This actually covers a few different aspects, such as ‘What should I have on hand? What are my ‘Go-To’ Products? How to stock your own Mini-Hardware Store… Creating your Priority Shopping List… Keeping supplies Organized, etc.’
We want to make the ‘Supplies’ process as simple and efficient as possible…
The 80/20 rule often applies to the supply’s arena, as 20% of supplies will generally handle 80% of the fixes. We guide you as to what items you may want to have on hand. This is not a perfect system but you may be amazed at how often it does work.
This is particularly helpful if you are helping others or if you have a second property where a mini supply box can save many a trip to your local supply place.
Please note we are sharing the way others have shared with me. I simply walk you through my take based upon my personal experience, often guided by recommendations passed onto me (for which I have been incredibly grateful!) If you have your favorite products, that’s great. My biggest encouragement is to not simply buy the cheapest on the shelf! I lean heavily toward quality products… though sometimes cheap will do very well for the task at hand.
I am certain that there are some very good options out there that I am unaware of… and to be sure, new products are always hitting the market. I am continually open to firsthand recommendations from other home project folks that have put items to the test! If you have some favorites, let us know what & why… ; we may just pass them along to others.
Some of the posts we select do promote products they are using. As long as they are in fact, good & do what they are supposed to do without breaking the bank there is nothing wrong with that kind of promotion. You can’t beat ‘word of mouth satisfaction!!’ I have added to my support items via some of these links and have been very appreciative.
In this section I will also talk about improvising (which not only can save you money but keep a project moving forward); we also show you how to organize and stock a mini hardware store, to save you many trips in the long run.
For many years, my ‘supply stuff’ collected in a box or cans or jars with only minimal rhyme or reason. My kids would not touch the organizing task, no matter how big the bribe. Once I sat down and tackled the beast, dissecting and categorizing… restocking and reorganizing has almost become a ‘piece of cake’. My personal challenge is a bit compounded as I am not one to through stuff away that may be useful… I suspect we all have our vices.
We also touch on where the best place is to buy your project stuff (you may be surprised!) …. Along with other tid-bits of suggestions and information. I do feel for the thousands of smaller lumber and hardware stores that have been forced out of business due to the unfortunate economies of scale and the bombardment of cheap imitation products.
If you have a good Supply Store in your area… I encourage you to support them when you can!
Happy Shopping… if it’s Saturday morning you will be in Good Company J
As you stock your own little store… Remember
We’re Pullin for Ya!
