Several years ago, when I was garage sale-ing, I saw somebody had sat out a small dresser, about 3 feet tall and 1 square foot, and I looked it over and it wasn't grungy or smelly or anything. so I took it home and wiped it down and it has been mine and dh's sock and underwear dresser ever since!

Way to much to answer. LOL, but the biggest has to be the five folding doors I got. We painted them and used them for a master gardeners project.

One is sitting in my yard year around, and at Christmas time it has lights on it. :) Yup, a bicycle.

Moni

I certainly have. I used to do a lot of garden junk decorating in our previous yard. I found lots of things for that. My favorite find was a blue ceramic lamp base. I made it into a birdbath base. It looked pretty good. I also found a bird cage that I hung on a shepherd's hook in the flower bed. Regretfully when we moved from 10 acres to a rather small subdivision lot I had to get rid of a lot of stuff. :(
When we lived in the country we had a rubbish dump tha I went to often when I cleaned up the yard. The man who ran the dump separated "stuff" from the cut trees and shrubs etc. It made for easy pickings. The best thing I got from there was a small bench. I brough it home and painted it more than 10 years ago. We still have it on the back porch, but Luther, the dog, chewed on a corner of it sometime during this past winter.
Linda

I find flower pots all the time, sometimes complete with great potting soil. I bring them home, solarize the soil, wash the pots, and USE them!

OMG, Ron and I are major trash pickers. We never saw a pile we could pass up! His brother is just as bad. We live in the country on an old farm in which all the buildings are getting filled up with all kinds of "treasures" and his brother's barn, who lives across the road, is worse! We have a ton of furniture without any where to go with it!

I have many, many stories about the great stuff but one of the best is when my brother in law built his house 35 years ago there was a problem with the windows. The window company came and replaced every window. My brother in law stuck all the old windows in his barn and, 28 years later we used every one of them when we converted our granery into my studio! The granery was a wooden shed with no windows and now it's a wonderful, rustic building with windows all around, attached to Ron's lathe house. My son is getting married there in June! Trash picking is the highest form of recycling!!

It is called Dumpster diving (if you go behind the stores) and Curb shopping out in front of someone's house. Youngest DS did it all the time and resold for great amounts of money.

Yep! I have a Pier 1 less than a block from my home. I pass the rear of their building on the road into my place and happened to see something sticking up in their dumpster. I stopped and retrieved a 20" square wooden box with lattice sides in an oak finish. One of the floorboards was broken. Brought it home & fixed it and it now houses my telephone books & catalogues!
I routinely check there now for 'toss outs'.

It's really hard for me to stop and pick something up that's been set out for the trash (although I'll buy most anything from a rummage or garage sale). I'd like to, I just don't usually. I did get a whole box of various old mason jars once though and now have them proudly displayed in my laundry room.

As kids, we called it "garbage picking" LOL! I've not done it, as I have a bit of a phobia with bringing germs/dirt from elsewhere. However, I have way too much stuff in my basement and garage, so you are all welcome to any of it!

>As kids, we called it "garbage picking"Guess it depends on the part of the country you're from. Around here what we refer to as garbage is food refuse that went out on trash day in it's own 'garbage pail' before garbage disposals became so common; eggshells, chicken bones, fruit rinds, coffee grounds, etc. Nothing in that mess that I don't already have PLENTY of!!!

Yes I have and proud to say so. Too many things to even remember but my latest are mini blinds. Cut up they make great plant markers. Always on the look out for flower pots and things to make trellis' with.

Too much stuff to list. I will stop and pick up something beside the curb and I frequently dive the local thrift shop dumpster. All of my clothes come from there. This weekend I got a lot of stuff...including an nice old avacado green pyrex bowl...the kind with a spout on both ends, extra large. And a concrete bird bath. Only thing wrong with the bird bath, is it is painted light pink, but I can live with that. It is heavy and perfect otherwise. Also, a radio/telephone/alarm clock, still in the box.

Mostly I look for garden related stuff. Recently I got 28 house plants at the thrift shop dumpster...all in good condition. I also pick up flower pots, trellises, and anything that I can use as bedding for my possums. I love finding knit caps, which the thrift shop routinely throws away, because no one buys them here. The baby possums love them.

I took a walk behind my local grocery store and peeked in their dumpster- all kinds of food, tho I didn't take any. Also a package of paper napkins ripped open and only a couple gone. I think the emnployees must have grabbed it for their lunch break. I grabbed it, Paper goods are so expensive!

Yes. At the curb of a local winery, I got a great outdoor metal table that was round and would seat four. We didn't need it but DH uses it to prepare jerky for the smokehouse. He may have even hauled it to the hunting cabin since then...can't remember!

My sister goes to the dump to get rid of stuff and has been known to come home with something the vehicle next to her was unloading. :-)

I've done the dumpster diving thing behind retail stores, too, and stopped in front of homes for lamp shades, tables, wooden boxes, etc. I'd do more of it if we still lived in town.

My brother, Joel, and I have a dumpster diving gene. So does our cousin. As kids we'd go to the dump with our Grandpa. Grandma would get on his case 'cause he'd come home with more stuff than what he took! I don't think it is possible for me to walk past a dumpster without at least glancing in to see what might be there.
Just yeasterday Joel was in the twin cities picking up plug trays of plants. On the loading dock the greenhouse was tossing plants by the dumpster full. He made quite a haul. It was like having Christmas in March.

Ron