Super Cheap Extra Large Dry Erase Board

The following Everyday Savings Tip comes from, Carrie:

I wanted a very large dry erase board to use in the room I do home school in. However, boards that are any larger than 3'x4′ can run you into the hundreds of dollars range.

My husband learned at his job that you can use a piece of shower wall board as the “board” for a dry erase board. I priced it at Lowe's and a 4 x 8 sheet is just under $34. It doesn't have a metal backings so it's not magnetic, but for this price it doesn't matter. If you don't want one this large, Lowe's can also cut it for you to share it with a friend  and spend half.

We then used some leftover wood trim to frame it and secure it to the wall. Instead of spending more than $500 (for a board even close to this size), we spent a fraction of that. I now have a dry erase board that fills my wall!

In order to keep track of all of our dry erase markers, I ran a strip of sticky backed velcro on the sides of the frame. I used the rougher, more plastic feeling velcro on the frame and then cut about 1-inch pieces of it that I stuck on the markers. The softer velcro pieces aren't rough on your hands when you use the markers and I can keep the up out of the reach of little hands.

This is ingenious! I purchased a few dry erase boards last year for our menu planning. They were magnetic but I'm not really using the magnet as much. I really want one bigger so I may try this!

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