Five Frugal Things | a $90 ticket for $10

1. I went to the local symphony

My schedule has been rather non-symphony-friendly of late (!!), so on Saturday, I made a spur-of-the-moment decision to go. 

A $90 ticket for $10? SIGN ME UP. 

I wore my red secondhand dress again, although I did not take a proper picture so this one from before will have to do. 

2. I listed three things on eBay

I listed my garage door opener remote from my Goodwill bins trip with Katy! Plus, I listed two books that I’d recently read.

I know these things probably will not sell quickly, but that’s no big deal. I list them, put them away on my shelf, and happily forget about them until a “You’ve made a sale!” email hits my inbox.  

I don’t mind being patient until the right person comes along; I mainly sell on eBay so that my extra stuff gets into the hands of someone who wants it. 

Someone recently emailed to ask for eBay selling tips, and while I’m not an expert, I’m happy to share what I do.

Here’s how to sell books on eBay.

And here are nine tips for selling on eBay. 

3. I used my bread cubes to make croutons

Last week I told you I’d cubed and frozen my bread ends for future crouton use.

Well, I made some butternut squash soup this week, and I do love some croutons on top of that. So, I thawed my cubes and made my croutons. 

I do have a crouton recipe here, but when I am feeling un-fussy, I just saute the bread cubes with some butter in a skillet, then put them on a pan in the toaster oven and bake them until they’re nice and crispy. 

With that method, I honestly just eyeball the amount of butter; just enough to coat the cubes sufficiently. 

4. I’m searching for a secondhand toaster oven

(This is an in-progress frugality.)

My Buy Nothing group toaster oven bit the dust; it won’t turn on, and a Google search seems to indicate that it could be an electrical panel problem.

That is outside my scope of interest (I’m not motivated to learn how to work on electrical panels!) so I decided to call it a day with that toaster oven, and so far I’ve poked around on Facebook Marketplace and also put a call out on my Buy Nothing group. 

I also plan to hit up a local Goodwill because I’m fairly sure they tend to have toaster ovens on the regular. 

Honestly, buying a new toaster oven feels like it would be almost as much headache as sourcing one for free because if I bought a new one, I’d want to do some good research to find out what makes and models are decent. 

But when I’m getting one for free or I’m getting a used one, I’m less pressed about it; I’ll take whatever comes my way. 😉 

5. I…

• moved some extra money into my CIT savings account, where it will earn way more interest
• prepped overnight oats for my work breakfasts this week
• made a dinner plan so we will be fed after work
• didn’t buy a car yet because I have been too busy (!!)

Your turn! What frugal things have you been up to lately?