Thriftiness - DIY Recycled Pallet Creations

 This post is unlike most of our parenting/adoption blog posts. I wanted to share all our pallet creations. Pallets are free (most of the time) and pretty easy to find, most any retail store that gets in large shipments has pallets. We pick up free pallets and free wood from ads on craigslist or as we happen to find them on the side of the road.

 

We (mommy and the kids) have made many structures with pallets, here is our kid's favorite:

 

 

Two Story Playhouse

  
Just 5 pallets held together with 12" wood scraps. I replaced the flimsy plywood roof with an old metal door. That made a sturdy surface to build up. Then add a slide from the side of the road!

We used 4 more pallets, two on each side. Again attached with scrap wood and using 7 cut pieces of 2x4 we constructed an A-frame and stapled an old tarp to it for a high roof. Old pool ladder was trash.
                       


Our two story playhouse cost $20, just for a box of screws! (That box lasted for all our other creations too!)

 

 

Rabbit Hutch

  
Using a pallet as the floor, all recycled wood and an old sheet of plexi-glass we built an oversized rabbit hutch. The chicken wire and hinges we did buy new. The paint was just left over exterior paint.

So our entire rabbit hutch cost $20 for chicken wire and new hinges and hooks. 

Chicken Coop (small)

                       
We used 3 full pallets, some recycled wood and one small pallet cut in half for the door. We put up 3 shelves from old plywood and the roof was an old metal "detour" street sign that was left on our property.

Total for the hinges and hook we spent $10 on our chicken coop!

 

 

Donkey Stable

  
This was by far our biggest pallet project. It took 15 pallets and lots of strength!!! The 2 big kids and mommy pulled it off though! For a pallet wall we laid 4 pallets next to each other and using 5 scraps of wood we screwed them together at the corners and middle. Then we raised the walls!
  
To attach two walls we used 3 wood scraps to brace walls together at corners.
  
Once three walls were raised we added 2 more pallets for a half wall and recycled deck beams as roof support. Mirabel drilled in the thin plywood pieces we had and we nailed a tarp on top.
  
It is ventilated and roomy for our donkey and goat herd on a rainy or hot day! Now just to add a pallet door!

Our stable cost us just $10 for hinges!

Duck Coop

  
We found an old cabinet on the side of the road, perfect nesting boxes for our duckies and it came with free hinges! Plus two pallets for side walls and one more cut in half for the front.
  
We covered the entire pallet house in chicken wire and added a sheet of recycled plywood as the roof. On the opening pallet door we added a small white door as a duck entrance.
  
With a thin plywood piece we hammered small scrap wood on to make a duck-friendly ramp. We also shingled the roof with leftover trashed shingles.

Our duck coop cost a total of $1 for a hook and eye hardware set!

 

 Chicken Coop (large)

  
Using 5pallets, one left over pallet cut in half, some trashed plastic siding and chicken wire we built a double wide chicken coop. This one is lower to the ground but my little kids have no problem gathering eggs!
  
We lined the side and back wall with shelves and added roosting poles on the far right side. We may add box dividers if needed but for now our chickens love it!

Our chicken run panels were given to us when a neighbor was cleaning up there yard. Our coop cost $20 for chicken wire and hardware.

You can do it!

When building your chicken coop or animal habitat remember it is going to be covered in poop! They sell such cute little rabbit hutches and backyard chicken coops at the stores for over a hundred dollars and they look beautiful but the moment your bird or bunny is well fed and happy they will change it's appearance and value forever! Paint makes anything look good! You can't mess up, your chicken won't chew you out, your bunny won't turn her nose up to it, if it has a roof and a comfy spot to rest they will love it and your wallet will feel nice too!

 

Posted by Shannon
Soli Deo gloria - Glory to God alone



Debt Free Here We Come!

UPDATE TO OUR PLAN TO BE DEBT FREE!
Sell everything (All that won't fit in RV is sold, just a dining room table, tv, and bed to store)
Sell house (House is sold and closing was Dec. 6th, 2013)
Buy or rent small piece of land  (Our 7 acre property will be paid off by March 2014 or sooner)
Move into small, low-rent house (We moved into a 700sqft mobile home on 4 acres Jan. 1st, 2014)
Save up every dime of Brian's income for 2-3 years
Pay CASH for whatever house we want
Pray for a new plan (kids say adopt 20 more kids...hope that isn't God inspired)

 

We made it through over half our goals in 6 months! 6 months must be an important timeline for us ;) When God put it on our hearts to get debt free He wasn't kidding. He certainly pushed us down this path quickly and effeciently. (Click here to see our previous debt-free post from November 2013).
 
We still have a little debt on our shoulders. We still have our small RV loan to pay off as well as just under $15,000 left to pay off our two properties. Yep, we sold our house and bought two properties, not one like those normal people, but two. I will try to tell the shortened story :)
 
Property one is a beautifully trashed (it is trashed but has an amazing potential to be beautiful) 7 acre raw property that was about to go to a tax sale. We inquired about it and God worked it out that we could owner finance it at $12,000 with no interest over 6 months. We had planned to park our RV and live there fully debt free but county ordinances forbid that. While we were trying to work all legalities out with the county our house sold and we needed somewhere to move to quick.
 
We were now stuck. We prayed and prayed and then our pressure washer broke! Our realtor asked us to have the house pressure washed for the final broker visit so we had to hire someone that same day. The person who came out to wash had done fix-it work for us years back. He asked, first, where all the kids came from :) then why we were selling our pretty little house. We explained God's prompting and our debt free journey. Then God moved. "I was going to sell a property of mine for what it is worth, about $40k, but the Lord is leading me to give it to you for what I owe." This sweet man pressure-washing our porch was too kind. I called Brian right away, turns out Brian was praying in his car that very moment for direction. This was that direction. We went to see this 2nd property that afternoon.
 
Property two is a humble, run-down, single-wide 600sqft mobile home on 4 mostly cleared acres. I remember having my arms crossed and nose up when I first saw this little excuse for a house. No way! There is no way this is what God has for our family! N O  W A Y period. Brian on the other hand didn't snub it's terrible appearance, "How much do you owe on it?" The washer guy seemed pleased, "About $12,000 and it is $200/month owner finance." Me: "We will take it!" It may need work and be small but it sure beats our plan to live in the RV if push came to shove!

  

So here we are, we have paid quite a bit off both properties and are almost there, goal is to own both properties and be mortgage free by May 2014 (Long term goal is to build our dream house on property one and rent out property two). We officially moved in January 1st and have been working overdrive to make it a home. We have painted every wall, installed wood flooring, patched walls, fixed leaks, rebuilt supports, hauled trash and put up fencing. It is humble, but it is growing on us and is now home. We spend a lot of time outdoors doing anything and everything. Our kids are free to run, play and explore. No streets or neighbors to worry about. We worried about the transition of our kids coming from hard places into our upper class home and now downsizing to a lower class mobile home. But no worries were needed. They wouldn't trade this amount of outside space for another thousand squarefeet of inside space anyday!

One would think that this move was enough change and challenge our family could handle, but God always gives us more than we can handle. Our next adoption story will be posted soon, like before Valentine's Day soon! Click here for a preview post on our 6th adoption, our 7 year old son!


Now some before and after pictures:
 
Yep, this is home. We put lattice all around the deck and built a small wall to make a covered pen for our dogs at night and when we are gone. We surrounded the home with a rock garden and pots that will bloom in spring. We also built a raised garden bed in front of all the lattice so vine produce can grow in spring. We have a large area seating area with a bon fire pit that can seat 15-20 out front, we call it our living room, then our RV is extra living space and our outside storage shed.



The front yard took some work: The trash pile turned out to be 880lbs of stuff we had to load and haul away! We took down and rebuilt the privacy fence. We also built a small puppy pen, hard to see in the after picture, and we fixed a pig/goat pen in the middle of the yard. We still have 3 more acres behind us!


Now for the inside tour:

We painted the main inside a mint green with white trim and installed cherry wood flooring. Finishing touches like pictures and curtains make it home.


There was no oven when we bought it, but after a quick trip to a local thrift store we found a used $1500 oven for only $99. There was no hook-up for the dish washer so we nixed it, cut the half counter and put our washing machine there. This is our living room, dining room, laundry room and kitchen, or as we call it our utility room.


We built the wall to make a second bedroom, the boy's room. Thankful for an inside area that can comfortably seat 10 for dinner.



Girls' room and 1/2 bath


Boy's room



The master bed and bath are secret....no pictures to come :)


Posted by Shannon
Soli Deo gloria - Glory to God alone

So Many Preperations! So Many Distractions!

A whirlwind doesn't even begin to describe the turbulence of our life for the past month! Wind constantly pushing and turning and rushing! (Click here for post explaining our upcoming move) We have had garage sale after garage sale, met with 50+ people for sales from craigslist and facebook, listed and shipped dozens of items on eBay.
 
  
 
Tried to stay consistent on potty-training the twins (Titus and Maggie are both 2 years old).
 
                            

 Cleaned and cleaned and cleaned to keep our home "show clean" for any perspective buyers (which is a triumph in itself with 5 kids and 2 dogs).
 
              

We have been traveling back and forth daily to care for our land-clearing goats and join them by picking up trash and chopping down trees with the added bonus of ticks and poison ivy!
 
  
  

I feel like I skipped July and now August is slipping away! Our goal was finishing clearing enough of a path to park RV on property and moving completely out of the house by Sept. 1st. That gives us 15 days left.....God has put all this above busyness on halt. We are now packing quickly to go visit family in Virginia. Brian's father (grandpa) is in the ICU on life support. We are going to rush up there to spend one last week with him and make his passing as peaceful and joyful as possible. Although this is a very sad time the kids are also excited to see extended family again! They had so much fun meeting their grandparents, aunt, uncle and cousins last November for the first time!

Although I am a crazy planner I am at peace with this change in my plans. God has been so gracious to not take grandpa suddenly but to give us a chance to say good-bye. We cannot plan death, it sneaks up on us and halts all our plans without apology. It reels us in from looking at the big picture, the future, the "could be"s and the "what if"s, it slows us down again and lets us marvel at the little things.  The way a nectarine  tastes and smells when you take the first bite. The way our dogs' tails wags when we come home after leaving them. The sparkle in Mirabel's eye as she falls in love and nuzzles her little goat. The way Maggie's tiny hands wrap around my neck ever so tightly when I am pulling her training pants up. The way Risa's long black hair waves and flows at her every carefree leap and twirl. The way Titus's smile beams with the biggest sense of accomplishment after doing something as overlooked as throwing something away for me. The way I hug Anthony and realize for the first time he is almost at eye level and isn't little anymore. The little things that are found in this life alone. The things that can be so easily missed when death seems so far away. Funerals bring that zeal for life, that preciousness back like a slap in the face....

With all our preparations, move, and going ons I jumped on every waking moment to DO something, to pack, to work, to go, to sell, to list, to train....I forgot the "only thing necessary".


Luke 10:38-42
³⁸ Now as they were traveling along, He (Jesus) entered a village; and a woman named Martha welcomed Him into her home. ³⁹ She had a sister called Mary, who was seated at the Lord’s feet, listening to His word. ⁴⁰ But Martha was distracted with all her preparations; and she came up to Him and said, “Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to do all the serving alone? Then tell her to help me.” ⁴¹ But the Lord answered and said to her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and bothered about so many things; ⁴² but only one thing is necessary, for Mary has chosen the good part, which shall not be taken away from her.”


Lord I feel so much like Martha, always distracted by preparations! Lord let me learn to be like Mary and just sit at Your feet! For I will never regret marveling at You or Your creation!


Posted by Shannon
Soli Deo gloria - Glory to God alone