at each store by viewing flyers, and then do a little homework. Do the brands on sale have a good reputation? Will they last? Do they come in the colors you need?

A bit of homework can save you from making a trip to a store that won’t have anything that you need. Remember, when you’re doing this comparison shopping, you should be focused solely on the needs you identified.

When purchasing bedsheets, get extra sets of pillowcases. This seems like an odd tip, but it’s one that proves useful, especially during white sales. Whenever you buy a new set of bedsheets, buy a double set of pillowcases to go with it, for two reasons.

First, pillowcases usually wear out much faster than the bedsheets themselves. But if you have spare pillowcases, you can wear out the first set and easily replace it with the matching set.

Another reason is for guests (or perhaps even for yourself). If you have a bed partner and each person has two pillows, then you’ll need four pillowcases. I usually try to have two pillows on each side of the bed for guests, as some people want more pillows, either for head rest or body positioning, and pillowcases keep the pillows clean.

A white sale makes this double pillowcase strategy less expensive than it might otherwise be.

Buy cotton towels. Cotton towels tend to feel plush, have a long lifespan and are absorbent, which is what you need when drying off. Adding all that up, cotton towels should be the focus of your towel buying experience. It’s worth checking the tag to find out the fiber of the towel. While there is a bit of difference between varieties of cotton, the difference usually isn’t worth a ton of money.

Many stores sell mixed-fiber towels at a lower price, but this isn’t always true, especially during white sales. Cotton towels tend to last a lot longer than mixed-fiber towels, or ones made from purely synthetic fibers, so they’re worth a small premium.

Get rain checks if the store doesn’t have what you want. If you go to a store intending to buy red towels for your bathroom or light blue sheets for your bedroom, only to find that they’re out of stock, don’t give up. Ask for a rain check on the item so that you can pay the white sale price when they come back in stock.

This is always a good policy for sales, and any retailer should be happy to do this for you. Not only does the strategy save you money, it also ensures that you get the exact item you want, not just something that will “kinda” work.

Today is a great day to go home and take stock of your linens. If you find that you actually need something, a white sale can certainly save you a lot of money.

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5 Tips to Take Advantage of January White Sales originally appeared on usnews.com