Save money! Best and worst things to buy in August

Dealnews.com has put together a list of the best and worst things to buy in August based on sales from previous years.

They studied everything from grills, bikes and swimwear to off-season hotel rates.

Here are a few of their finds:

Laptops:
Last year, August proved to be the best month to buy a new 16" Core i7 laptop during the summer months (June through September). The low price back then was $858. So, if you must buy a laptop before school starts, August is your month.

However, be warned: Last year's August deals were easily trumped by October deals. In fact, October's best offer for a 16" Core i7 laptop was $89 under August’s best deal. So far this year, $650 has been the magic price to beat for a 16" Core i7 machine. So if you see any such laptop deals this month at or below $650, it'll very likely be the best deal we've seen this year for a system with this configuration.

HDTVs:
55" LED LCD HDTV deals for the month of July were on par with the deals we saw in June ($1,048 being the best deal for both months), which suggests that August will bring more of the same as retailers slowly begin to prep for the major sales around Black Friday.

In 2010, August and September saw a minute uptick in TV prices before they began their steady descent for the holidays, which also indicates that the summer isn't an ideal time to make any TV purchases. Deals on 55" 3D models have generally been under $1,369 for most of this summer, so any price under that mark will ensure you're getting the best rate. But again, we expect these sets to hit new lows come November and December.

Back to School:
Although many experts speculated that back-to-school sales would start early this year, August is when we started to see the biggest discounts in 2010 — especially if you’re looking for a backpack. This time last year, Kmart took 50 percent off backpacks, JCPenney offered styles from $2, Lands' End took up to 50 percent off backpacks and lunch bags, and Kohl's had a sale with selections starting from $12.

Go to dealnews.com for much more on their best and worst things to buy in August , especially if someone in your family is going back-to-school.