$10 at a hardware store?

September 17, 2012 1:09 PM

What is the coolest thing I can buy at Lowe's or Home Depot for ~$10.00?
posted by reductiondesign to Shopping (30 answers total)

I recently bought two decent hammers for 7 dollars at Home Depot. They generally have a few hand tool loss leaders at any given time.
posted by rockindata at 1:18 PM on September 17, 2012

A small, weird-looking cactus?
posted by scratch at 1:20 PM on September 17, 2012 [2 favorites]

Everyone should own a multi-tool. They are very cool.
posted by rabbitrabbit at 1:26 PM on September 17, 2012

Tape gun? Paint mixing attachment for your power drill? Blowtorch for plumbing?

Or my personal favorite (HD's website says they're a little out of your price range, though) - the staple hammer.
posted by backseatpilot at 1:26 PM on September 17, 2012

Do you consider $15 to be ~$10.00? Because you can get a machete for about that price from Lowes or Home Depot.
posted by drlith at 1:29 PM on September 17, 2012 [1 favorite]

A big roll of ScotchBlue 2090 painter's tape and an LED glow stick.
posted by scruss at 1:30 PM on September 17, 2012 [1 favorite]

Literally.
posted by mochapickle at 1:31 PM on September 17, 2012 [2 favorites]

Paint swatches and carpet samples are free. Add in a few tiles for a couple bucks apiece and some wood that you can cut down and make yourself a well-appointed doll's room!
posted by xingcat at 1:32 PM on September 17, 2012 [1 favorite]

Some plants for the garden?
posted by carter at 1:33 PM on September 17, 2012

My Home Depot sells a case of Mexican Coca-Cola (24 glass bottles) for $20.

I'm a sucker for them and this is the cheapest I've ever seen them outside of Mexico.
posted by Precision at 1:36 PM on September 17, 2012 [2 favorites]

A studfinder, some screws and nails, and you get to go around making bad puns.
posted by sawdustbear at 1:37 PM on September 17, 2012 [1 favorite]

Flower bulbs to force.
posted by Ideefixe at 1:44 PM on September 17, 2012

This LED lightbulb for $9.98, which I've seen there often but haven't gotten up the gumption to try out. They're "the light bulb of the future" and are supposed to last years and years.

Who knows? It may inspire you to buy more.
posted by mkultra at 1:54 PM on September 17, 2012

Caution tape. You should be able to get a thing of it for 5 bucks, so I guess that means two things of caution tape. You should then use it to caution tape the shit out of all of your friends' things. Cubicle. Car. House. First born. Hilarity will ensue.
posted by phunniemee at 1:55 PM on September 17, 2012 [2 favorites]

I'd get the stupid plastic thing with the "teeth" that works WAY better than drain cleaner at clearing hair clogs. You can likely even get one for every bathroom, unless you live in a massive house.
posted by answergrape at 1:57 PM on September 17, 2012 [4 favorites]

Dang it, answergrope, I was just getting a link to post that exact thing. They are $3 - get one for every bathroom.
posted by CathyG at 1:58 PM on September 17, 2012 [1 favorite]

Some fresh herb plants. No work. Lots of yum.
posted by 26.2 at 2:02 PM on September 17, 2012

Two wood graining kits?
Or one wood graining kit, and one tiny maglite.
posted by Adridne at 2:13 PM on September 17, 2012

It's a bit more than $10, but this Milwaulkee box knife is so good, I bought two.
posted by bonehead at 2:21 PM on September 17, 2012 [1 favorite]

Hatchet, maybe a leather cover
posted by MangyCarface at 2:22 PM on September 17, 2012

Seconding the "stupid plastic thing with the teeth", but do not use this if you are squeemish. The clogged and matted hair that you pull from your drain is absolutely the most disgusting thing you will ever see (and I'm the father of a one year old, which comes with its own share of disgusting things).

I confess that I'm having a hard time thinking of it as "cool", however.
posted by It's Never Lurgi at 2:42 PM on September 17, 2012

You want to head over to the clearance section. It's my first stop on every visit to any hardware store. There will be gallons of returned paint for sale at like $5 or $6 per gallon, if you're not choosy on color. But more importantly: there will be lots and lots of crazy stuff. Filing cabinets, gutter leaf guards, a box of 5,000 zip ties, pvc pipe with some weird diameter like 45 mm, flypaper, reciprocating saw replacement blades, bendy flashlights featuring a particular NFL team logo, five gallon drums of pesticide, ball peen hammers, and for some reason, always, wooden street address numerals (I think the game is, if you can find all the numbers for your address in the same style, you win a prize).
posted by Terminal Verbosity at 2:42 PM on September 17, 2012 [2 favorites]

They have a badass hooked carpet knife for like $5. I would get two of them and strap them to your wrists.
posted by WhitenoisE at 3:34 PM on September 17, 2012 [1 favorite]

This class of products. If you get the kind with felt backing, you can slide heavy things across hardwood floors, on your own, without scratching. If you get the smooth type, you can slide heavy dressers across carpets, on your own, without the dresser tipping over, which is nice.
posted by A Terrible Llama at 4:31 PM on September 17, 2012

For thirteen dollars I got a set of tiny brushes and nozzles for my vacuum that I use on everything from my keyboard to my paintings.
posted by effluvia at 4:51 PM on September 17, 2012

I made this light saber from plumbing parts and various other pieces of hardware for about $10.
posted by plinth at 5:42 PM on September 17, 2012 [1 favorite]

A bottle of wood glue and all the free paint stirring sticks you can carry. Make something cool and post pics.
posted by Confess, Fletch at 6:30 PM on September 17, 2012

Hands down Klein Tools 10-in-1 Screwdriver/Nut Driver
High quality and incredibly useful, easily my most used hand tool..ok it's 14 bucks but worth every penny
posted by PaulBGoode at 10:12 PM on September 17, 2012

You could get a carnivorous plant or two. They're really hard to keep alive, but they're cooool!
posted by carsonb at 10:58 PM on September 17, 2012

Would you consider Quikcrete? Or another concrete product? For less than $5, you can get at least one 80-lb bag of Sakcrete. Just add water, and it will dry hard as a rock in whatever shape you choose!

Then with your other $5, you could get a cold chisel.
posted by slidell at 10:44 PM on September 18, 2012