Oh yes, DH and I have picked up things from the curb. DH once found a lot of plants in pots being thrown out, he came home to get me to help pile it in the truck.
Two recent items found was a swing to hang in the tree and an old sansui receiver, it was like christmas for DH when he found this one.

It's the green thing to do!

On my 'leaf-lurking' expeditions, I've come across chain link fencing, a whole trash bag full of schoolhouse lily bulbs, many many plastic pots, once a whole brand-new bag of cotton burr compost(!).

I once picked up 2 boxes of House & Garden Magazines (gave those to a lady who takes them to a nursing home) & a box of fabric, mostly quilt scraps.

(oh, & about that 12-step DDA thing?
Twelve-step programs only work *if you reeeallly want 'em to*!)

I go after leaves shamelessly myself. I'll pick something up if I need it but not if I don't. Pack ratting runs in my family so I have to watch it. I've picked up a doggie gate,Poinsettias,cardboard,newspapers (picked up this morning for the animal cages)and a few other odds and ends here and there. We have people that really scam the neighborhood here for this kind of thing so it's usually gone fast. PJ

I admire you dumpster divers. I just don't have the nerve. I once saw a small chest at the curb but could not bring myself to stop. I am capable of refinishing furniture and could have done wonders with that small piece. I've always regretted not getting it.

gabriell, you've come to the right place for enabling!

(I got my encouragement several years ago from the Soil Compost & Mulch Forum, another good place for enabling.)

Here are some tips I've learned:

Turn on your flashers & your radio so that you look aboveboard rather than furtive.

Speak to any homeowners, children, even any dogs who see you.

I usually say, "Hi! I'm getting leaves for my garden!" or "Hi! I was picking up leaves for my garden & saw this; I know somebody who can use it!" (never mind if the person who can use it is me.)

Gloves are a good idea if you're picking up bags, especially when it's dark.
One episode of picking up a bag that some neighborhood dog has "marked" will make you remember your gloves from now on!

Cruise the alleys or curbs on the night before trash pick-up, & especially on Sunday evenings;

many people do their yard work on the week-ends & set the leaf bags out on Sunday afternoon/evening.

Happy curb-shopping!

Ya'll are going to love this. I took my son to Lowe's to let him pick out the paint and new handles for the desk we found. He wanted to paint it black, so I steered him toward a charcoal color. As we were standing there waiting to get a quart of this paint, I looked down and there was the "oops" bin. Right in front of me was a slate gray/blue color in a satin finish. It was their Valspar brand - ultra-premium paint. The cost was $2! I showed it to my son and he said it was definitely close enough so we got it. It would have been almost $12 for that little can of paint! Now as far as the handles go, he went a little high. He picked out handles that were just under $5 each. But, considering we only needed four of them and the desk was free, I let him get the expensive handles. They are a modern style brushed pewter that will look great against the slate color paint. I can't wait to get it done. I think my 9 year old son made some good decorating choices.

Fantastic! You were on a roll!!! PJ

Yeah, you say that now. You should have seen the mess I had yesterday. I started sanding the desk and there were so many layers of paint on the thing that it was chipping off - not making it very nice for another smooth coat of paint. So, I went and bought some of that orange stripper and stripped all the paint off that desk. There was blue, white, red, pink and even a little green on one side. It took me most of the day to do that. What a mess! Today it is ready for a final sanding then primer, paint, let dry, handles then up to his room it will go. I am glad we have nice weather so the paint will dry more quickly and it will be more pleasant to work out in the garage.

Well, Denise, when you get ready to set this one curbside, please let me know -- you have done a fantastic job of getting it ready. (grin)

I ended up with 9 large sago palms that they pulled out by the roots, lying in front of this old house, I went up to the door and asked the lady said her kids would help me load em up. They are all living. thats been 4 years ago.

Desks??

Sago palms??

I am way bad jealous!

Now my competitive drive is making me want to drive up & down alleys looking for stuff!

LOL Denise. You should take before and after pics. of it. I always try to but end up finishing it before I remember to.
Here's one of my finds:
This is a find only gardeners can appreciate.
I guess my best find was a huge load of rocks. I was driving down the road one day and saw a huge stack of rocks near someone's curb. I thought they may have just purchased them and were about to start a project but I thought it wouldn't hurt to ask so I rang the doorbell and it turned out they were adding on to their house and had just removed a stone patio. I called my DH and we loaded them all up.

I'm jealous carol!!! PJ

We'll just have to find you some rocks PJ.

ooh, I'm jealous for the rocks and the bulb! I've picked up animal crates (donated those to the humane society), a huge bag of legos and gi joe figures - great for visiting kids, furniture, etc. Sometimes I use the great finds myself, other times I give it away to someone who can use it. Better than it going to the landfill. My work is next to the Austin landfill and it is a stinky mess. And every year they ask permission to build it higher. It is now officially the tallest landmark in Austin - it has surpassed Mt. Bonnell - which is truly sad. Keep up your recycling efforts! That desk will be happier at your house than in a mountain of garbage!

Freecycle is a good way to keep the things that you can't use from going to the landfill, maybe better than donating to a thrift or benefit store.

(Someone on another forum posted that she used to buy gardening clothes & work clothes for her husband from a thrift store...
until she realized that, when the store didn't have room for all the "donations" they received, they threw the excess into a dumpster:

Now, she says, she looks in the dumpster first!)

The other day, I picked up a bag of leaves, only to find a cute mini-skirt & a purse, both of which looked new, inside!

I freecycled them!

Carolann - I did take some before pictures, but still need to take the after pics. As soon as I load them onto my pc, I'll post them so ya'll can see how nice it looks now. It is all painted and my son attached new drawer handles. He was so proud of himself for helping fix up his "new" desk. It is up in his room now just waiting for all his Legos to be stored in one of those drawers. At least they'll be up off the floor! Ha!

Okay - I went and got my camera, took a couple pictures of the desk and here is the before and after:

This before picture was taken in our garage before I started working on the desk. I already took the handles off. Notice the girly colors and the gaudy colors on the side. This definitely came from a girls room - no offense to those of you who have girls.

Here is the after picture. We painted it with a slate blue-gray paint and attached new brushed pewter handles. Notice that my son already put his little stereo and a few Lego pieces on top. I think we'll have to find another place for that stereo since this will be a place where we want him to do his homework. ;-) And, yes, that is camo pattern we painted on that one wall.

Y'all done good!

That's one cool desk.
You could never tell it came from a girls room. lol

That is great! PJ

Denise that is wonderful. Y'all did a great job!!

I wish my son still lived with us. I used to live for bulk trash day, lol
I'm not sure if that isn't what ruined my hip before having it replaced, hahahaha

There was a time when my ds was in middle school that he didn't want to help do that. If we were driving somewhere and I saw something cool by the road, he would holler,"Mom, I'm not getting that", even before I would ask, LOL

Now he brings me stuff he has found

You are raising your son right!!!!

I wish you lived close, we don't have bulk day in the boonies and I have lots of good stuff that hubby is getting rid of, lol