These cheap power tools were meant to be temporary, but they're still in my garage

Published Oct 22, 2026, 6:30 PM EDT Former radio and TV guy (I Heart Radio and PBS). Now a writer, researcher, and musician who writes about the absurdity of our modern world and other offbeat topics. Specializes in weird music, the old web, retro video games and tech, and researching strange, yet interesting things. His work has appeared in Vice, Tedium, Star Trek.com, Today I Found Out, Typebar, SyFy Wire, and How To Geek. Currently working on a variety of music, web, and writing projects. Visit him on the web at https://djbuckfreelance.neocities.org/. For me, a cheap or budget power tool is one that runs between $30 and $100. Sometimes, I'll manage to get a deep discount on a tool, but I usually go for the less pricey ones. Most of the time, I'll pick up a tool to use temporarily, until I can afford a better-quality one or my wife lets me splurge. But surprisingly enough, there are a few inexpensive tools I bought for a temporary solution to a problem but have found them to be so useful I've hung onto them rather than finding a replacement. Hey, I like cheap tools I own a bunch of cheaper, inexpensive power tools. I wouldn't say I'm a collector or hoarder of such things. It's just that, sometimes I will buy a budget pack of tools or a tool for a temporary issue. Then I just put them in my garage. I have a lot of Ryobi tools, a paint sprayer, an electric lawnmower, and a few other things I rarely use or have only used once. But once in a while, a tool becomes multipurpose or transcends its temporary status. To me, a power tool is anything that runs on electricity, gas, or has hydraulics. I define cheap as “I didn't pay very much for it,” more so than “it's not very well constructed.” A Craftsman wet/dry shop vac An inexpensive tool that gave me years of vehicle cleanliness I haven't told a lot of people the story of how I got a $50 vacuum for a penny. But it happened. A few years ago, I was doing some shopping at Ace Hardware, and I came across a vacuum display showing several discounted items. I wanted a big, fancy shop vac to use for cleaning vents and my car. But those were a little out of my price range. So I settled for a handheld vacuum. There was a beautiful selection of vacuums, drills, impact drivers, and a few smaller handheld tools. I was looking for a vacuum I could use to clean my car at the time. So I selected a small one that looked kind of like a discount version of a real shop vac. It was listed at $49.99, which is still pretty cheap. I only expected it to be 20% off. Nice. But when I got to the register, it wouldn't scan. The cashier came over, scanned it, and it came up for one cent. I thought there was something wrong, asked about it, and the store manager just said it no longer had a SKU and that, yes, I could just have it for a penny. The cheap little shop vac worked so well (and was super convenient to use) that I never did end up getting the fancy shop vac I wanted. I've been using it weekly ever since, when I do weekly car maintenance (oil, tire pressure, cleaning, and so on). After using the tool for a few years as I have, I would've absolutely paid the $50 for it. I'll definitely never get rid of this one. A thrifted cordless Black & Decker drill A cheap string winder substitute that works A few years ago, I was doing a lot of side work repairing and setting up acoustic guitars. For a while, I used the unfortunately-named Ernie Ball Power Peg Winder. It was fine for a while, but I had one too many broken strings from dealing with its wonky controls. I found a cheap replacement in a cordless Black & Decker drill at a thrift store for $12. It didn't have a battery with it, but luckily I had a few in my workshop. I bought a string winding attachment to go with it and planned to buy a better or cordless drill exclusively for string changes down the line. But what began as a temporary solution to the constant string changes (and to prevent wear on the tuning pegs) became a staple of my workshop. It still works great and gets the job done quickly. Why upgrade to something more expensive than this one will do? It was a significantly small investment (and the very definition of “cheap”), but that old Black & Decker is sitting in my workshop, just waiting for my next string change. Which reminds me I'm due for one very soon. Datavac Electric Duster A shockingly powerful duster Before I did guitar repair work, I was working in an IT capacity for a few different organizations. A lot of what I did involved cleaning and maintaining computers, network equipment, and working on delicate machinery. The plan was originally to get a stronger blower/duster, but I picked up the Datavac for a little under $100 because it was portable and fit my (very, very low) budget. I've used it for maintenance and other tasks ever since. It has a 500-watt motor powering it, and I've seen it completely clear out a bunch of dust on a device that was caked in the stuff. It used to have a bunch of attachments, too, but those haven't survived. I use it for a bunch of different stuff, and it was absolutely worth keeping. Sometimes a temporary solution can become permanent Tools are a remarkable thing. Sometimes tools might be built for a single purpose, but you can always find something better for it. I'm happy that I found some cheap tools that went beyond the temporary things I bought them for. I'm sure I'm going to find more in the future. But for now, I'm pretty happy with the ones I've been using for the past 5 years. Here's to many more ahead.