While curbside treasures really ARE hit-or-miss, depending on what people are putting to the curb, I get a lot of my other treasures at thrift stores. Of course, those vary too depending on your area. But most areas do have some sort of thrift shop.

I don't know what area you're in, but you can at least see if there are any thrifts close to you through the database on:

http://www.thethriftshopper.com

They allow you to search by zipcode, so that should help.

I hate to see someone feeling crafty and yet going treasureless. :-)
-Jenn

Here is a link that might be useful: My crafting/thrifting/vintage decorating blog

Not much on my curbs either. I'm a TS junkie! ~Anj

I'm afraid we don't have any curb shopping here either. I get my things from yard sales and thrift stores.

I have an entire bedroom put together from castaways. The bed, the TV, the chair, the bookcase/nightstand, etc. There are good discards everywhere, you just have to get into the consistent habit of looking. Seek, and ye shall find. What helped me most was having to be on the road a lot, driving to work, between 3 towns.
Be patient. You might look for many months and never find anything. Then one day you might find a fantastic bonanza, the very thing you were needing. Nothing is guaranteed. Just make a game out of it.

Maybe you could try another town? One town over from where we live, and in a particular neighborhood of that town, is consistently good. It's an older part of the town, and I always find old windows and old doors there. Good luck, and keep hunting!

I think that Monday's are really good days to look for stuff! Things left over from weekend yard/garage sales sometimes find their way to the curb to wait for trash pick up.

We don't put our trash "on the curb " here ..... ( darn it !) We put our stuff in the alleys. If someone has a bunch of stuff - they can put it on the curb to have a special pick up - but that's rare. Not alot of curb shopping going on here .

Habbitat for Humanity Restore;
they have donated building supplies, furniture, paint, and yes- even the kitchen sink! all at low prices that benefit a good cause

but curbside shopping... I gotta do that in the next town over-- near the end of the month is good because because most people move the last and first weeks of the month and are more prone to ditch the stuff they don't want to move.

Auctions, auctions, auctions. We have tons of estate and consignment auctions here. I owned a resale furniture store for years and this is how I got most of my merchandise. You can get perfectly good furniture for $1, the stuff that needs to be cleaned up or repaired can be even cheaper!
Thrift stores are great too. I've found there is a trick to curbside finds. You've got to hit the neighborhood at dusk the night before garbage day. If they are throwing out something "big" (or worthwhile) they usually do it the night before instead of waiting until that morning to do it!

I'm a thrift store junkie as well. My favorite is Kiwanis. The only stuff I see at the curb in my town are worn out couches that I would be afraid are full of fleas. Sometimes my hubby and I drive around on a Saturday looking for garage sale signs. With our weather, garage sales can be found almost year round. We run into estate sales as well. Lots of old people down here in Florida getting rid of their life long belongings.
Debbie in Florida

Here is a link that might be useful: My Latest Finds Page

Curbside is really hit or miss, I don't think there's really a way to approach it methodically, other than maybe if your town has a sometimes "big trash" pickup, which some towns do, where people can put out those things that don't fit in the trash can, that can be good.

Other than that, yard sales. Sometimes at yard sales you can get furniture for $1 or $5, viable stuff. Those you can approach more methodically--in my town there's a little local paper that comes out on Fridays that has ads for all the yard sales over that weekend. Have fun!

Here is a link that might be useful: free crafts classifieds

Tell your friends you are looking for junk to turn into treasure. You'll be surprised what will be offered to you.
A friend of ours was getting ready to move out of state. I spent two days helping him clean out his barn...deal was anything he didn't want either went in my truck or in the dumpster.
I brought home such treasures as a table and chair set which I gave to my son and his wife for their first home, two carseats which his kids had out grown, one I kept for the little girl I was watching at the time and the other I gave to her father for his parents when they had her.
I got four sections of picket fencing which were used for an outdoor wedding and soon for my veggie garden, several misc chairs, a box of old hardware which since I have an old house has come in very handy, some claypots, a variety of buckets and wash tubs in varying degrees of disrepair, a old wheelbarrow which became a planter, a lovely stack of misc wood that has come in handy for a vareity of household projects, some baskets, a few doors and old windows and some metal fencing.
I'm sure there's more but that's the stuff I remember off the top of my head.
All of it would have gone into the dumpster if I hadn't let it be known I was looking for some junk and was willing to do some work to get it.
Word of mouth can be your best friend. BUT be warned if you do say you are going to help out or will pick something up do it in a timely manner or you won't get many folks taking you up on your offer.

Hi, I'll second Carol's advice. Tell everyone you know when you're looking for something, even people you deal with, such as the clerk at a local store. At yard sales, ask if they have any ???? that they didn't bring out for the sale. I've found lots of stuff doing that. I'm looking for lots of bricks right now. My DS had 250 of them laying in her yard, and a friend of DD gave me over 1100. All I did was pick them up. A lot of good stuff gets dumped in or near dumpsters behind businesses, including thrift stores. If you see houses being torn down, don't be afraid to ask for a look. Sometimes you can rummage around area dumps. Almost everywhere, people go dump stuff, like near dirt roads, etc. Dig in!! Auto junk yards can be a good source. If you're in farm country and they have dumps on their property, ask if you can look in the trash. A few people are sensitive about their trash, but most don't care. If you ever visit So California, bring a big truck, lol!! I don't know where you live, but some people right here on GW in Garden Junk, Trash to Treasure, or Accoutrements probably live in your general area and can steer you to the best places. Post the question on several forums with the general area that you live. Linda