Narrowing Down Projects and Purchasing Supplies

Another week of researching so that I can start my projects! This week I was focused on discovering what supplies I needed and where to get them. Since I intend on making items that are good enough to sell, I know I must keep the price of my supplies in mind. If I want to sell an item and make a profit, I must try to keep my purchase price as low as possible. In order to ensure I am getting the best prices, I spent this weeks hour comparing prices and trying to figure out what stores are open or offering curbside pickup. I have decided that the main project I want to try is making custom doormats so I began searching for not only the cheapest place to purchase coir doormats, but also the most accessible. I first checked Amazon because I know their shipping is fast and reliable. However, the prices were quite high with the cheapest mat starting at $23

From my research on Facebook Marketplace and Etsy, I know these customized mats typically sell for $25-40. Based on this information, I felt that $23 was a bit pricey for just the mat itself, even though it included free shipping. I did some more research and found that the best price was at Ikea:

Their mats are priced a $6.00 - significantly cheaper than other stores but the only problem was that the store is currently closed due to lockdown. However, I was able to schedule a curbside pickup at the Burlington location for an additional $5. I decided to purchase 10 mats in order to make that fee worth paying and to have backups in case I make any mistakes. I also had to purchase freezer paper and spray paint. Freezer paper was the most difficult because I found that very few stores sell it as it is an "old fashioned" product that few people use (I hadn't even heard of it prior to looking into this project!). I had to watch the Home Hardware site for stock updates and as soon as it came in stock, I purchased two rolls worth. For the spray paint, I ended up finding that Walmart was the most accesible store in the current climate with the best price - $7. In the end the total cost of the supplies for the mat was $21. However, the spray paint and the freezer paper can be used for multiple mats which will bring the production cost for each mat down. In addition to these supplies, I also ordered rolls of vinyl from amazon, purchased Starbucks tumblers from Starbucks, purchased arcylic blank key chains from amazon and also some additional supplies such as wine glasses and picture frames for the dollar store for some other possible products. I think that I am prepared to being these projects and hopefully by the end of this, I will be able to make some products that people want to buy! The hardest part of this weeks research was the lockdown because it was easy to use Google searches to compare product prices but with many stores being closed, it narrowed my options. Overall, I think it was successful week and I can't wait to get started.