Ask for a demonstration

There are a whole lot of impressive painting toys out there. There are tools that help you paint stripes, tools to reach high corners, tools to achieve different textures, etc. Where a lot of people end up wasting their money is in buying things that they either don't need or that don't work for their situation. Most home improvement stores that sell paint will be willing to help you out by providing you with a demonstration of painting techniques. Observing and then taking a hands-on try at what you plan to do at home will not only help you to do the job better, but you will have been able to try out a number of different painting tools to determine which one or two would be best for you to buy. Home improvement stores like the Home Depot, offer regular classes, which are free to the public, on a variety of home improvement topics including painting.

Calculate twice, buy once

One of the most difficult decisions to make when buying paint is how much you will need. Most paint stores will provide for you a chart that tells you how many square feet any given amount of a brand of paint will cover. While this is a good place to start, there are other considerations that need to be made. Darker colors require either more coats or thicker coats on the wall in order to achieve uniform coverage. You can tell whether or not your paint is a "dark" color by asking if the base color is white. Paint colors with a white base generally require two light coats while darker colors may require only two coats but the roller will need to be saturated with more paint (a thicker coat) in order to get uniform color. Also consider that you needn't buy too much extra paint. Each gallon of paint is mixed independently, so although there are measurements that the paint mixer or machine takes to make the same color consistent, there is no way to be sure that you are going to have an absolutely perfect match. In other words, there is no advantage to buying extra paint now when you can see how much what you have covers and buy paint only as you need it. It's a good idea to have some paint left over for touch up work, but if you are concerned about your budget, you want to make sure that you have a gallon or less left over, any more than that is probably too much.

Tape, drop cloths, multiple rollers, clean-up

Don't forget to add the costs of all the little things that you will need to finish your paint job. The cost of tape, drop cloths, multiple rollers, ladder, paint pans, brushes and the time for clean-up should all be part of the considerations that you make when you are thinking about your painting budget.