Frugal home improvement at Home Depot (Part 1)

Before I start my shpiel on saving money at Home Depot, I must tell you about two special Fourth of July HomeDepot.com deals, going on today and tomorrow only (7/3/11-7/4/11):  1)  Shop at Home is offering a whopping 9% cash back on your Home Depot online purchases.  2) Use promo code SAVING4TH to get $5 off your $50 purchase. And now back to our regular programming.

First of all, let me just say that I'm a home improvement addict.  If I had a limitless budget for home improvement, my husband and I would be living in a palace.  That said, there are too many sentences that start with "if I had a limitless budget..."

Fact is, my budget is very limited. You may recall when I wrote here about how I replaced every appliance in my kitchen for less than $400 total, how important it is to keep your mind open and shop at different stores. Over the next few weeks,  I'll have some upcoming posts about tips on saving money at other home improvement stores, like Sears and Lowe's.  Today I'm going to talk about some specific ways to save money on home improvement at one of my favorites, Home Depot.

1. Price matching. Home Depot will match and exceed any competitor's price by 10%.  Do you see the washing machine you want at Sears for $400 when Home Depot has it for $475?  Bring in the ad and Home Depot will match the $400 price plus 10% and give it to you for $360.  We needed a small, compact microwave oven, and Home Depot price-matched Macy's plus ten percent, and we got it for $45.
2. Coupons.  Home Depot accepts Lowe's coupons. Yes.  Even expired ones (but not too expired...usually not more than a few months).   Where can you get Lowe's coupons?  Go to your local post office and ask them for a change-of-address kit.  There will be a 10% off Lowe's coupon inside.  I never go into a Home Depot without one of those in my purse.
3. Plan in advance.  I know it's not always easy to do this. When your stove dies on you, you're not going to have the luxury of waiting two months to buy another stove.  But if you are interested in upgrading appliances that you own, wait and plan.  Look for sales, set aside coupons, compare prices online.  The more you research, the better off you'll do on your purchase.  I waited a year before I got my French Door refrigerator from Home Depot, and even though it meant living with with my ugly, white, conventional, undersized, petri-dish of a fridge until then, it was well worth the wait.  I cashed in some credit card points for Home Depot gift cards, and I waited and watched until there was a fantastic sale on the fridge that I wanted, stacked it with a coupon, got free shipping, and I pounced.  
4. Befriend a manager.  If you are doing a bunch of improvements and will be buying a lot of stuff from Home Depot, develop a relationship with a store manager.  As you well know, any large store has its share of good salespeople and bad ones, especially a huge chain store like Home Depot.  It pays to befriend one store manager who is going to have your back and help you negotiate any problems you might have with products that you bought, advise you on home repairs, and basically treat you special.  I have the business card of a manager at the Denver Home Depot on the side of my fridge, and he has helped us with our home improvement snags on numerous occasions.  The bigger the store, the more important it is to connect to an empowered staff member.  
5. Facebook.  "Like" the Home Depot Facebook page.   They run promotions, special offers and giveaways that are only available on their FB page.  A few months ago, I got a really nice grill set through their FB page for only $5 shipped. 
6. DIY.  I am not what you might call, er, handy.  I lack the "do-it-yourself" gene.  I grew up in a very traditional home, where the men changed the light bulbs and the women dusted the lamps. That all changed when I got married.  The first time I saw my uber-handy husband design and put together a sukkah from scratch, lay down a ceramic tile floor, or install a new toilet, etc. I was in awe.  We saved a fortune on the labor on these projects.  I was determined to go from pathetic to skillful if it killed me.  I've since learned how to take apart the plumbing underneath our kitchen sink, de-clog the garbage disposal, and a few other DIY tricks.  How?  Home Depot has some great DIY classes and workshops that are actually fun to attend, really teach you something, and best of all, are free.  To find out about when your local Home Depot gives free classes, click on the banner image above this post and sign up.  I'm currently enrolled in their "Design Storage Workshop," which will be given every Sunday in July.  (I want to reconfigure every messy closet in my house.)  One other point about do-it-yourself projects:  even if you can only do a portion of a home improvement project by yourself, go ahead and plunge in, and then have the rest done by a handyman or contractor.  You will still save money on the portion of the project you've have done. 

Did I miss anything? What are your frugal tips for shopping at Home Depot?

(Next up in this series, Frugal home improvement at Sears.)

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