3 Home Depot Pitfalls My Husband and I Fall Into That You Can Avoid

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We’re deep in the throes of Home Depot season. Read on for some traps to avoid. 

There are certain stores my husband and I tend to frequent. Costco is one of them, as it allows us to keep our credit card bills down in the course of feeding our family. And we also visit our local ShopRite at least once a week for food items Costco doesn’t carry, or items we don’t want to purchase in bulk.

We don’t shop at Home Depot as frequently as we do Costco and ShopRite. But during the spring in particular, we tend to go there a lot — namely, to tackle seasonal home maintenance tasks.

But like many Home Depot shoppers, there are certain pitfalls we tend to fall into. Here are some you should try to avoid.

1. Not getting the right materials in the first place

When I say that my husband and I shop at Home Depot, what I really mean is that he makes a shopping list and picks out what he needs, and I go along for the company. I’m admittedly pretty clueless about most home maintenance and repair items (but hey, at least I can cook).

But what inevitably happens is that we’ll go to the store, pick up supplies, start a project, and realize we either bought the wrong things, or we didn’t buy enough of the right things. That generally means a return trip to Home Depot — and delays in finishing the work around the house that needs to get done.

Before you head to Home Depot, do your research. That could mean taking measurements at home or even calling a handy neighbor and asking for their input.

2. Buying equipment we don’t have room for

Home Depot has many tools you can rent for reasonable prices. But in the past, we’ve purchased tools because we expected to use them multiple times, and buying them outright was more cost-effective than renting them.

In doing so, however, we overlooked one key issue — storage. Now, our garage is so overloaded with equipment we rarely use that we can’t even fit the smaller of our two cars in there.

As an example, you can rent a gas-powered pressure washer at Home Depot for $62 for four hours, which is generally enough time to clean a deck and patio like we do every spring and often in the fall. You can buy a comparable pressure washer for $400, so by your seventh use, it pays for itself. But it’s not a small item to store, so for us, renting would’ve made more sense.

3. Not comparing prices

You might assume that Home Depot has the lowest prices for home maintenance items. But that’s not always the case.

Home Depot sells the Kohler Sous Pro-Style Single-Handle Pull-Down Sprayer Kitchen Faucet for $289. Amazon has it for $239.99.

That’s just one example, but the point is that in the past, we’ve purchased items at Home Depot only to find a lower price elsewhere. That’s a trap worth avoiding if you don’t enjoy emptying your savings account for no reason.

Given the number of times we’ve been to Home Depot, you’d think my husband and I would be immune to these pitfalls. But sometimes we still fall victim to them — particularly the first. So do yourself a favor and try not to follow in our footsteps.

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The Ascent does not cover all offers on the market. Editorial content from The Ascent is separate from The Motley Fool editorial content and is created by a different analyst team.John Mackey, former CEO of Whole Foods Market, an Amazon subsidiary, is a member of The Motley Fool’s board of directors. Maurie Backman has positions in Amazon.com. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Amazon.com and Costco Wholesale. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

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