Comments on: $10 at a hardware store?

Question: $10 at a hardware store?

reductiondesign — Mon, 17 Sep 2012 13:09:21 -0800

What is the coolest thing I can buy at Lowe's or Home Depot for ~$10.00?

By: rockindata

rockindata — Mon, 17 Sep 2012 13:18:27 -0800

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.

By: scratch

scratch — Mon, 17 Sep 2012 13:20:57 -0800

A small, weird-looking cactus?

By: rabbitrabbit

rabbitrabbit — Mon, 17 Sep 2012 13:26:28 -0800

Everyone should own a multi-tool. They are very cool.

By: backseatpilot

backseatpilot — Mon, 17 Sep 2012 13:26:38 -0800

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.

By: drlith

drlith — Mon, 17 Sep 2012 13:29:31 -0800

Do you consider $15 to be ~$10.00? Because you can get a machete for about that price from Lowes or Home Depot.

By: scruss

scruss — Mon, 17 Sep 2012 13:30:26 -0800

A big roll of ScotchBlue 2090 painter's tape and an LED glow stick.

By: mochapickle

mochapickle — Mon, 17 Sep 2012 13:31:23 -0800

Literally.

By: xingcat

xingcat — Mon, 17 Sep 2012 13:32:58 -0800

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!

By: carter

carter — Mon, 17 Sep 2012 13:33:44 -0800

Some plants for the garden?

By: Precision

Precision — Mon, 17 Sep 2012 13:36:11 -0800

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.

By: sawdustbear

sawdustbear — Mon, 17 Sep 2012 13:37:50 -0800

A studfinder, some screws and nails, and you get to go around making bad puns.

By: Ideefixe

Ideefixe — Mon, 17 Sep 2012 13:44:35 -0800

Flower bulbs to force.

By: mkultra

mkultra — Mon, 17 Sep 2012 13:54:09 -0800

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.

By: phunniemee

phunniemee — Mon, 17 Sep 2012 13:55:22 -0800

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.

By: answergrape

answergrape — Mon, 17 Sep 2012 13:57:03 -0800

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.

By: CathyG

CathyG — Mon, 17 Sep 2012 13:58:58 -0800

Dang it, answergrope, I was just getting a link to post that exact thing. They are $3 - get one for every bathroom.

By: 26.2

26.2 — Mon, 17 Sep 2012 14:02:40 -0800

Some fresh herb plants. No work. Lots of yum.

By: Adridne

Adridne — Mon, 17 Sep 2012 14:13:46 -0800

Two wood graining kits?
Or one wood graining kit, and one tiny maglite.

By: bonehead

bonehead — Mon, 17 Sep 2012 14:21:49 -0800

It's a bit more than $10, but this Milwaulkee box knife is so good, I bought two.

By: MangyCarface

MangyCarface — Mon, 17 Sep 2012 14:22:18 -0800

Hatchet, maybe a leather cover

By: It's Never Lurgi

It's Never Lurgi — Mon, 17 Sep 2012 14:42:27 -0800

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.

By: Terminal Verbosity

Terminal Verbosity — Mon, 17 Sep 2012 14:42:40 -0800

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).

By: WhitenoisE

WhitenoisE — Mon, 17 Sep 2012 15:34:12 -0800

They have a badass hooked carpet knife for like $5. I would get two of them and strap them to your wrists.

By: A Terrible Llama

A Terrible Llama — Mon, 17 Sep 2012 16:31:40 -0800

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.

By: effluvia

effluvia — Mon, 17 Sep 2012 16:51:51 -0800

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.

By: plinth

plinth — Mon, 17 Sep 2012 17:42:15 -0800

I made this light saber from plumbing parts and various other pieces of hardware for about $10.

By: Confess, Fletch

Confess, Fletch — Mon, 17 Sep 2012 18:30:19 -0800

A bottle of wood glue and all the free paint stirring sticks you can carry. Make something cool and post pics.

By: PaulBGoode

PaulBGoode — Mon, 17 Sep 2012 22:12:33 -0800

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

By: carsonb

carsonb — Mon, 17 Sep 2012 22:58:48 -0800

You could get a carnivorous plant or two. They're really hard to keep alive, but they're cooool!

By: slidell

slidell — Tue, 18 Sep 2012 22:44:51 -0800

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.