12 Screwdrivers for $1: What Could Go Wrong?

I'm cheap.  I've probably written that before, but that doesn't matter.  I'm so cheap, it's legitimate to write it again.  But that cheapness has it's limits.

Several months ago, I learned a tough lesson in the world of Cheapness.  I was working on a project in my kitchen and I needed a small screwdriver to unscrew and remove about 12 tiny screws.  After scrounging in my basement work room and coming up empty, I decided I needed to travel to the tool store.  

Reluctantly I did.  My little wad of crinkled dollar bills was in my pocket and I planned to run in, grab the screwdriver and get back home to finish the project so I could go outside and play and have fun with the kids.  

However, something happened:  on my way to the tool store, I drove past a dollar store, and my wife announced that we needed to stop there so she could pick up some this or that.  So we stopped.  And as she made a beeline for the different items she needed, I wandered.  

And do you know what happened?  I wandered into the tool section.  (I hesitate to call it a "department" because we were, after all, in a dollar store).  Anyway, we wandered into the tool section and I found, sitting on the shelf in a bright, shiny plastic package, a set of 12 screwdrivers.  The price tag?   Exactly 1 U.S. Dollar.  Plus tax.  

Well, if you're me, that 12-pack-for-just-1-dollar-deal is just too good to refuse.  So I snatched it up, dropped it on the counter and promptly paid my $1.06.  All the way home, I bragged up my find to my wife.  Oh, I knew the tools weren't the best, but all I needed to do was remove 12 screws.  And I had 12 screwdrivers.  It's impossible that I could fail, right?

Riding on cloud nine, I pulled into the driveway and marched into the house ready to tackle my project.  And of course, you already know what happened.  The first screwdriver broke on the third twist--the shaft separated from the handle.  No problem.  I had 11 more.  And I'd planned on this.   No Sweat.

But then the second and third screwdriver broke before I'd removed that first screw.  And I started to get nervous.  I mean really?  Could I possibly break every single screwdriver in a 12 pack before I'd unscrewed 12 screws?  Could such a think happen?  Surely, no!

Sadly, yes.  They all broke.  I still had 6 or so screws to go when I threw the last screwdriver into the garbage.  Frustrated, I drove to the tool store, dropped $6, came back home, and about 2 hours after I'd started, I finally had everything done.

A project that should have taken 10 minutes max ended up taking a couple of hours (when you add in all the driving and waiting in line and so on).

In the end, it taught me a good lesson:  there's a time and a place for cheapness.  But there's also a time and place for purchasing quality materials.  Dropping the extra money right up front is sometimes the best money-and-time-saving decision you can make.  It was that way with those screwdrivers and it's also that way with paint.

See, so often people think paint is paint.  Good paint isn't any different from cheap paint.  At least that's the thinking.  And when people who think there's no real difference in quality see that quality paint is about $8 more per gallon, well, their decision is basically made for them.  They buy the cheapest paint they can find and then work their way through the project.  In the end, they get the walls covered, but they usually put the brushes and rollers away heaving a sigh of relief that the terrible, horrible job is finally done and they walk away assuming that painting is a pain.

However, it's not the painting that's the pain.  It's the paint.  When you use a cheap paint product, you may not realize there's a difference between it and a quality product, but that doesn't change the fact that there is.  High quality materials roll onto your walls easier, with less work.  They don't drip and spatter all over the place.  They cover and hide much better.  They go farther.  They wash up and hold up better and they don't need to be touched up as often.  

A good paint versus a cheap paint can often take at least 1 less coat and will usually still be looking great on your walls when the cheaper paint is begging for a repaint.

And that's the point to think about:  buying the better paint right in the beginning is, by far, the better value.  Sure, it may (in an average living room that takes 2 gallons of paint) cost about $16 total dollars more than the cheap paint, but think of the benefits:  the paint will apply easier, cover better, hide more, drip less and last longer.  You'll apply fewer coats, spend less time, and won't need to deal with drips and spills.  

$16 more on an average room will save you at least an hour or two of work and will provide you with a better product that will wash up, resist wear and need less touch-ups than a cheaper paint.

With the screwdrivers, I assumed there was no way to make a bad screwdriver.  I thought a screwdriver was a screwdriver--why pay $5 for 1 when I could get 12 for $1?  I learned the hard way that all screwdrivers aren't created equal.  The same is true with paint.  Good paint will make a difference.  Sure, it will cost more up front, but the value in the long run will be worth it.  Try it.  Just once.  Pick up a high quality paint (RepcoLite, of course) for your next project and see what a difference it makes!

An Evening of Decorating Tips and Assorted Stuff...

Are you decorating on a budget?  Or, more likely, are you simply not decorating because of a budget?

So often, we convince ourselves that any work we do in our home is going to be expensive and time consuming.  And expensive.  

And often, when we've convinced ourselves of those things, we simply don't start a project, putting it off indefinitely, wishing for the day we could zap some life back into our homes.

If you find yourself in that situation--bored with your home, but not interested in spending a lot of money on a big remodel--then you should look into our FREE (is there a better word in the English language?) Decorating Seminar coming up on October 18, 2012.

The seminar will run from 7:00pm to 8:30pm and will focus on many money-saving decorating tips that will help you pump some life and energy into your home without costing you an arm and a leg.  In fact, many of the projects we'll talk about will cost less than $50, but will produce big-time results in your home.  We'll have ample time for question and answers and we'll also be sure to keep things upbeat and entertaining. 

The seminar--as I've mentioned--is FREE (there's that word again), but space is limited.  If you're interested in attending, please click the link above and fill out the online form to sign-up. 

3M Delicate Surface Tape

Every now and again, a new product enters the home decorating field and changes the way everything is done.  Today I want to very briefly highlight one such product:  3M's Delicate Surface Masking Tape.

Now hold on, don't click away just yet.  I know the very words "masking tape" don't necessarily instill a feeling of raw, unchecked excitement even in the hardiest home decorating gurus, but this tape is different.  It's worth a quick read.  Trust me.  You'll thank me later.

See, 3M's Delicate Surface tape will give you razor sharp, crisp lines when you paint.  Oh, it can be used on all sorts of delicate surfaces including wallpaper and recently painted walls, but for me, the biggest, most important aspect of the tape is the sharp lines it leaves behind.

After all, I hate taping a room off.  I cannot stress this enough.  I hate it.  It's time consuming.  It's no fun (I just want to put paint on, not spend this time taping).  And then, usually, after all that work of taping, I roll my paint on, pull the tape off and discover that there are many areas where the paint leaked under the tape.  My lines aren't crisp.  It's depressing. 

But that's where this particular tape changes the game entirely.  The lines are absolutely razor sharp.  They're perfect.  You can go through all the work of taping your room (which still isn't fun--even with this tape), but the end results make it all worthwhile--no paint leaking under the tape, no wallpaper or wall paint peeling off when you remove the tape.  Nothing but sharp lines and perfect walls. 

Now, of course, the tape is more expensive than regular masking tape--probably a couple bucks a roll more.  But think about it this way:  you're going to spend all that time masking a room with good tape or with cheap tape.  You're going to do all that work painting that room.  You're going to spend all that time pulling the tape off when you're done.  Isn't it worth it to do all of that and end up with perfect results?  Isn't that worth an extra $2? 

OK, that's enough said.  Instead of reading, do a little viewing.  Here's a video that will give you crystal clear proof that this tape's worth the money!  Check it out: