Everyone wants to save money and while you are searching the net or local sales circular for discount prices you may also want to look into recycled building materials.
Now I know what you are thinking why would you want to buy someone’s old used toilet.. Well doing that is probably not a good idea but there are a lot of ways you can save and even pickup new items for big discount.
Almost every area of the country has some type of recycling center that you can visit. Habitat for Humanity is a big one and established branches will either have their own warehouse of recycled or donated new products you can purchase or they will know where to send you.
Don’t expect the same quality that you can find at one of the big box centers.
If you are purchasing used cabinets you get what you can find but on the other hand I have visited places that have rolls of brand new insulation, New doors and windows that were missorders and not returnable and slightly damaged items or miss tinted paints that are great for projects.
The thing you should know when you enter a Habitat Restore or other charity recycling center is that all of the items are donated. They will not accept items that they have to pay for. This means the negotiation for the price is up to your ability.
If you see a roll of insulation that costs $50 in a store and it is marked $40 there is no reason you should pay that price. Any income they receive is better then holding on to an item and not turning it over for cash.
Your best deals will be for items that they normally won’t use in one of their projects. This means any furniture or hardware … basically anything that is used will not be something they put in one of the homes they build.
You should never pay more then you would at a yard sale.. and lets face it you are doing them a favor so don’t be shy.
That new $50 roll of insulation was most likely donated by the manufacture who took full price off their taxes as a donation.
If you were buying ten or twenty rolls you should offer 30%-40% but no more then that.. The fact is there are so many writeoffs between you and the manufacturer … including deductions that the state or local government gives them to employ individuals… I DON”T KNOW HOW ELSE I CAN SAY IT… offer as little as you can because it is all free money to them…. and you probably already paid for the items with your taxes.
If you are willing to buy 10 doors or a pallet of molding and they can free that space for new donations vs have that stuff sit there for months while people come in and buy one or two pieces… It is definitely worth it to them to cut you an amazing deal. And don’t worry they are not hurting for money… having worked with a major charity… lets just say the money is there.. and they never put any of the stuff in the store into the homes they repair or build.
So don’t feel bad.. feel good that you are offering them something because most of it was discarded materials headed for the landfill.
Some of the places you can look are:
http://www.loadingdock.org
www.habitat.org
http://www.covingtonreusecenter.com/
http://www.thegreenproject.org/
http://www.secondchanceinc.org/
http://www.communityforklift.com/
http://www.scrapbox.org/
http://www.artsandscraps.org/
http://www.msusurplusstore.com
http://www.scrapexchange.org/
http://assetrecycling.org