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Thursday, February 26, 2009

Non-Parenting Tip

I know this tip has nothing to do with parenting, but I really want to share.

If you have a paint project that needs to be done, and you don't really care too much about what color the paint is, you can get your paint for a fraction of the cost by buying "oops" paint.

Anywhere that paint is mixed and sold, paint is mixed incorrectly or buyers decide they don't like the color after all. That mixed paint is then considered to be messed up and unsellable. The store does not want to take a total loss, so they put a dab of the paint on the lid and label it for an extremely reduced price.

I happen to have a bathroom that is in the process of being remodeled. Actually, the entire apartment will require a bit of remodeling, but I chose to begin with the bathroom.

I had not really chosen a color scheme, but did have a couple of options in mind. Tonight I went to the local Home Depot to get wood filler and a sand paper block so I could move on to the next step in this project. (Removing the wallpaper was the first step - and it was NOT fun.)

While I was at Home Depot, I walked by their "oops" table and found that there was acceptable paint colors available. I bought a gallon of paint that normally costs $26.00 for a mere $6.00 just because I bought something that was already mixed instead of choosing a color from the cards and having it mixed just for me. I still ended up with a color that was similar to what I probably would have chosen, and I saved $20.00.

So that's my tip for the day. If you have a project that will require you to purchase paint, you should check out the messed up paint before you choose your colors.

5 comments:

Angela said...

My husband works at Lowe's so the best part is when they have a really bland "oops" paint and he mixes it into whatever color we originally wanted. (I'm not sure they'll do that for someone who's not an employee but it'd be worth a shot!). I love clearance :)

Memories Of Mine said...

I wonder if the pot of paint I took back recently ended up as a second. This is a great way of saving money.

Mom said...

Angela - Yes, that is a lucky bit of employment there. No, I don't think they will do that for non-employees, but it never hurts to ask. I bought a light green paint. I was going between light blue or light green and the green happened to be available so green it is.

Liss - Most likely your paint ended up on an Oops table somewhere. It is definitely great to save money. I felt so good coming home with that paint for less than $6.00 knowing that I had expected to pay nearly $30.00 for the paint.

Anonymous said...

I'm surprise the store does this.

They can sell oops paint for $6, losing $20 and losing a $26 customer.

Or they can dump the oops paint, losing $26 but the customer who would have bought oops paint has to pay the full $26.

Sandra

Mom said...

Sandra

If a customer orders a specific color and the machine messes up or the color isn't what they wanted, then the store will redo the color to the specifics of the customer. Then, they are stuck with the paint that the customer did not want. The customer gets what they originally wanted, but the store still has this paint that wasn't quite right.

Same goes if a customer returns paint to the store.

So they mark it down to sell it for cost, without making much of a profit.

Customers who choose a specific color still get what they want. If you're flexible with the color, you can get the discount by checking out the oops table.

Lots of people are firm on what they want, so they aren't willing to go with whatever they can get.