Today’s post goes out to all the single guys and couples out there. My single female readers are welcome to read along today, but while this post is ABOUT you, it is not FOR you.
Dating is hard. There are two things that make dating difficult.
First, you have to find something that’s actually fun. You’re not going to impress a girl with your creativity and spontaneity if your first date is dinner and a movie. And for couples out there, it’s nice to spice it up every now and then and try something new. The same restaurant over and over and over and over and over again is getting old.
The second thing that makes dating so hard is that it can be so expensive. Not only do you have to pay for all the activities you want to do, but you might have to hire a babysitter if you have kids. If you don’t find ways to save money on your dates, you’re not going to go out very often.
I have two solutions.
Use Daily Deals for Dates
Remember the two dating problems: it’s hard to think of something new and it’s expensive. Daily Deal sites like Groupon and LivingSocial solve both of those issues.
My options for Dallas groupons right now include an Archery Academy, a Piano Bar, Sailing Lessons, and Laser Hair Removal. Any one of those would make a fantastic date, and I bet you wouldn’t have thought of those by yourself. Personally I never would have thought of those things.
And of course the prices are usually 50% off or more. I honestly don’t know how much I would enjoy archery or getting hair removed via laser while lovingly holding Tag’s hand, and I probably wouldn’t want to pay full price for those activities. But offer them for half price and I’m in!
Create Your Own Babysitter’s Club
This second option only works for people with kids (and I’m not one of those people, so I’m guessing here), but hear me out on this one.
Find a few other couples with kids about the same age. Let’s say you can find three other couples for a group of four. Every Friday night one of the couples takes all four sets of children while the other three couples go out and have a great time.
This way you never have to pay for a babysitter, and in exchange you just have to watch a bunch of kids once a month. And that’s not even the best part.
When it’s your turn to watch the kids, you can make the kids play really fun games like “Who Can Vacuum My Bedroom the Fastest?” or “Laundry Folding Races”. Turn any household chore into a “game” and kids will be begging to play more and more. Did I mention that I don’t have kids and know nothing about what they do?
Okay, okay, so your one night a month is gonna suck. But the other three nights will be worth it.
Readers: How do you save money on dates? Are you a member of a babysitter’s club? Do your kids play household chore games?
Kevin McKee is an entrepreneur, IT guru, and personal finance leader. In addition to his writing, Kevin is the head of IT at Buildingstars, Co-Founder of Padmission, and organizer of Laravel STL. He is also the creator of www.contributetoopensource.com. When he’s not working, Kevin enjoys podcasting about movies and spending time with his wife and four children.
Kevin,
I’m fortunate enough to live in a town with dozens of happy hours. Some are earlier in the evening, while others are late-night happy hours. With some clever planning, it’s easy to go to two or three happy hours in an evening.
When drinks and certain dishes are half off, date night dining doesn’t hurt the wallet as much.
-Christian L.
Haha! Nice ideas, though I’m skeptical about the laser hair removal package… 😉
Babysitting club – yeah! I find it works better if it’s informal, but I know some people that have it scheduled.
As far as getting the house cleaned up – it works better if the kids play (in the basement) and you clean while they’re playing. Having a kid over (assuming your child is at least 5 or older) is like an automatic babysitter.
My son is 6 and we’ve never hired a babysitter. Having friends close by with kids is truly awesome (although family is probably even better, though we don’t have that luxury).
Haha, loving the “who can vacuum my bedroom the fastest” and “Laundry folding races” games. I bet you could get kids to do that too. As for the dating ideas, archery would be fun and also the sailing one. I’m pretty sure the hair removal one would be kind of lame lol.
Although it has been a long (40+ years) time since I was dating, nothing has changed! I was pretty creative, I took my girlfriend to art galleries and feasted off the food and wine. I would take my girlfriend on picnics or to the beach, zoo, museums or other venues. In those days it was free, but there are free days now too. I would cook for my date occasionally. You just have to be creative.
There are plenty places that are inexpensive or free. I like going to parks or coffee places just to talk. I also use freenyc.net to figure out what to do.
One of my best dates was playing, what would you buy if you won a $50k shopping spree at Ikea. I had more laughs on that date than on any other date in my life.
Please tell me your first date with TAG was for laser hair removal.
Kevin, this is my first visit to your blog. Very cool! Love the music videos. 🙂 My first date with my wife was dinner and dancing! Yes, dancing. We had a great time and well, the rest is history. Message to men: man up and take your wife dancing!
Who and where to order this summer on holiday, slice your information.