Treasure Hunting

This summer one of my friends from school introduced me to one of her old family traditions- Treasure Hunting. It was a family activity to drive around to construction sites to see what scrap wood could be salvaged to create 'treasures'.

Daniel, my sister, and I decided to try it out. I really wanted to finish decorating our apartment, but I am too cheap to buy shelves... so we made some! :D We went to 3 different construction sites & pulled wood from dumpsters.  We felt a little bit like thiefs... but we decided to think of it as recycling.  They were done with it, now it was our turn.  Then Daniel and I spent a few hours in the wood shop, and wah-la!

We found several pieces of wall trim... So we made two shadow boxes and painted them black. Above is the first one.

We also made shelves. These are for our bedroom. And the two black ones in this picture are in our living room. As you can see, we are still trying to figure out what to put on our shelves... Daniel decided on the angry, kissy M&M people...
Shadow Box number 2.

It was a successful treasure hunt for three reasons. First, we made adorable decorations for our appartment. Second, we saved money.  Third and most importantly, we made a family memory.  When we are old and grey we will not remember the money saved or exactly what the decorations looked like, but we will remember the the fun, creative times we had together.  

For more frugal tips & ideas visit Frugal Fridays.