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• JUNE 2015
GROW
HUMANS ARE CREATURES OF HABIT, and we find ourselves doing the same thing at the same time, year after
year. Here’s a quick look at the things we inevitably do over and over again, month by month.
Save The Date
JANUARY
Pump some iron.
Roughly 12 percent
of a gym’s member-
ship joins in January.
(Sadly, 14 percent of
those new members
don’t make it to
February
.)
FEBRUARY
Develop a serious sweet tooth.
Americans buy into
the spirit of the holiday quite literally, purchasing 36 mil-
lion heart-shaped boxes of chocolate for Valentine’s Day.
MARCH
(Spring) Break free.
March is the month for college kids
to shed their heavy coats and slip into swimsuits. Florida
remains the hottest destination for beachgoers; Florida’s
beaches saw a combined 26.3 million vacationers during
that time in 2013.
APRIL
Crunch the numbers.
Those of us who don’t do our
taxes the day our W2 comes in the mail are resigned to
fill out that 1040 at the last minute; roughly one in 10
taxpayers waits until the last minute to file, according to
the IRS.
MAY
Dash to the Derby.
The Kentucky Derby kicks off the
month with seersucker suits, Mint Juleps and elaborate
hats. The Run for the Roses is the first leg of the presti-
gious Triple Crown of thoroughbred racing competitions.
JUNE
Walk down the aisle.
June remains the most
popular month for wed-
dings, and weddings
represent a $50 billion
annual industry.
JULY
Wave the flag.
There’s no denying that American inde-
pendence is a top reason to throw a party in the summer. The
sweltering heat won’t keep us from consuming as many as
150 million franks, wieners and sausages over the holiday.
AUGUST
Stock up on school supplies.
Several states offer tax-free
shopping days for school-specific items like supplies, clothes
and shoes to help ease the burden of outfitting students.
SEPTEMBER
Ring in
another
new year.
Jewish families celebrate
Rosh Hashanah, the start of the new year according to the
ancient Jewish calendar, and the day that marks the creation
of the world.
OCTOBER
Put on some pink.
October is Breast Cancer Awareness
Month. Founded in 1985, the annual awareness campaign
now circles the globe and has raised billions in support of
cancer research and development of treatments.
NOVEMBER
Tackle the turkey.
Football and Thanksgiving have gained
equal importance in millions of American households. Give
thanks for your friends and loved ones, and for sports pack-
ages on cable television.
DECEMBER
Come on, ring those bells.
The Salvation Army launched
its Red Kettle campaign in San Francisco in 1891 as a way to
feed the poorest residents of the city, with the slogan, “Keep
the pot boiling.” In 2014, the campaign raised $144.7
million nationwide.