Reply To: Outdoor kitchen

  • DeepSouthBamaGRITS

    Member
    February 8, 2023 at 5:46 pm

    @Emil Great scores on materials animal housing, & other great finds! You sound a lot like me in either having connections from friends or having an eagle eye when scouting for things I can use on the homestead. Yes, I may find or get things PRIOR to building my projects but I know I will need them so get them while the getting is good & FREE!

    I check FB Marketplace occassionally and look for things I might could use for projects. Last summer (in our massive heat wave), I found two people wanting to get rid of their 10’x12′ chain link dog kennels. Just had to take them down & remove. One looked like it had been run over by something. They had no offers on it so I went to see if I could salvage any of the frame/wire, panel with door, etc. It looked like it was overgrown in vines/weeds, too, in the pic. I got there and the owner had just kind of thrown sections of it in a pile & had thrown a pile of weeds on it from cleaning a fence row. Nothing was damaged, nothing bent. Just had to take the pile of weeds off the kennel, pull out the sections of the kennel & lay it out on the ground to disassemble, roll up the wire, etc. Another score for extending my chicken run. The other one had just been listed and less than 20 min from me so I told the owner I would be there in 30 min to disassemble & move. Was 1st inquirer so he told me to come on & get it as he wanted it GONE NOW! It was a better quality with separate panels with chain link clamped on each panel. Had a nice panel with heavy duty gate/door. Almost had heat exhaustion getting those two kennels but knew I was needing them to extend chicken run & my budget didn’t allow me to purchase them new or even used.

    Keep check on FB Marketplace for things you may need, too. I got over 20 different garden/yard tools (hoes, shovels, rakes, pick axe, etc.) for $25. Not the cheap thin metal ones you buy today but the old timey well built garden tools. Had been kept in a shed so no rotting of the wood handles.

    Another big score was someone was moving. They had been in a nursery business but was not going to be doing that where they were moving. I got a big utility trailer of ALL sizes, styles, decorative pot varieties of styles/sizes & even clay pots, plastic from little seedling pots up to 5 gallon plastic pots. Literally hundreds and some were still wrapped in plastic, brand new they had bought in bulk. Because I took them ALL, they threw in some bags of potting mix, potting soil, perlite, vermiculite & even several plants they had not been able to sell. Got it all for $50. I do a lot of propagating so all the pots saved me a LOT of money not having to buy my own, plus the bonus soils/amendments.

    I could go on & on with the deals I’ve found & gotten. Saving money on some things I need by getting used will free up money to buy things I can’t find used/free.

    Found 4 abs chaise lounge patio chairs on side of road. scattered along a half mile span. Was from Lowes, just up the road about 20 miles, I’m assuming. 3 were in almost perfect shape (had a nick or two on some corners but didn’t affect the stability of using them) and one had a broken leg but I found it. I fortunately have a PLASTIC WELDER with abs/pvc welding sticks. The break was a clean break so I loaded it up, too. Was able to perfectly weld it back on and still using them all. Most people would just keep on driving by thinking they would be broken to bits.

    On my fixed income budget (being a senior) I don’t mind USED or slightly imperfect finds. I do not pick up junk or destroyed items unless it is a big tarp or piece of heavy plastic that has good size sections that can be used to cover things. I keep a supply of grommets (& have the repair kit) to make a good tarp out of a section of one I find that may have gotten ripped. I can ALWAYS use tarps of all sizes here on the homestead.