The Home‑Fi Origin Story (The Chaos Behind the Deals)

Eric’s story starts on a small chicken farm — the kind with 15 to 50 chickens at any given time. Just enough to teach him responsibility, hard work, and that chickens are basically tiny, angry comedians.

From there, he went on to do… well… everything. Stocking shelves, bottle return, paper delivery, data entry for the Detroit News, event DJ, Taco Bell, Toys R Us, movie theater (all the way to manager), manufacturing plastic parts, writing manuals for a software company — if it existed, he probably worked there.

Then came the golden age of Babbage’s and Software Etc., where he fell in with the PC gaming crowd and accidentally launched a lifelong tech career. He learned to build computers, fix networks, and generally become the guy who could make broken things un-break.

Eric spent 23 years at Charter/Spectrum, climbing from High-Speed Internet tech support to Senior Regional IT & Facilities Manager. Along the way he earned degrees in IT Management and Project Management, and had three kids — Sylvia, Oliver, and Mabel.

During his Facilities Era, he learned to operate, repair, and maintain buildings and building systems — HVAC, electrical, plumbing, generators — basically if it had a switch, a valve, or a warning label, Eric figured it out.

After 23 years, Eric’s time at Spectrum came to an unexpected end when the company closed its call center in Walker, Michigan, moving operations out of state. It was a sudden and heavy moment — a place where he had invested more than two decades simply disappeared overnight. That weight shaped the next chapter, a real and raw turning point in his journey.

And tucked into all of this, Eric also spent years in theater — cast and crew, onstage and backstage, even taking on lead roles and a few attempts at directing. Those early stage days taught him timing, improvisation, and how to keep a show moving when things go sideways… skills that ended up being surprisingly perfect for livestreaming pallet chaos.

Shelly’s path was completely different — and just as impressive.

She started working at Subway as Store Manager at 18, taking on District‑level responsibilities without the title or pay. Those early years built her work ethic, integrity, and no‑nonsense approach.

After five years, she started her family. When Chandler was born, she opened an in‑home daycare, juggling diapers, naps, snacks, and a few tiny humans — but she was way too social to stay home forever. Before that, she’d worked everywhere from video stores to retail shops, sharpening the people skills she’d use for the rest of her life.

Eventually she followed the calling she’d felt since she was young. She went to college for nursing while raising Chandler and Alex, later welcoming Nik in 2004. She graduated in 2002 and began her nursing career in family practice and OBGYN before discovering her true passion in long‑term care.

For over two decades, Shelly cared for elderly and dementia patients, even serving as Director of Staff Development, where she trained new nurses, supported CNAs, handled education and compliance, and strengthened entire care teams.

By the time she and Eric met in 2016, she was already shifting gears. She moved into plasma donation work, then became a Nursing Supervisor in Assisted Living, eventually switching to per‑diem to support their newly blended family of six kids.

Then COVID hit — and after 20+ years of caring for others, the burnout was real.

And tucked into all of this, Shelly also had a theater background — running lights, sound, building sets, and keeping productions from falling apart… which is probably why she’s the one keeping Home‑Fi organized while Eric wrestles with cables.

We met in 2016, back when we were both still fully locked into our long‑term careers — Eric deep in IT and facilities, Shelly deep in nursing. Neither of us had any idea that a few years later we’d be running a business together, raising a blended family, and livestreaming pallet chaos to the internet.

Two divorced parents. Three kids each. A perfect 3‑and‑3 split.

A real Brady Bunch… if the Brady Bunch had liquidation pallets, mystery boxes, and a weekly unboxing show where things occasionally explode.

Now that the kids are older, the house has dwindled down to three still at home — which means slightly less chaos, slightly more sleep, and a lot more room for pallets.

From day one, we set out to do this the right way — honestly.

In a world where anyone can crop a photo, hide a flaw, or “forget” to mention a missing piece, we decided to go the opposite direction. That’s why we unbox so much of our inventory live. You see it exactly as we see it. If it’s dinged, stained, cracked, missing parts, or looks like it survived a small house fire, you find out the same moment we do.

We carry that honesty into our listings too. We even created a special category for the stuff that’s still useful but… let’s say “character‑building.”

We call it Harvey’s Pallet Shrapnel — the less‑than‑perfect items that still have value, still deserve a home, and still make us laugh.

But honesty isn’t our only mission. We also wanted to give people a real look into this chaotic liquidation world. Lots of people unbox pallets, but very few show the whole truth — the gross, the broken, the illegal, the heavily regulated, the “ahem… adult,” and the things that make you call state or local authorities and ask, “So… how do I safely dispose of this?”

We’re not experts giving polished advice. We’re two people sharing our wins, our stumbles, our growth, and our misfires. We share updates on our family, we share funny stories, and we try to entertain — always with a laugh or two.

That’s Home‑Fi.
Come see what we got.

Somewhere between raising six kids, rebuilding our lives, and figuring out how to keep everyone fed, we discovered we loved doing this together — the hunting, the sorting, the surprises, the deals, the community, the chaos.

And with two former theater kids at the helm, it turns out we also know how to put on a show.

Now we buy liquidation pallets from Amazon, Target, Walmart, Wayfair & more, test everything, and bring the deals straight to you. Every Sunday at 7pm, we go LIVE to unbox whatever madness the pallets throw at us — good, bad, weird, or “why does this exist.”

We’re a real family running a real business in a real house full of real kids who think bubble wrap is a lifestyle.