Don’t you just LOVE freebies?! So do I! I also love projects, do-it-yourself, and new paint! Everything feels fresher and more home-y with a fresh coat of paint, especially if all of your walls are beige…
Normally I wait until Labor Day (or Memorial Day for Springtime Painting Projects) for Sherwin Williams’ 40% off sale! That’s when all of their paint and stains are available for 40% off, which makes their lovely selection of high quality paint cheaper than Home Depot. I personally can’t stand Home Depot’s paint, as the water to pigment ratio borderlines soup instead of latex, guaranteed to splatter and require at least two coats to cover. These affections are probably the result of having a dad who was a manager at Sherwin Williams, but I have tested his convictions and I feel they are well-founded. But I digress, this year there was no paint sale! Where was I going to get my refreshing hand-picked shades for my new playroom in the works? I can’t just leave the project unfinished, that would be a waste of effort culminated over the summer! So there is one more idea…
OOPS! paint! They sell it at Home Depot for $7 a gallon, and Lowes for $5 a gallon! Despite requiring two coats to cover, that is massively cheaper than buying even the lowest quality paint on sale at Sherwin Williams! And let’s face it, none of us really NEEDS to pick the exact shade of our color, just a general selection will suffice. The only time you ever NEED an exact match is when you are painting an entire house, or matching a color that’s already inside. Or if you NEED "Ceiling White," which I recommend buying on Amazon, because even if you can hit the 40% off sale, it's still more for a standardized product, and Home Depot runs about $38 for a gallon:
But seriously, if you are coming to a project fresh, a dark red is a dark red, a light green is a light green, no one cares if you have Sunset Yellow or Sunrise Yellow!
So here’s where a bit of imagination is required: we found a lovely light green, but no other viable color options. The OOPS! paint selection refreshes daily, so it is worth it to go home and paint with the single color and come back the next day for more variety. With this almost electric green, we had the opportunity to go with a pastel theme for our playroom, or a natural theme, with earth tones and such. The paint selection would decide our fate. We had snagged this awesome green from Home Depot (watch out for how much is in the container, because they sell as is, so if it’s in a gallon bucket they charge $7 regardless of how much is left in it, which is not true of Lowes, and Lowes will actually mark how much is left in the can if some did perchance to spill), the next logical step was to check out Lowes’ stock of mismatched paint! 
Lo and behold the fate of our new room went the natural route! There was a sweet pebble grey, and a fetched deep forest green! For $5 each! Now, here’s the kicker: Lowes is currently offering a $5 rebate on all of their gallons of 4000 Series paint (their Paint+Primer goes on a little thicker, and is nice for walls that already have a color on them that you are trying to cover, but a rebate is a rebate, yo!), and our little green beaut was exactly that variety...4000 Series, but discounted down to $5 because it was a mis-mix. That means, when we got to the checkout with our two gallons of paint, we paid $5 for the grey, $5 for the green, and got a receipt for a $5 rebate that we mail in! That’s FREE PAINT! That is a score!!! 
We continued our search yesterday for a blue to go along with our set, by now we had been into Lowes for a few days in a row. The nice gentleman at the counter noticed this, and checked every bucket he had behind the counter, and even marked out some paint that was left behind that day for us. You never know when your efforts will be rewarded with your perfect color! For us, that perfect color's name is "Autumn Sky," the blue to round out our set. When all was said and done we painted a 200 square foot playroom/classroom for $17. That was 4 gallons of paint, all different colors, making our home unique and wonderful! I don’t advise buying every color they have, as there was a light blue that bordered on white that we didn't take, despite our quest for blue. Not every color is a winner, but sometimes you have to open your mind to color possibilities, and sometimes you have to get a general color in mind and aim for that, being prejudiced towards extreme off-shoots of that color you’re aiming for, but not too picky for ballpark matches! Even if you're just looking for a nice Tan color to refresh your neutral walls, sometimes they will have two or three gallons of the same mis-match. You don't always have to go for accent walls like we are, although you can get some pretty fun colors that way! They also have deck stains, concrete stains, exterior paint, and more!
With this new tip in hand, get out there and go scrounge for 4000 Series mis-mixes from Lowes, and refresh your home for fall for free!
Speaking of Freebies, I have a Freebie for you! Since I've been keeping you up to speed with recipes and money savers for your food budget, I realized all you have is food for adults! My girls eat like adults now, but they didn't always, and you should be prepared for that too! Do not buy that canned baby crap, make it yourself! It's much healthier for your little one! To help you out, the Giveaway on this Wonderful Wednesday is the book: "Wholesome Meals For Babies and Toddlers, Healthy Food Your Kids Will Love To Eat" which has food for your cutie separated out by the different stages of development! This book was given to me when I was a new mom, now I am passing it on! It has recipes from 6 months old to 4 years old! It is not a vegan book, but there are plenty of vegan recipes, especially in the baby food section. 
To win, please leave a comment or private message me with a money saving tip! Or a question on a particular area you are struggling to save money in!
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