Pit Stop Creations

Day 4:

Madison and I are able to spend at least one day a week together. Between work work, thesis work, and falling asleep work, we are busy.  So with our day off together, we travel around town (a lot) to thrift stores, consignment shops, warehouses, lumber yards, you name it, and we buy.  But we are buying to build or to at least make something else out of what we are buying.  So for example, below you can see some mason jars we plan to attach to our wall and use as storage, planters, etc. We also found some fun spice holders at a place in town called, "Junktiques"  The place was a bit higher priced than what we were hoping to spend, but on our way out the door Madison spotted the spice holders, and her "please" melted my heart, or maybe it was the 114 degree weather outside that day.

Mason Jars came in a 12 pack case and cost us a little over $8 at Target.  The clamps and back screw cost around $3 from Home Depot (told you we travel around a lot on days spent together!)

Spice Holders came as a set of 8 for only $12 bucks.  In the picture above we have already drilled the caps into the wood block with hopes of drilling the wood block under our cabinet, allowing for easy unscrewing and some storage space.

Moving Laterally.

Day 3:

Since we will be moving out to North Carolina, the large and abundant purchases will have to be made there, (2x4s, front door, insulation, electrical, etc).  But for now, while we are working and able to hold on to a little bit of money, we plan to buy what we can here in Arizona and bring it with us when we move.  Once we solidify our plan, we will let you in on it, but as it stands right now in our brain, we plan to sell our cars, buy a truck and trailer, load the truck and trailer with all the things we have purchased and drive out to NC and get to work!  In my mind, I hope that selling the 2 cars will easily allow us to purchase a truck and trailer and still have some cash for a slim jim at the QT.  Any who, here is our recent purchase, couldn't pass up these soft purple ceiling fan blades.  Not pictured, we also purchased 12 light switches, 12 outlets, and 9 face plates, all white, and all boring. 

Fan blades were found at Restore for the price of $2.  The light switches, outlets, and face plates were also purchased at Restore, bringing the entire bill to $11. 

Moving Forward.

Day 2: (not in actual sequence)

Madison (wife) and I have found some information on DIY hardwood flooring involving FREE pallets.  As not previously mentioned, we are currently living on a tight budget, and hope to continue to keep our spending to a minimal throughout this endeavor.  Stay tuned as we garage sell, craigslist, and try to pull out some favor-for-favor deals.   Madison and I hit the "free" craigslist columns for pallets, and on top of what seemed to be a never ending post of free boxes, we found some pallets. A few people were glad to be getting rid of their cockroach apartments, and one person in particular was equally eager to lend a hand once we shared our story.  Erika from the Aveda Institute here in Phoenix had some pallets left over from some large shipments, and she allowed us to take them.  

Pallets pictured here in the back of our Element on the day we went to pick them up.  Erika insisted on taking a photo, I insisted on her taking another one of my good side, the back, she declined my insist.

Wood was cut along the sides, avoiding nails, using a jigsaw borrowed from our cousin here in town.  The jigsaw was taking forever, so we gave in and bought a circular saw from Home Depot at the price of $39.97 with a $7 warranty added.  We will carry the saw with us to North Carolina.

It begins.

Day 1:

We have decided to build a small house. My wife finishes graduate school in the summer of next year (2015), and our plan is to sell everything, move from Arizona to North Carolina where hopefully my parents will allow us to crash in their backyard and spend countless hours building and possibly cursing. 

Our first step was to purchase the plans, we went with a 8'x20' sized home.  Found these plans while googling tiny homes, here is the link, Tiny Home Inspiration. It is roughly 180sq ft in size, just large enough to sneeze and not blow the windows out.  No coercion was done on my behalf, my wife was on board from the get go.  So with all hands on deck, our second step was to buy (for some reason)... a mini oven.  Stay tuned as we buy, return, plan, re-plan, fail, succeed, and somehow dominate this "home" thing. 

Mini Oven was purchased as is, at the price of $28.  It was a rusty box of sadness, and as it sits now, it's a slightly cleaner rusty box of happiness.  We have yet to reassemble and see if it actually works, so don't hold your breath, but you can cross your fingers!