Whenever my family asks me what I want for a birthday or a holiday, I tell them to just get me a gift card from the hardware store.
I can get supplies for home repair and maintenance, items for new projects inside and out, and tools. The best part is the huge sales at the hardware store every week, and you can go online and view the sale paper before you go to the store. I’m always watching for sales on woodworking tools and landscaping supplies. I love getting pallets of flowers when the price drops, especially now that the spring season is coming to an end. One of the most recent hardware store acquisitions for me is my brand new shop vac. It has a huge drum inside and it can be used for both wet and dry vacuuming. I accidentally spilled water all over my living room carpet last week and I managed to get most of it off the floor using the carpet attachment on my new shop vac. It’s also helpful for getting sawdust off the floor of my garage whenever I’m using one of my saws to cut wood for a building project. The other day I was using it to clean the condensate line for my air conditioner. If you’re using a traditional split style central air conditioner, your system has a small PVC pipe that drains water from your air handler inside and puts it on the ground outside near your condenser unit. This small pipe sometimes gets algae and microbial growth inside that can lead to clogs. Not all air conditioners have auto shut-offs when the condensate line clogs, so keeping it clean is essential to avoid expensive water damage. My new shop vac is the perfect tool for the job.