I am not yet living my dream (in the Country) but hope in the next year to start... But in the meantime, I am beginning to gather up materials for my future home (and homestead) at a fraction of the cost that you would normally pay for these materials... How? I work at a well known Home Improvement Warehouse (Lowes). About every Department has a section where they have clearance items. Items that have been returned (without a box), clearance items (got to get rid of them at any price), slightly (and I mean slightly) damaged goods, materials, and appliances, discontinued items... You get the picture. These items are usually a unbelievable bargain. A $112.00 four foot long marble vanity top (returned, no box)- $10.00. Large pallets of wood - $10.00 $300-$400 doors for $10.00. Windows, Lights, lamps, appliances, home decor items, plumbing, electrical, seasonal (gardening, outdoor items), everything at pennies on the dollar! You just got to check these clearance areas out when you visit. Folks, I am going to be building my house for a fraction of what others do (not to mention I will build it myself so I can save), and on top of that, I also get a 10% discount. Check this out folks! Ken

-- Kenneth L. Rush (rushwiz@aol.com), March 23, 2001

Answers

Sounds like an advertisement,I check out lowes all the time and never found any of these great deals.How much Lowes stock did you say you own?

-- Steve (a12goat@cs.com), March 23, 2001.

Sorry, it is not a advertisement... I started working there 6 weeks ago. And no, I do not have any stock (but will after my first year with the company, as they give several thousands dollars in stock - free - to its employees as a benefit). You have to ask these departments where they have their clearance items. There will not always be a lot, I am not trying to mislead you (I am there five days a week, so I am fortunately able to always come across these bargains). But when you go there or even Home Depot (or whatever large Home Improvement or Hardware store) ask about these clearance items. And you will not always find things as cheap as I mentioned, but they are discounted quite alot, much of the time way below wholesale. Sorry, not an advertisement, but just excitement of great opportunities for bargains that I wanted to pass along!

-- Kenneth L. Rush (rushwiz@aol.com), March 23, 2001.

You got the right idea!! Every time I run into town, I check the discount bins myself. Got 12'steel siding for a fraction of the cost. Made a storage shed real cheap that summer, course colors didn't match but each side did. Have fun saving money!!

-- Pat (mikulptrc@aol.com), March 23, 2001.

Hi Pat,

My kids and I just built a brooder using metal roofing that my husband got for free. He used to roof, and he spent a little extra time removing this metal so it's just faded, but in good shape. Anyway, what I wanted to say is that you can paint it, if it matters to you that it match. It's looks like new stuff when you paint it! Helps detract from my poor carpentry, too. Tee hee! Blessings!

-- Nancy (sonflower35@icqmail.com), March 23, 2001.

A friend of mine that has a number of rental houses gets discount carpeting frequently from Home Depot. These are carpets that the people decided not to take after ordering, or roll ends, etc. She gets them for about half price, I think. Hasn't much selection on color, style obviously, and she has to pick them up immediately when they call and tell her it's available. But what a deal.

-- Lenette (kigervixen@webtv.net), March 23, 2001.

With the current economic situation, you will find great bargains at the various "big, multi department, all under one roof, super centers that are not neccessary to call by name" also. I found 24 inch bow saws in a mark down cart for $1 each, just because the blade was a little rusted and it couldn't be sold as new at $6.95 . They arn't high quality tools, but I bought all ten in the cart and a few other things marked at 10 to 15% of retail. Figure I can use em and loose em at the price and the ten should last me for over 5 years around here, not bad for a $10 investment into my "Homesteaders 401k". Last year during the economic boom times, those items would have been destroyed before disposal.

-- Jay Blair in N. AL (jayblair678@yahoo.com), March 23, 2001.

You can go into the paint sections, especially Sears, and they have a shelf with all the returned paint. Usually mixed colors, but you can shake it and see what color it is thru the plastic hole in the top. You can get 20.00 a gallon paint for 5.00. And there IS a big difference between cheap paint and good paint. I have never seen much at our Lowes along the clearance line. I will have to look harder.

-- Cindy in Ky (solidrockranch@hotmail.com), March 23, 2001.

The guy is right! I built a very small house with Lowe's castaways about 5 years ago. You have to be patient, flexable and keep going back to the clearance isles! Lowe's saved me tons of $$$.

-- David Constantin (cajundavid@hotmail.com), March 23, 2001.

The Home Depot store near here (we finally got one of our own in our town which opened just yesterday) has clearance items. Last fall we went to the store and they had a "sidewalk" sale which had new, slightly scratched or dented washers and dryers for a fraction of the new cost. Sometimes you have to ask the department manager or clerk where the clearance items are, but you can save a ton of money at Home Depot by shopping the clearance isles. We don't have a Lowe's anymore, but I definitly will be shopping the Home Depot store for bargains!

-- Cindy (colawson@mindspring.com), March 23, 2001.

Kenneth,

You're right! At our Lowes, they don't advertise knock-offs but we always ask when we're shopping there. We have gotten discounted plywood for our various projects around here, prices knocked off on plants that didn't look that great (but they did fine).We were in need of a frig.,washer and dryer and got them to knock almost $150 off total cost since we bought all three there. We've learned to talk to the managers instead of the salespeople when haggling over prices. We do this everywhere - hardware stores,feed stores,etc. The way I figure it is they can't afford to let it go at a lower cost they'll just say no. It never hurts to ask!

-- nobrabbit (conlane@prodigy.net), March 23, 2001.

Hope none of you mind, but I just copied and printed this whole thread for my husband. He is very worried that if we buy land we won't be able to put up a house right away - and we can't afford to do that and stay in a rented trailer....

This might give him some incentive to start laying away materials before we buy land!!!

THANK YOU!!!!

-- Sue Diederich (willow666@rocketmail.com), March 26, 2001.

Kenneth has the right idea. My brother in law has been building this way for several years, and has gotten us some terrific deals. We have two semi-trailers full of building supplies, as well as a small barn shed, and a bus getting real full real fast. You have to have the storage space, but the deals can be found at any large retail hardware stor, IF you ask. We're getting ready to build this spring. Maybe we will take out a small loan to put in the foundation, but that is about all I think we'll need to borrow...!!!

-- Leann Banta (thelionandlamb@hotmail.com), March 27, 2001.