I’m Not Cheap, I’m Thrifty…

Okay, let’s just call it what it is.

I recently had some painting I needed to do.  However, the painting was not getting done because of two things:  Not only did I not want to have to purchase more of the needed paint tray liners, but I also didn’t want to leave the house.   

So… in conclusion, I am cheap and lazy. 

I have been told that necessity is the mother of invention, but in my experience, cheap laziness is.  Which brings me to what I’d like to show you today.  In this post I showed you my amazing prowess in hole patching.  After teaching the wall exactly who’s the boss in this house, I needed to paint over the patched area.  I headed down into the Death Spider Cave of Doom, which is located under the stairs in my basement, and found the paint supplies.  I had the paint, rollers, and metal paint tray, but no plastic paint tray liners. 

Now, I think it’s probably fair to conclude that my paint tray has lived well over its nine lives.  Or whatever life expectancy paint trays have.

Clearly I couldn’t just pour the paint into the tray, unless ‘rust’ was the desired color I wanted on my wall.  So here’s the little trick I used that enabled me to not have to buy paint tray liners (because I’m cheap) or leave the house (too lazy). 

First, I took a plastic bag from the store and pulled it over the paint tray.  Important:  Make sure the bag you use has no holes in it!

Take the handles of the bag and tie them tightly underneath the paint tray:

Hey, look at that: some free advertising for Target.  I really hope they appreciate that ; )

Your paint tray should now look like this:

All that’s left is to pour in the paint and then, you know… paint.  Whatever it is you’re painting at the time.  In my case, the wall.

Another nifty thing about doing this is that I don’t have to wash off my roller when I’m done. I just untie the handles of the bag and turn it inside out so that the paint and roller are contained inside the bag.  I then retie the handles and the roller is ready for storage.  (Note: check for holes and pour extra paint out of the tray and back into the paint can.)

I don’t know about you, but I’m forever painting over scuff marks, handprints, ink, and once, a grass stain.  The roller ends up holding just the right amount of paint to do a quick roll over for when you’re expecting guests and your two year old just drew an awesome picture of you, daddy and the sun on your living room wall. 

I shared my paint tray how-to; what home repair tricks have you come up with?  : )