The Call of the Cull

I  go to Home Depot two to three times a week. It's close to my work and I can often pop in on my lunch break. I generally prefer Home Depot to Lowes for several reasons. Oddly enough, I like Home Depot because it's dirtier and messier than Lowes (says a lot about me doesn't it?). Lowes is always neat and clean. It's like a home and garden "boutique". I sometimes feel like I'm under-dressed in there. 

Another BIG reason I like Home Depot over Lowes is because they have a cull bin. The Lowes that I go to do not. Over the years I have gotten some pretty good stuff out of there, dirt cheap. Some of it has become part of projects in my home. Good sized sheets of white faced peg board, 1/4" oak plywood, wide pine boards, melamine covered particle board (that stuff comes in handy) are just some of the good finds.  I bought 52 of the 4' 2x4s (.51 cents each) that are going into knee walls above my garage.....someday. At 8' long those 2x4s are useless but at 4' many of them are good enough for my purposes. I have to admit I buy some of this stuff without a clear idea of what I'm going to use it for. That's a bad habit when you have limited storage space. I also have noticed that the deals aren't quite as good as they used to be. Sometimes they have orange ($4.01) painted on the ends of 4' lengths of firewood. You never know. Just the same, no matter why I am into Home Depot or what I'm buying, I always check out the cull bin. I'm like Ulysses being drawn to the Sirens. I just can't resist the call of the cull.

dsr