Good Habits From Mama

January 15, 2008 | Filed Under Blog 

Back in New Jersey, my step dad built a huge set of pantry racks in our basement for my mom. And boy did she take advantage of that space. Our basement was better stocked than the local 7-11, WaWa, Quick Check, Circle K, (depending on where you are from). Since my band practiced in the basement, the huge pantry became the subject of many jokes, including referencing it as a perfect bomb shelter. Food for months! To most, it seemed silly. But to my mom, a product of Depression-era parents, this made perfect sense. She would stock up at the local “can can” sale and do double coupons and all that fun stuff. Bottom line was, it was just smart shopping. Now I must confess that I am more likely to cut a paper snowflake than a coupon for cereal, but I apparently have incorporated some of my mom’s valuable lessons into my life. Where’s the evidence? In my shop, of course!

I get funny looks when people see my wall of sandpaper, my bottles of CA glue, my 12 rolls of blue tape, my boxes of gloves, my hundreds of acid brushes, and my gallons of epoxy. It may seem like common sense to stock up when there is a sale, but how many of us actually apply this to our shop purchases? Not only are you saving money right off the top, but you are saving yourself a few trips to the store. So with that in mind, I want to let you guys know about the not-so-secret sale that has routinely been my source for the annual “stock up”. It’s Rockler’s Stock Up Sale. Some of the deals in here are just too good to pass up, and you should NOT have to ever pay full price for any of this stuff? Why? Because they go on sale every year! Here are some of the items that I nearly always stock up on:


Comments

9 Responses to “Good Habits From Mama”

  1. Cody C on January 15th, 2008 7:14 pm

    Some of these things are great to stock up on but CA is one thing that I don’t stock up on. I find that it just goes bad too quickly. You don’t really realize it until you finally run out and you open a new bottle up. You can really tell the difference. Maybe it’s just me. Thanks for this post, lots of gift ideas for the wifey ;)

  2. thewoodwhisperer on January 15th, 2008 7:24 pm

    Hey Cody. My buddy Cody (coincidence) used to keep tons of CA glue in the fridge. Seems to make a huge difference in long-term storage. Give it a try. Just dont put any on your sandwich.

  3. Cody C on January 15th, 2008 7:36 pm

    I’ve heard that from my turner friends. I’ll have to give that a shot.

  4. Hugheser on January 16th, 2008 7:23 am

    Thanks for the link. Now I just need to wait for my wife to say the inevitable, “Don’t you have plenty of glue, brushes, and rags?”.

    Yes but now I have more!
    :)

  5. Steve on January 16th, 2008 7:34 am

    I’ve had excellent results storing my back stock of CA in the fridge. I once kept a bottle in there for nearly a year before I used it. It was as good as the day I bought it.

    Thanks Marc for the heads up on Rockler’s Sale I plan to stock up toady.

  6. Christopher Schwarz on January 16th, 2008 9:41 am

    Wow. I thought I was alone. My father had two tall metal cabinets filled with tuna fish, tortilla chips and toilet paper. Enough for at least two years.

    We always joked that he bought just enough toilet paper to balance out the amount of tuna fish and Tostitos.

    Chris

  7. Bill on January 16th, 2008 9:48 am

    The problem of shelf life that Cody brings up also applies to other glues and some finishes. Just a heads up to newbies that may not be aware.

  8. Germain on January 16th, 2008 1:16 pm

    Great advice, Marc. My wife’s pantry looks like a mini-mart. I think my shop should look like a mini-Rockler.

    Oh, and I’ve decided lay off the Nicole requests. I don’t want her feel like she’s being stalked. I just like to let her know although she’s mostly behind the scenes, her work is appreciated.

  9. BigguyZ on January 16th, 2008 1:31 pm

    I agree with the idea, but a few of the “sale” items aren’t that great a deal. With the glues, the 4 oz bottles are still proportionally cheaper than the 2 oz bottles. The same thing goes for the quart vs. the gallon yellow glue. I’ve just run out of the gallon of Titebond Original that I bought about a year ago. It didn’t go bad (thought I have seen yellow glue separate). So I don’t see why/ how you’d save stocking up on the quart bottles.

    Also, a source I really like for the rags are the 3 or 5 lb boxes carried by Menards. I think they’re cost competitive with the Rockler sale prices, and the box is a good place to keep the rags on the shelf.

    I think the bigger deal is the 50% off one item when you buy another coupon they have. I’m definitely moving some purchases up in the line for that!

Got something to say?





  • What's New???

  • Check this out!!

    Loading the LumberJocks Widget

  • Extra Reading

  • Google


  • SuTree Videos

    Find free how-to videos
Close
E-mail It