How drill bits can keep you thrifty

Well. Ok. Not just drill bits. You’ll also need a drill. And something to drill. Obviously.

But getting to the point.

In this day and age when prices on things are soaring and global economy is going in the exact opposite direction knowing how to make and fix things on your own could be the difference between balancing your checkbook or having nightmares printed on your credit card bills.

Recently I went to a big-box furniture store that advertises great deals like crazy. From the sound of an ad, you could furnish your whole room for practically nothing. Just a thousand bucks or so.

So I went to check it out.

I am still in a state of shock that a basic table can cost almost a thousand dollars. Seriously.

A thousand dollars for a table.

A table which has probably $50 bucks of material worth in it. At best.

This is where a drill bit and a drill are your greatest friend. Cause if you have the basic know-how, and you really needed a table, you’d go to a place like Home Depot, buy a couple of planks for the four legs (those things are so long, you can probably make three legs from them), buy one sheet of wood for the top part. Get the stains and finishing to your liking and voila – a fancy customized table for less than a fraction of the cost.

This is why knowing your tools and working them is important in even this day and age. If you know what you are doing – they can’t trick you into spending thousands on things that are just not worth that much.

And if you are a newbie and never held a drill in your hand? There are workshops. In fact, your local Home Depot has tons of FREE workshops. They even have them for kids. That’s FREE education! And when did learning a new skill hurt anyone?

So before you cry yourself to sleep that those things you want for your house cost too much, dust off some drill bits and head to a workshop. Or down to your basement and start learning. If you are scared of drilling wholes in the wall or on your project, practice first! Get some old scrap pieces and drill away until you feel steady. (The same applies to hammering and sawing and… you get the idea…)

And by the way, you don’t even have to splurge on materials at the Home Depots. Once you get a little handy, you’ll be able to remodel things you find on the curb or in thrift stores. And they’ll look better than the big-box-furniture-store-things.

And they’ll have your heart in them. Won’t that be great?