When Is the Best Time of Year to Buy a Clearance Mattress?

By Trevor / May 19, 2026

Timing your mattress purchase correctly can mean the difference between paying full price and saving several hundred dollars on the exact same mattress. The mattress industry follows predictable seasonal patterns, and knowing when to shop — and when to hold off — is one of the most valuable pieces of knowledge a mattress buyer can have.

The Mattress Industry’s Sales Calendar

Unlike some retail categories where sales are unpredictable, the mattress industry operates on a fairly consistent promotional calendar. Most major retailers and brands run their deepest discount events at the same time each year, tied to federal holidays and seasonal inventory cycles.

This predictability works in your favor. If you know a major sale is three weeks away, waiting is almost always worth it. If you just missed a sale, the next major event gives you a concrete target date.

The Best Months to Buy a Clearance Mattress

February — Presidents’ Day

Presidents’ Day weekend (the third Monday in February) has become one of the strongest mattress sales events of the year. Retailers use this holiday as a vehicle for major clearance events, often clearing out inventory before the spring buying season. Discounts regularly reach 40–60% on in-stock clearance items, and bundle deals (mattress + foundation + bedding accessories) are common.

If you’re shopping for a clearance mattress in the first quarter of the year, Presidents’ Day is your primary target.

May — Memorial Day

Memorial Day (last Monday in May) is arguably the best single mattress sale event of the year. It coincides with spring inventory turnover — when manufacturers release new models and retailers need to clear older stock quickly. The combination of high sales motivation and peak clearance inventory creates ideal buying conditions.

Many direct-to-consumer brands run their deepest clearance pricing of the year around Memorial Day. If you can only pick one sale event to target, this is the one.

July — Independence Day

The Fourth of July produces a secondary sale window that often includes clearance pricing, though it’s typically less dramatic than Presidents’ Day or Memorial Day. Retailers use the holiday to move stock in the mid-year slow period. Online brands often run week-long sales rather than single-day events, giving you more time to research before buying.

September — Labor Day

Labor Day (first Monday in September) mirrors Memorial Day’s dynamic. It marks the end of summer and the beginning of fall inventory cycles. New mattress models arriving in autumn push older inventory into clearance, making Labor Day another strong buying window.

In-store retailers tend to be particularly motivated around Labor Day as they prepare for fall floor set changes. Visiting stores in person during this period can surface clearance deals that don’t always make it to websites.

November — Black Friday and Cyber Monday

Black Friday and Cyber Monday represent the largest mattress sales event of the year by volume. Nearly every major brand and retailer participates with significant discounts. For clearance shoppers specifically, the combination of year-end inventory pressure and holiday promotion motivation creates the deepest discounts available.

Online brands in particular tend to run their most aggressive pricing during Cyber Monday. If you’re comfortable buying online and don’t need to test a mattress in person, the Black Friday/Cyber Monday window can produce savings that surpass any other time of year.

Secondary Sales Windows Worth Watching

Beyond the major holiday events, several other periods produce clearance opportunities:

End of month — Retail salespeople often have monthly quotas. Visiting a store in the last week of the month, particularly in a slow sales month, can surface negotiating leverage that isn’t available at other times.

New model announcement periods — When a major brand announces a new mattress model or updated version, the previous iteration often moves to clearance quickly. Following brands on their email lists or social media can alert you to new model announcements before the older models sell out at clearance pricing.

January clearance — January is traditionally a slow retail month, and mattress stores often run post-holiday clearance to move inventory. While less dramatic than the major holiday events, January clearance pricing can offer solid value for shoppers who need to buy outside the peak sale windows.

How Far in Advance to Plan Your Purchase

The most common mistake clearance shoppers make is deciding to buy a mattress the week before a major sale event and then panicking if the specific model they want sells out. Planning 4–6 weeks in advance gives you time to:

Research mattress types and models that fit your sleep needs
Identify which retailers carry the models you want
Sign up for email lists to get early-access sale notifications
Set price alerts on models you’re tracking
Make a decision before inventory becomes limited

When You Can’t Wait for a Sale

Sometimes circumstances dictate buying outside of the optimal sale windows — a new home, a broken mattress, or another urgent need. In these cases, clearance pricing is still often available year-round through brand outlet sections and liquidation retailers. You may not get the deepest possible discount, but genuine clearance deals exist 365 days a year if you know where to look.

The holiday sale windows are the peaks, not the only opportunities. A clearance mattress bought in March at 35% off is still a better deal than a full-price mattress bought in May.

The Bottom Line on Timing

If you can plan your purchase around Memorial Day, Presidents’ Day, Labor Day, or Black Friday, you’ll consistently access the deepest clearance pricing available. These four sale windows are when the mattress industry concentrates its most aggressive inventory clearing, and the savings reflect that.

The effort of planning your purchase around these windows — even if it means sleeping on your current mattress a few extra weeks — typically yields hundreds of dollars in savings on exactly the same mattress you’d pay full price for otherwise.

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Disclosure: This page contains affiliate links. We may earn a commission if you purchase through our links at no extra cost to you. This supports our research and keeps our content free.

Beyond the major holiday sale windows, mattress clearance follows a monthly rhythm that savvy shoppers can exploit. The first week of the month is typically when new floor models arrive in showrooms — which means the previous display pieces move to clearance. Visiting stores in the first 7–10 days of a month gives you first access to freshly cleared inventory before it sells.

End-of-quarter periods (late March, late June, late September, late December) are also strong clearance windows. Retail managers push to hit quarterly sales targets, and clearing slow-moving or discontinued inventory at reduced prices helps them reach those numbers. A shopper who arrives during the last week of a fiscal quarter often finds both better pricing and more motivated salespeople.

Holiday Weekends: When Clearance Pricing Peaks

Five holiday weekends consistently produce the year’s best mattress clearance pricing. Understanding what drives each one helps you target the right event for your needs:

Presidents Day (February): One of the earliest major mattress sale weekends of the year, timed to capture consumers who received holiday gift money and are making considered purchases. Clearance sections are refreshed specifically for this weekend.
Memorial Day (May): The traditional start of mattress season. Retailers move spring inventory aggressively, and discontinued winter models hit clearance at deep discounts. This is consistently one of the two best weekends of the year.
Fourth of July (July): A smaller but genuine clearance opportunity, particularly useful because competition among buyers is lower than at the two biggest holiday events.
Labor Day (September): The other major annual mattress event. Fall inventory arrives, and summer models clear out. Premium brands like Tempur-Pedic and Purple put previous generations on clearance during this window.
Black Friday / Cyber Monday (November): Year-end clearance is aggressive both in-store and online. Direct-to-consumer brands offer their deepest annual discounts. Competition is highest here, but so are the absolute dollar savings available.

Why Waiting for a Sale Can Cost You Money

The counterintuitive reality of timing a clearance purchase is that waiting for the “perfect” sale sometimes costs more than buying at a good-but-not-perfect price today. Clearance inventory is finite — a specific model that appears in clearance at a compelling price may sell before the next holiday sale event arrives. If you’re sleeping on a deteriorating mattress, the health cost of waiting 3–4 more months for a marginally better deal can outweigh the potential savings.

A practical approach: set a “good enough” price threshold for the type of mattress you want. When you find a clearance option that meets or beats that threshold, buy it rather than waiting for a theoretically better deal. The best clearance price available today is usually better than the best clearance price you might find in four months — because the inventory you’re evaluating today won’t be there then.

Tracking Prices Over Time to Find Your Moment

For shoppers who aren’t in an urgent need-to-buy situation, tracking prices over 60–90 days before committing is a viable strategy. Browser extensions like CamelCamelCamel (for Amazon) and Honey track price histories on specific products and alert you when prices drop. For in-store clearance, following retailer social media accounts and subscribing to email lists gives you early notification of clearance events before they’re widely publicized.

Building a short watch list of 3–5 mattress models you’d be happy with and monitoring their clearance pricing across multiple retailers is a low-effort approach that pays dividends. When one of your watched models drops into clearance at your target price, you’re ready to act immediately rather than starting your research from scratch under time pressure.

When the Best Time Is Right Now

For most people, the best time to buy a clearance mattress is when a compelling deal on the right product intersects with a genuine need to upgrade. Seasonal calendar optimization is valuable, but it’s secondary to finding the right match. A floor model sale happening this week on a premium mattress that fits your sleep needs perfectly is better timing than waiting for Memorial Day to arrive and finding that the clearance selection doesn’t include what you’re looking for.

Check clearance sections regularly — not just during holiday weekends. Visit stores in the first week of the month. Follow retailers online. And when you find a legitimate clearance deal on a quality mattress at a price that makes financial sense, trust your research and make the move. The clearance market rewards buyers who are prepared and ready to act, not those who are perpetually waiting for a better deal that may never materialize.