Some things are worth the splurge, but not everything needs to be top shelf... just gotta know where to draw the line.
Couldn’t agree more. I’ve seen folks spend big on fancy hinges and then skimp on subfloor adhesive—guess which one comes back to haunt you? Drawer slides, yeah, I’ll go budget too unless it’s a heavy-use spot like a kitchen. Paint and caulk, though, those shortcuts always seem to show up later. It’s all about knowing where you can get away with saving a buck and where you’ll pay for it down the road.
TRIMMING DOWN EXPENSES ON PROJECT SUPPLIES
You nailed it with paint and caulk—those are two places I learned not to cut corners. Cheap caulk shrinks, cracks, and then you’re back scraping and redoing it a year later. Same deal with bargain paint. I tried to save on a couple rooms once, thinking primer would do the heavy lifting... but nope. Ended up needing extra coats anyway, so the “savings” vanished fast.
I’d add fasteners to the list of things not to cheap out on. I bought some off-brand screws for deck boards years back because they were half the price, and within a year a bunch had rusted through. Had to pull them all and redo it—never again.
But yeah, things like basic interior hinges or closet rods? I’ll buy whatever’s on sale. It’s just about knowing what’s structural or gets heavy use vs. what’s mostly cosmetic. Sometimes it takes a mistake or two to really figure out where to draw that line...
