I Choose re-coat recycled paint...

Here's a new commercial highlighting re-coat recycled paint. If you're looking for professionally coordinated color schemes, easy decorating, high quality, economical and environmentally responsible paint then you need to look into re-coat. Stop out at any RepcoLite, Port City Paints or Snyder Paints location for more info. Or, just go to www.recoatpaint.com

Save Money: Buy Quality Paint!

Spring has finally (hopefully) sprung and with it, so has the exterior painting season.  Homeowners all throughout West Michigan are already starting to take a look around their properties, trying to decide what jobs need to be tackled and which ones can wait until next year.

Well, with the economic situation being what it is, chances are most of us who are looking to do some exterior painting are also looking for ways to cut back on the expense.  And typically, when it comes to painting, the most obvious place to cut expenses is by buying a cheaper paint.  After all, if you buy 3 gallons of paint at RepcoLite for $40 a gallon, but can buy some paint at the hardware store down the street for $20 a gallon, you'll save at least $60 on the project, right?  

Not exactly.  In fact, chances are, you won't be saving any money at all and, in fact, will likely be spending more in the long run.  

According to a Press Release by the Paint Quality Institute, field tests show that "while ordinary exterior paint lasts about 4 years, top quality 100% acrylic latex paint can last 10 years or more when applied to a properly prepared surface"1.  What this means, is that while the initial cost of the paint is HIGHER, the overall cost of the paint will be much, much less.  

For example, taking our situation where a homeowner purchases 3 gallons of ORDINARY paint to do some work on their home, we can see that the cost is $60.  Add another $15 or so in for supplies and then, don't forget to take into account your time.  With all of that, you've got at least $75 in materials and some time invested.  Now, according to the field tests conducting by the Paint Quality Institute, that ORDINARY paint is likely to give you 4 years of quality service.  So, doing the math, the cost breaks down to about $18.95 a year.

Now, if you'd do that same job with QUALITY 100% ACRYLIC paint like RepcoLite's Endura (formerly UltraShield), you'll pay $37 per gallon.  With 3 gallons needed, you'll spend $111 on paint.  Add to that the $15 in supplies and your time and you'll have a total cost of about $126.  

At first glance, that looks like a $50 savings by going to the cheaper paint.  However, if the Endura lasts--as the field tests show it will--at least 10 years before it needs to be redone, you find that the average cost per year breaks down to about $12.60, which actually makes it cheaper in the long run than buying the cheaper paint.

Add to that savings the fact that your time isn't cheap and that with the ORDINARY paint, you'll have to do the project at least twice before you've reached that 10 year point that QUALITY paint will get you.  

The savings get even greater if you decide to hire a contractor to do the work because labor costs don't vary based on the paint.  If you have your painter use a cheap paint, it's not going to affect your LABOR costs.  If he uses a QUALITY paint, your LABOR costs will not change.  The only thing that changes is your PAINT costs.  And if that paint lasts you 2 1/2 times as long as an ORDINARY paint, you're going to be money ahead in the long run.

In the end, remember that saving money is about looking at the big picture.  Saving money today, only to spend more money down the road doesn't really do you any good.  You're net result is still a loss.  So don't let yourself get suckered by a low sticker price.  Saving money is about more than just saving a few bucks today.  Buy with the big picture in mind and you'll be congratulating yourself for your smart decision 4 years from now!

NOTES:

1. Paint Quality Institute, Best Paint Offers Best Return on Investment.

Paint: The "Fat Burrito" of the Home Improvement World

We're on a budget. My family. We're trying to save money . . . trying to watch what we spend. Yet, we're also still trying to have fun . . . to keep things happy and exciting in our little home.

Now, one of the things that we enjoy a lot as a family is eating out. I know that may sound bizarre with 5 kids . . . but really, it's one of the fun things that we all look forward to most of all.

However, as I just mentioned, we have five kids. And I don't know what happened, but about a year ago, they all found their appetites. See, before that, we used to be able to go to a restaurant and order 2 adult meals and 2 kids meals and divvy everything up. And everybody left happy.

Not anymore. Now, our children eat like . . . well . . . pigs. They polish off their meal and spend the rest of the time scanning the remaining food on the table . . . they're already laying claim to any leftovers that may survive the meal. They grab at our plates when we're not looking. They try to sneak things off when someone or something distracts us. As a result, meal times at restaurants have become one of two things: either we go and drop a boatload of money so everybody can have what he or she feels is enough food . . . or, we buy reasonable portions and then hunker down over them, growling and snarling at anybody who comes near our pile of food with their greedy little fingers.

Well, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to realize that neither of those options is terribly appealing.

But, there's good news. We found a new option. See, on accident, we stumbled on a restaurant out kind of by Target. It's called the Fat Burrito. Yes, we've driven past it many times, laughing at it and asking what self-respecting person would drag themselves there.

Well, not too long ago, we dragged ourselves there. We'd heard decent things and we were sick of McDonalds and Pizza and Wendy's and all those other "affordable" options. And so we thought we'd give it a try.

Here we are at the Fat Burrito.  Madi's starting with her meal--everybody

else's is on the way.  (Just so you don't think we let the little girl go hungry).

And what a happy thing that we did. And I mean happy--happy as in giddy as a school-girl happy. See, not only do they have some of the best burritos I've ever had . . . but they also dole out huge portions. And, to top it all off, for every adult meal we buy, we can get a kids meal for $.99.

In the end, what that means is this: Everybody eats. Everybody's happy. We leave with leftovers to be eaten later. And we only drop about $25 - $30. Which is less than we typically spend when we hit McDonalds. In fact, of all the places we've looked for deals and value, this is easily the best. Even Little Ceasar's with it's cheap pizzas still ends up, (after the necessary breadsticks purchases), running us about $28. And let me tell you . . . this food at the Fat Burrito is easily 10x better than any of the fast-foody junk you're going to find out there.

Being on a budget, this was a great find for my family. We can still have a weekly or every other week outing, we can all eat, and we don't end up dropping $50 on dinner. 

OK . . . now, you may find that interesting . . . you may not. But even if you do, you've got to be wondering what in the world that has to do with paint.

Allow me to explain.  Most of us are on budgets right now. Most of us are watching what we spend. And this isn't just evidenced in our food purchases. We're limiting what we do in our homes as well. We're "living with" stuff that just a couple years ago we would have replaced. We're sticking with the same decor whereas a couple years ago we would have been mixing things up. We're watching our money. We're making due.

But then we find something exciting like the Fat Burrito: good food, good value, a decent price. It injects a little fun into our lives--and without the guilt that normally goes along with a $60 dinner.

Well, as the title of this post states, paint is the "Fat Burrito" of the home improvement world. Paint is your way to make a change in your home--a big change--without dropping tons of money. Most folks can completely change the feel of any room in their home--using just paint--for under $70. Less than $70 for an injection of life and fun into homes that haven't been updated in a while. Less than $70 to make a change that will last for years. It's a no-brainer. It's a great value in the grand scheme of things and it's definitely something to look into.

So stop out at RepcoLite and let us dish up some change for your home . . . and then, when you're done painting . . . head out for a cheap . . . (but really good) meal at the Fat Burrito. Trust me, you'll thank me later.

A New Room in a Gallon Can

Remodeling projects can get expensive. Quickly. Start tearing out flooring and knocking down walls and before you know it, you'll find that a little re-do project has grown into an expensive, all-encompassing home remodel.

And right now, not many folks are interested in dropping that kind of money. But just because the economy's not booming doesn't mean you have to put up with that old look you've got going on in your living room or your kitchen or wherever.

Never forget that a gallon of paint is easily the cheapest home improvement project you can tackle. Generally for around $100 or so, you can get your hands on all the supplies and paint you need to turn your living room from something boring--something that's been mired in the 70's since . . . well, the 70's--into something hip and cool and new and fresh.

Your walls make up a huge percentage of a room. When you put a new, exciting color on them, it makes everything else look new. Your furniture--even the old stuff--takes on a new look against the new color. Your wall-hangings take on new life. Even your carpet can take on a new look when you put the right color on your walls.

So think about it. As many of us do what we can to save money and make wise decisions, why not make the wisest home improvement decision (at least economically) that you can possibly make? Why not stop out at RepcoLite and let our decorators steer you towards a color that will infuse your boring, tired room with life?

The Age Old Adage: Do As I Say, Not As I Do

Alright, last time, I told you a big, long, sad story about my bathroom. I told you how I, in all my cheapskate wisdom, installed the most inexpensive beadboard I could find in my bathroom about a year ago. I told you how that beadboard was basically an mdf board--a composite, compressed, high density paper board. And while it all looked nice for a while, it didn't take long before the kids and lots of splashing water started to take its toll. In just weeks, I was looking at puckered spots and bubbled spots and areas where the board was flaring out because it had gotten damp.

Oh, I tried everything I could to fix it and make it look nice, but this past Wednesday night, I realized the battle was lost. It was like that moment in some television show when somebody stumbles on an accident victim or a heart attack victim and then starts doing CPR. You know, they work on the body for what seems like forever with no response. And then, inevitably, someone standing by tells them to stop. Oh, they don't stop--they keep going--they're going to bring this person back. But the other person grabs them by the shoulders, shakes them, sometimes slaps them . . . and then says, in a very dramatic fashion . . . "stop . . . just stop . . . you've got to let go . . . he's gone."

And then our hero . . . still sitting on his knees beside the body, looks down, comes to term with the fact that death has won . . . and then breaks down in tears. The scene ends and we all feel like we just watched good television.

Anyway, that's what it felt like a few months ago in my bathroom. I'd tried everything I could think of to save that room--to bring it back from the dead--but Wednesday night, I realized it was done. It was over. Death had won--at least in terms of my bathroom. And so I ripped all that beadboard off the walls and threw it in the firepit. $70 dollars worth of "fake wood", $20 worth of paint, $2 worth of nails, $30 worth of trim and hours worth of time . . . all dragged and dumped in my firepit. All that money and time gone because I was too cheap to by good materials to start with--I thought I'd save money, but as is typical, I ended up wasting both time and money.

That's where we ended last time. And really, the connection to RepcoLite paints isn't really all that tough to make. Many folks--I'm not naive, I know how people think--many folks think the same way about paint that I thought about that paper beadboard. I figured, "what does it matter? Beadboard's beadboard. I don't need to have the cadillac of beadboards . . . I'll be happy with this stuff as long as it looks good."

I know that people go through those same thoughts in their head when it comes to purchasing paint: they make the same justifications: I don't need the cadillac of paints . . . after all, paint's paint . . . right? As long as it looks good, I'll be happy.

Well, as I learned with the beadboard incident--and as tons of folks through the years have learned about paint--quality does make a difference.

Buy a quality beadboard and spend the money once, do the work once, spend the time once and enjoy the results for years. Buy a cheap material and end up spending more money, doing the work at least twice and washing all that extra time and energy. Same is true with paint: buy a quality paint and sure, you'll drop maybe $5 - even $8 more a gallon--but really, when the average household paint job uses 3 - 4 gallons, you're looking at a grand total of $15 - $32 dollars extra. Oh, that's not chump change . . . I love those old sayings . . . that's not chump change . . . but it doesn't break the bank either.

Especially when you consider that a quality paint is going to apply better, quicker, easier. It's going to cover better and will likely need fewer coats. It's going to hold up better and longer. It's going to be more washable and cleanable. It's going to hold up to use and wear better. It's going to function like the premium product it is.

Sure, the cheap paint may save you money at the initial purchase, but it's not going to be long before you start to see problems. Before long, you'll be repainting--way earlier than you thought--and you'll be frustrated. You'll end up spending more money, wasting more time, buying more tools, wasting more weekends . . . than you would if you'd just buy a quality product right at the start.

Oh, I'm not blaming you . . . like I said, I do the same thing. I'm just trying to encourage you to learn from somebody who apparently has nothing better to do than to spend tons of extra money and re-do work he's already done. Learn a lesson from me and don't do what I typically do. Bite the bullet, drop the little bit of extra money now . . . and save yourself some money and time and frustration in the future. You'll be happy you did. Think about it.

Saving Money the Smart Way

I've talked about this before on our daily radio blurb, Another Day at RepcoLite, but I'll say it again here: I'm a cheap, cheap, cheap person. When it comes to spending money, I don't like to do it. Oh, let me rephrase that. I don't mind spending money on FUN things. But when it comes to home improvement projects or things like that, I'm always looking for a way to save some cash.

Well, this money-saving binge I go on during home projects usually ends very badly for me. Most recently, I experienced this in my bathroom. See, I wanted to install beadboard, but I didn't want to drop the money that was necessary to buy regular wood strips of beadboard. That was too expensive for my little bathroom project. So, I looked around at all the home centers until I found the perfect solution: High Density Fiberboard Beadboard. (Basically, that translates into highly compressed paper with primer on it.)

This stuff was half the price of the regular wood and it was already primed. I was saving 1/2 the money I would have spent AND, I wouldn't have to waste time priming. This was exactly what I was looking for. So I bought it. And installed it. And that's when I first noticed the problems.

See, in pounding the nails into this stuff, I found that they created little puckered spots in the fiberboard. It was impossible to sand smooth (because it was really just paper) and I had a hard time patching them in with spackling. But still, I persevered, and before long, finished the project. And it looked great. GREAT. For about 3 weeks.

I'm not lying. 3 weeks after the installation was finished, I started to notice things. I noticed that the fiberboard was bubbling or puckering or something wherever the kids splashed water from the tub. I mean WHEREVER they splashed water. Even a tiny bit of water on this stuff caused problems.

Well, I worked to repair those spots, coated the boards with more paint . . . but it was a losing battle. Finally, about 1 year after I installed the boards, I ripped them all out and reinstalled new stuff. This time, I installed the real wood. I dropped the cash necessary to buy real wood beadboard and I didn't try to skimp on the work: I bought the unprimed stuff.

I've installed it now and it's holding up great. I've had none of the problems I had with the cheap stuff and I'm finally happy with the way the bathroom turned out.

Now, I bring that up to point out something that I think a lot of people (not just me) do: we try so hard to save money that we end up spending more. See, if I'd just bought the good stuff the first time, I'd have saved over $120 on my project. But that's not all: I'd have saved all the money I spent on my first set of materials (which just ended up in a dumpster), but I'd also have saved all my time and all the money I spent on more nails, more glue, more paint, etc.

Basically, by being cheap, I cost myself over $120 and a couple Saturday's worth of work. What a waste.

The thing I'm getting at is this: when it comes to home improvement projects--projects you think are going to be long-lasting fixes or improvements to your home . . . don't waste your time and money on cheap materials. You'll save some money in the short term, but as I found out, you'll end up giving all those savings back (and then some) a year or so down the road when your cheap materials do what all cheap materials do: fail.

Buy quality materials. Buy quality woods. Buy quality tapes and tools. And (of course) above all else, buy quality paints. These things will cost you a little more money right up front . . . but you'll never regret that expenditure later. Don't "save money" by buying cheap stuff that you'll have to replace later. Save money the smart way: spend a little more up front and enjoy the results of your work much longer!