31 Days {Day 11} Another Man's Trash....

Yesterday, I shared how you can shop your own house for free!

Today, I would like to share with you another place where I have found many great, quality items for free.  Here are a few items that I have gotten absolutely free!

This great shelf was originally white. I added some hooks and painted it gray for my mudroom. I still need to paint the screw heads.

I got the glider for free, and all it needed was a little paint.  

The table in between the rockers was also free it just, and looks great after some teal spray paint.

All I had to do to this great patio chair was spray paint it orange, and put some fabric on the cushion.

I also found this great piece of wood with an even better story that you can read about here.

Those are all great pieces for my home that I got for absolutely free, but there is one catch to these free items.  You have to be brave to get these items.  You have to let go of some of your pride, have an up to date tetanus shot, and you might have to be just a touch crazy.

These items all came from the TRASH.

Don't judge! Let me be a little more specific, all of these items came from the curb beside the trash can.  I didn't actually have to dig in a trash can to get it.  Does that make it better?

My philosophy is that the curb is just the lazy man's Goodwill.  If I see all the trash cans out for trash pick up day, I start looking for curb items.

Once you start looking, you would not believe the things people throw away!

There is an apartment complex right beside our church, and every Sunday as we pull in to church, I glance at their dumpster.  Often times, there will be furniture outside of the dumpster that Shad and I will go look at after church.

Yes, we have absolutely no shame.  Who knows what the other church people think when they drive by and see us at the dumpster?

Here are a few things I have learned about items on the curb.

1.  If it is on the curb right beside the trash can, take it. It's trash!

2. Be cautious of any item made out of cloth.  Those items may stink or have fleas in them.  Never, ever get a rug that is being thrown away.  It's always a bad idea.

3. If you don't quite know if the item is trash, write a note, and leave your number.  The white glider on my porch was not on the curb, but it just looked like trash.  We left a note, and the owner called us back the next day, thrilled that someone was going to use it.

Trash picking...correction....curb picking is not for everyone, but even if it sounds crazy to you when you see the trash cans out, open up your eyes.  You never know what you might find!