How A Home Depot Subscription Can Save You Money
As living costs continue to skyrocket, it's becoming all the more important to save money wherever you can. To paint a scary picture, Forbes reports that mortgage interest rates are expected to increase, while CoreLogic found that single-family rental rates are up 14% from 2021. In other words, living expenses are eating up budgets and leaving fewer funds for routine repairs or home maintenance.
Fortunately, Home Depot is taking a page from the numerous subscription services we interact with on a daily basis. The home improvement store now allows customers to subscribe to their favorite products for a discount (via Home Depot). The plan seems to be a win-win: customers get better deals and don't have to go out to repurchase their favorite items, while Home Depot gets the future sale and can better manage stock. But is it really worth it? In some cases, the subscription service is a great way to save — if you're selective.
How Home Depot's subscription service works
At the moment, Home Depot's subscription service offers 5% off and free delivery for any items that customers choose to sign up for, according to Home Depot. While you can't subscribe to every item in the store (you probably wouldn't want a new lawn chair every other month anyway), you can subscribe to certain items in a variety of categories, including household essentials, cleaning supplies, batteries, drain chemicals, air and water filters, and more. As of right now, Home Depot's website allows customers to request a product ranging in frequency from monthly to once a year.
The subscription offers some flexibility: you can pause and select a subscription resume date or cancel your subscription at any point. You can also return any items that are delivered. However, it's important to note that you'll be charged the item's price at the time the subscription renews (via Home Depot), which may include a drastic price increase that you're now on the hook for.
Choosing your subscription purchases
While Home Depot's subscription service could be a great way to save money, it can also burn through your budget if you aren't careful. Before subscribing for anything, make sure that you'll actually use it on time. Items like water filter replacements might be easy to schedule, but it's probably harder to predict how soon you'll need a new pack of batteries — and chances are that you won't be going through a multipack of light bulbs at home every year. Sure, you can always pause your subscription if you don't need a new item just yet, but you might forget, and it'll be delivered anyways.
Also, before you place an order, carefully consider whether you can save money by buying the same items or suitable replacements on sale throughout the year. You can probably find a cheaper pack of garbage bags, batteries, or just about any other item if you keep an eye out for deals (especially around Black Friday). Then, you could stock up for a few months. The Washington Post even explains that bulk shopping is a great strategy to cut down on everyday costs. Of course, the drawback here is that you'll need to have the extra money and storage space necessary to accommodate a bulk purchase, but the potential savings are well worth it if you do.