Money Saving Tips for a Monday

As I recently purchased a new home, I’ve been making a lot of trips to Home Depot as of late.  Here are a couple tips I’ve learned:

  • Home Depot will take Lowe’s coupons.  I’ve used a couple “$10 off a purchase of $50+” in the last couple weeks with no problems.  I like some of what HD has better than Lowe’s so this is great.
  • Behr paint is drastically cheaper in the 5 gallon pail.  If you are using more than about 3 gallons of paint you might as well buy the 5 gallon and have extra for touch-ups, more rooms, 2nd coats, etc.
  • In partnership with Xcel Energy, Home Depot has reduced the price on a lot of their fluorescent bulbs by $1-$4 per package.  This means 60 watt bulbs are now under $1 each… a bargain considering that each bulb can save $30 or more over its lifetime.  If you use a bulb 2 hours a day and your electricity is $.08/kw, then you save $.22/bulb/month in electricity costs.  This means in a little under 5 months the bulb is paid for and you’re saving real money.  Multiply $.22/bulb by replacing your 20 most commonly used bulbs and suddenly you are saving $50/yr!