Renting vs. Buying Tools
I often get asked how I afford my tools. I'm going to let you in on a little secret: I don't buy all of them/spend big bucks for them!
On my most recent project, the shed, I needed a tamper to create the base. Tampers start at like $40 at a minimum, but, excuse me, $40 for this little tool? That is absolutely insane. My father-in-law, who helped me with the project, and I actually decided that instead of buying a tamper, we could just rent one. It only ended up being $10 to rent one for a day. So, yes, it much more affordable to rent tools, especially if you only need that tool for a specific project for a short amount of time. I knew that for the base of the shed we were not going to need the tamper for more than a day. In fact, we only needed it for like 25-30 minutes tops, honestly, for the small amount of space we were working with.
As soon as we were done with it, my husband took it back to Home Depot. It was so easy! However, it's not just tampers, or garden tools you can rent from Home Depot or Lowe's. There are so many different kinds of tools you can rent instead of having to purchase! From trucks or large power tools like a floor sander, to small everyday power tools like a drill or a saw, even a table saw, and you can do so for a pretty reasonable amount of money for the amount of time that you're going to need it. This is a great option if you live in a small space without a lot of storage. You're able to rent things for a specific project and send it back. No storage necessary! It is also usually much less than the actual cost of the tool.
You can also buy used tools from a lot of the home improvement stores. Just a note, not every single one of these locations is going to have the ability to rent out tools for you. So keep that in mind when you're looking at your local stores, just make sure that they can do that for you. You'll be able to find out if it is a possibility on their websites. You will even be able to see how much it costs per tool. You can also watch estate/garage sales and Facebook marketplace because you can often find great deals on stores.
My point is, you don't need to break the bank to do a project, there are ways to be able to access these kinds of tools without having to pay the entire price of one of these high end tools. Keep your options open and you'll find a way!
