A Gardeners Forum Forums Members History Forum Life 2004 Any trash pickers, junkers out there?

We have heavy trash pickup once a month in our neighborhood. We live in an old historic neighborhood and people actually drive up and down the streets to look over the trash on those days.

I have found some of the neatest things that I have been able to fix and then resale tables, chairs, trunk.

That, junk stores and antigue shops. I remember as a child driving up and down Highway 40 visiting the antique shops in each little town with my mom. I have done this with my children too.

Rue, our neighbor's trash goes right into our garden!
A few months ago, a new neighbor cleaned out his back yard and put a picnic bench on the curb for pickup. It got picked up alright....
It holds a LOT of our potted plants. I can't believe what people don't want anymore...They throw out POTS!!!! Insanity! I love curbside "shopping."

Sure can't complain about the price.
And recycling too!

I like going to flea markets and yard sales. Lots of fun finding those bargains! I think I would certainly pick something up curbside if I thought I could use it!

It's the fun of the hunt that I really like!

Barbara

I almost forgot I picked up the neatest potting bench from a neighbor across the street. All it needed was a couple of screws tightened. It has 2 shelves on top and a shelf under the main table.

I cant` wait til the garage sales start up again.

The fun really is the hunt.

So what are some of you looking for?

for me, it is taking things that folks who are moving don't want, ie clay pots, a bakers rack (maks a great plant stand), etc... and if i see it on the side of the road, it might just become mine!

We live down the street from a cemetary....
And we can find those tri~pod thingies, that
hold the wreath's on it, well they throw those
things out in the back and I go get them, they make wonderful things to plant sweet peas at the base of it, *almost the shape of upside down tomato cages* and things that climb, climb up them..

And we get pots and some of the old dirt in the pots *I compost that*

Weezie

LOL! I would be excited about the dirt. Since I am always planting and then selling the troughs, I always need more dirt.

Or should I say soil. Soil is for planting, dirt is for mud pies. I refuse to buy soil.

Hey, Jiffy......

Thanks for the idea! I just found out my neighbor is moving.. ....as sorry as I was to hear that, I will definately tell them to keep me in mind if they have pots, gardening type things they aren't taking with them!

I've never done this before....but when our town had it's annual get rid of whatever you want pickup day we actually had people that drove around the town and opened up our garbage bags and took stuff.....hey I don't care it was trash anyway, but I'd just never saw anyone getting into the trash bags before.....

I am a yard sale junkie......we go every weekend in the summer, and even my husband loves it...he looks for tools and hunting stuff and I look for books and knick knacks.....anything that I can paint becomes mine.....it amazes me that people sell stuff so cheap sometimes.....

Loz,

I really like yardsales too! I got a three peice candle set in shabby chic white iron for $2, which I thought was a bargain, since it hadn't been used! Turns out when I was at a craft store, they had it for sale for $12!

Barb H.

Hey you really can rescue some great finds from other peoples "junk".....I look for anything decorative that I can paint.....I got some really great candleholders that were tarnished and dull that I repainted gold and they look terrific....plus, lots of great books....I can't wait until it gets nice so we can get up early on the weekends for our little yard sale adventures again.

After fixing up all this yard sale/trash pickin stuff you guys are going to have to have a garage sale yourselves.... That would be something if the original owner bought it back for twice as much!!!!

LOL, Catlover!!!!

There's an idea! Pick up the junk, shine it up again and sell it!

Then use all the proceeds to go out to the nursery and shop, shop, shop!!!!! <img border="0" alt="[clappy]" title="" src="graemlins/clappy.gif" />

Bet I could find a ton of planter like stuff to put plants into...sort of like Rue does to her troughs and sell them! If they didn't sell, I could always keep it in garden!

Let me tell you something, my husband bought these great old lanterns from our neighbors yard sale.....4 of them, but the exterior of them was rough....so he fixed them all up and repainted them and his friends at work bought them off of him for a profit.....LOL.....granted it wasn't a huge profit, he wasn't even going to sell them but they saw them and wanted them.....I have had a few yard sales before with friends and have made a decent amount of money......I also donate a lot of clothes to the goodwill.....Some days me and my husband get up around 7 a.m.....stop for breakfast then head to about 5 or 6 yard sales.....it's so great.....you come home with some real finds.....I don't buy junk, I mean a lot of stuff at yard sales is really junky but I like things that have potential that are being gotten rid of because they are old, tarnished, dirty.........

I have an etched glass window in my bathroom.it came out of an exterior door some morann had cut the door down 4 inches but door was still good we got 2 other doors with it was 3 doors for $20 the other has windows top to bottom& the other was a solid wood door we gave our neighbor as he really needed a better one.
also have a half moon window above shower that goes over a front entrance door.was$5 at a yard sale.I do dumpsters.my sis got me doing them thats how we use to stay stocked on hangers.I check the walmart one sometimes hopeing to find planters pots.i live rural..out here most of us burn our stuff and carry the others off.

We have that twice a year. They call it "spring cleaning" in the spring and "fall cleanup" for the fall. I found a great old door down the street. It has 12 glass windows. I haven't made anything out of it yet, but since I'm now gardening, I can use it for a green house roof.

My mom and I do auctions alot. I got a set of 12 plates and dessert bowls that are lined in 14k gold. Actually, its more than lining, its actually a decorative border that goes around the plates. I got them for 50 cents!!! You can find almost anything at an auction! We can go to one at least once a week if we wanted to.

Hmmm, I never thought about going to an auction before, that might be fun!!!!!! I love good deals!!!!!

I didn't care if the people took stuff from the cleanup stuff we had outside, but I was shocked that people were driving around opening up peoples garbage bags......

i grew up thinking that my mom's car had a garage sale sensor in it. she told me it automatically turned at garage sale signs and there was nothing she could do about it!

My hubby doesn't like anything used, (he almost won't eat left overs!) and just barely tolerates my bring it home/fix it up projects. the deal we have is anything i can carry by myself or finagle (sp?) someone ELSE-read "not husband"- into helping me with is fair game. I've found i can be quite resourceful at finding ways to move large items.

and whenever we need to get rid of anything big I just drag it to the curb and put a sign on it that says "FREE" it doesn't matter what I put out, or what shape it's in, it's usually gone within an hour.

Reading about junk reminds me of the good memories that I have of going to the dump of all places with my grandpa. Those were the days before everything was crushed and he was a retired carpenter and would be just out scouting for projects[ this makes me sound ancient, but I am ONLY 44 years old].He repaired and fixed many wonderful peices, makes me sad that we're so wasteful now.
I wish our town would do a large cleanup like that, I'd for sure drive a U-haul around.But I have set things by the road with a sign marked free and had them magically disappear.Thats how I found my favorite trellis,all covered with peeling green paint.....I love junk!

Rellie,
That is so funny what your mom said!!!!
I got a good laugh out of that one.

My mother loves garage sales too!!

I look for little vases..
For little flower arrangements.

I love vases....mostly look for small ones
I have allllllllllll different sizes....

Weezie

Shamarian,
That is soooooooooooooooo true about it being
a wasteful society, my parents' called it a
throw away world.
I happy to hear someone takes things and reuses them....
Weezie

Last week I was walking around in the cold(VERY COLD) weather and on the way out of my house at 10:30PM about I saw this perfect condition plant hanger with a fake ive in it!(not only wastfull but there to cheap and unnatural to even care for a plant :p ) It's kind of scary sometimes, peoples mentallities. Anyways I didn't take it because I was on my way out and would be gone for a while. About an hour later I was excited to think of what to put in it and knew exactly where I was going to put it and it was gone!! So I guess thier's some hope for humanity but I was real mad . It's funny when it becomes yours in your head but your too silly to pick it up and all you can think is, Those basterds!!! :p Sorry for the language but thier's no other word to discribe that feeling.

I stopped at a yard sale down the block last fall. They were moving down south and were getting rid of a lot. Got a complete deep-well pump that runs for $10 plus another one for parts. It had a good pressure switch that my neighbor needed the very next day. For another $5, I got enough roofing to fix my shed and an assortment of mixed, used 2 by whatever lumber that should supply tomato stakes and poles for trellises for the next several years.
Rick

Weezie,

I love little vases. I leave them all over the house, most of them aren't fancy, and I've made several tall ones for peonies. I love fancy and the cute, and just plain ugly ones! IMO they all have their place on the porch, and in the house.

Jennifer----I want some of that dish action! Seriously, I love all kinds of china, teacups, etc.