Houston has a heavy trash day for each neighborhood every other month (the alternate months it is tree/yard waste). It is so much fun to drive through neighborhoods and see what people have put out - many thrift stores/antique stores/people/etc. have regular routes and schedules to check what is availabe. We have often laughed and said by the time the city trucks come around a good portion of the "stuff" has already been removed from the curbs and that is good news for everyone.
My best score: my nephew and great nephew found a brand new cat play tower - people had moved out of the house and left it on the curb. Boy , have my 2 girls really loved it and it saved me about $200!