Goddess of Garbage

**Sara Noel** · 08-09-2002, 09:14 AM

http://www.goddessofgarbage.com/index.html

Neat site about an interior designer that designs with recycled materials.

Sara

**homesteadmamma** · 08-29-2002, 08:09 PM

I need to tell you our story about recycling dh's workshop and now his addition to it.

Dh is a scrounger and is forever bringing things home that he can use. All our crafts are made of free wood gotten from a furniture factory. When he worked, he had a chance to bring home 19 sheets of board and I wondered where on earth we would store them and what he would use them for.

The building dh used for his workshop was a small garage that was in horrible shape when we moved here. We purchased insulation (on sale) and he put in 6 in. walls. Those sheets of board were used for the walls.

The windows were boarded up but a friend had a couple of windows recycled from a house he had torn down. We purchased them for practically nothing. Dh needed a door and again this friend had a door/window combination and so we purchased that.

Wiring was another story. A friend dh had done some work for, had the cable he had used for his cabin and it was left over. He gave it to dh to use. When we needed the electrical panel, our oldest son had one he had removed from his house and we got it for $20, saving well over $100.

The shingles were from a friend who had them returned from a job that had too many, so we got them for $10 a box, again a huge savings.

Our addition is sheets of wood he still had left over. The flooring is pellets the lumber yard had (all free). The window and door are coming off of our home has soon as our new ones arrive in a week or so. Even the lock on the door will come off the house because that is being replaced free on our new door.

Hooking up electricity will again cost $0 because dh still has some wiring left over. Only the light bulb will be an expense, again I'll purchase it on sale.

We also added on to the workshop rather than build a seperate one because we saved one whole wall by doing that. The shingles will be leftovers from the other job again.

Recycling has become fun for us and it costs so little but a bit of time to haul things home or scrounge around.