Painting your own home saves money, but even if you don’t need professional help, it can be an expensive venture, with paint, tools, and other supplies running up a large budget if you’re not careful. Luckily, there are a few tricks for saving money on painting supplies. Here are five ways to avoid going over-budget on your paint project.

Get Paint at your Local Recycling Center

In all urban areas, there are recycling and hazardous waste centers relatively close by. These facilities take paint from local business owners who need to throw out unused, old paint. Paint has a long shelf life, so the paint taken to these centers is usually still good to use for your home. You can usually pick up paint from these recycling centers for free. See what you can find.

Check the Hardware Store

Most local hardware stores, paint stores, and the occasional Wal-Mart will usually have mis-tint sections where they sell discolored paint at drastically reduced prices. For example, a mis-tinted gallon of paint that would normally cost $35 can cost around $15 in the mis-tint section. Like the recycling center, you might not find the color you’re looking for, but it’s worth a look to save money on paint.

Prime

Anytime you take on an interior or exterior painting project, you should plan on priming your surfaces before you break out the real paint. This is especially important when you need to cover bare wood. This helps the paint adhere to the surface better no matter what surface you’re painting.

Buy in Bulk When Possible

You can save money on your painting project by buying larger quantities of paint at a time. A typical five-gallon container of paint will cost about the same as four one-gallon paint cans. If you know you’ll need massive quantities of paint, buy in bulk to save time and money. Another way to help save money on your painting project is to use a single color for all or most of the work.

Cover Your Brushes and Rollers

You may be used to washing your brushes and rollers at the end of a long day of painting, but did you know you could save money and time by simply covering your implements instead of washing them out? The key is to cover your brushes and rollers with a plastic bag or a similar material, then seal it as tightly as possible with a rubber band or a little twine. When you’re ready to start painting again, simply uncover your brushes and get to work.

Probably the most useful thing you can do for your painting budget is to ask a painting expert how much paint you’ll need for your project. If you can measure or estimate the square footage of your total project, painting experts will know about how much paint you’ll need to cover the area. Buying in bulk is great when you need large amounts of paint, but you can also save money by not over-buying paint.