I have a love/hate relationship with The Home Depot. On one hand, they carry an awesome selection of home improvement products, tools, and supplies at competitive prices. On the other hand, it can be hard to get answers to your questions as each department only has two employees at any given time, and one of them is usually a clueless kid. I know because I WAS that clueless kid not long ago, mismatching paint until my orange apron had every color of the rainbow strewn across it.

But anyways, I wanted to take this opportunity to share my seven favorite “insider” ways to save money at the Home Depot, many of which I learned when I was wearing the famous orange apron.

1. Look For Damaged Packaging

This tip involves looking for damaged boxes or packaging when shopping at The Home Depot and politely asking for a discount.

I did this awhile back on a damaged kitchen sink box when doing an interview with Inside Edition.

The box had a slight tear in one of the corners, but there was NOTHING wrong with the actual sink.

I asked an associate for a 15% discount and they offered to take 10% off for me saving me a good chunk of change.

When I worked at The Home Depot we were trained to give out these types of discounts to get rid of damaged stuff.

ALL employees actually get $50 a day to hand out in discounts, without getting a manager’s approval, which I think is pretty cool and empowering.

Bottom-line, managers want to get rid of ANYTHING that’s even slightly damaged, so use this to your advantage and learn to haggle a good deal at The Home Depot.

See Also: Home Depot Will Often Give You the Lower Price If Item is Stocked in Wrong Spot

2. Pay Attention to the Cents on The Price Tag

This one comes from my article on Cracking the Price Tag Code. Pay attention to the cents on the Home Depot price tag.

If the item has an ending price of .06, it means the product is on clearance and will be lowered again in 6 weeks if it doesn’t sell out.

If the price ends in .03, it’s a final markdown price and the lowest price you’ll ever see on that product. If it doesn’t sell out in 3 weeks, it will be removed from the warehouse and liquidated.

Bottom-line, by looking for items that have an ending price of .06 or .03 you’re guaranteed to get a good deal.

3. Always Buy Paint on a Holiday Weekend

Having worked in the paint department, I am quite familiar with the times of the year when Behr paint goes on sale.

The dates to remember are any long holiday weekend, especially between the months of April and October.

So think Memorial Day, Father’s Day, 4th of July, and Labor Day.

Paint will be $5 off per gallon and $25 off for a 5 gallon bucket.

Sometimes you’ll have to mail-in a rebate to get the discount and sometimes you’ll get it when you checkout.

If you’re planning a big paint purchase, you can save a good chunk of change by timing your purchase to coincide with one of these holiday weekends.

4. Score a Rebate

Check out the very easy to search Rebate Center on the Home Depot website before you make ANY significant purchases.

Many shoppers aren’t a fan of rebates as they’re worried they’ll forget to redeem them.

If you’re in this camp, try this little hack…address the envelope for the rebate and add the stamp right away.

Once the stamp is added I guarantee you’ll mail in the rebate.

I recently did this “trick” with a rebate on Behr paint that I bought to paint my daughter’s bedroom and it definitely works.

See Also: Dislike Home Depot? Check Out These Smart Ways to Save at Lowe’s

5. Get Price Protection

When I worked at The Home Depot I was amazed with how few shoppers knew about our price protection policy.

If you buy something from Home Depot, and they lower the price within 30 days, just bring your receipt back in and get the difference.

Tip: If you make a big ticket purchase, add a reminder to your smartphone calendar and check the price once a week for the next 30 days.

If the price drops, come back in and get some money back.

6. Are You a Veteran or Active Military?

If you’re a veteran or active military member, you NEED to take advantage of newly revamped Home Depot Military Discount.

The discount is a flat 10% OFF the vast majority of items they sell.

The easiest way to get your discount is to download the Home Depot app and create an account if you don’t already have one.

Then once you’re on the Account page, just tap Military Discount Benefit and follow the instructions to get verified.

Once verified, you’ll just pull up the barcode within the app when checking out in-store.

The employee will scan it and you’ll collect your 10% discount.

To pull up your barcode within the app follow these steps:

1. Go to Menu, then My Account.
2. Then tap Account, to access the drop-down menu.
3. Next tap Military Discount Benefit.
4. Then the Barcode will pop up.

7. Get a Price Match

If you find a lower price at a local competitor, (think Lowe’s, Ace Hardware, Menards) Home Depot will happily match the lower price.

Item must be identical and in-stock at both locations.

From the Home Depot website, “Excludes special orders, bid pricing, volume discounts, open-box merchandise, labor and installation, sales tax, rebate and free offers, typographical errors and online purchases. Online purchases are subject to price match only.”

Ask the Reader: What’s your best tip to save money at The Home Depot? Let me know in the comments.

By Kyle James