Best time to buy, do and go

Mark Di Vincenzo talked to hundreds of experts while researching his book "Buy Ketchup In May and Fly At Noon."

Among other things, he found out the best time of day to buy shoes, the best month to look for a job and the best day of the week to get a vasectomy.

Here are some tips from the book:

• Buy shoes in late afternoon when your feet are swollen and at their largest, to be sure the shoes will still fit after you've been running around all day.

• December is the best month to job-hunt. Some companies want to spend current-year personnel budgets so they won't have to fight so hard to justify asking for the same amount in the future. Job seekers assume hiring slows after Thanksgiving, meaning there's less competition.

• Get a vasectomy on Friday. Urologists say patients (a) need a couple of days' rest and (b) often are embarrassed to talk about the procedure, so having it done Friday means men can return to work Monday with no one the wiser.

• The best time to have your picture taken is between late morning and early afternoon. Your eyes will have lost their overnight puffiness, but you won't already look tired from the day's events.

• Tell a new-car salesman you have a trade-in after you've agreed on a price for the new car. Negotiate the lowest price you can; then and only then should you find out what the dealership will give you for your clunker. Know what your old car is worth so you can make a wise decision.

• Replace your furnace in spring or fall. Contractors won't be as busy with emergency heating and cooling calls, and you might get a better deal.

• Get prescriptions filled in late morning to save time. Busiest hours tend to be right after the store opens, during lunch and after 4 when people get off from work.

• Mulch your leaves with a mower when they're less than an inch deep. Too many leaves means too much mulch, which will block sun and rain from your lawn.

• Fire or lay off an employee in late afternoon. Fewer people will be in the office, and you're less apt to affect his or her health. Heart attacks are more likely to occur in the first three hours after waking. Between 6 a.m. and noon, blood pressure and heart rate peak, putting stress on arterial walls.

• See a dentist at 1 p.m. or after 3 p.m. for two reasons -- no waiting after the office's lunch break and, doctors say, higher pain tolerance in late afternoon. Avoid 9:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. You may be kept waiting while hygienists struggle to clean the teeth of patients who arrived with bits of breakfast or lunch still in their mouths.

• Hit flea markets and garage sales just before they end. Sellers dread packing up stuff and returning it to storage.

Buy trees and shrubs in the fall when nurseries are trying to clear out their stock.