Skip to main content

Hey Retirement! Don't take OUR Date Night Away!!

"Wait! Did we budget for Date Night??"


Wednesday night is Date Night at our house. It's been that way for a LONG time! And we didn't want retirement to do away with our weekly fun. So today, I'm going to cover some good ways to keep that fun coming and be able to pay for it with slightly reduced funds.

  1. Put some money in the budget. Analyze what you can afford and how many times you will be going out during the month. If you get paid twice a month, budget for two date nights. If you get paid weekly, you only need to budget it in for the week. For us, we are getting paid once a month so we will budget for 4 to 5 nights out. We set aside about $20 to $25 per week for date night
  2. Remember, it's about spending time together not how fancy the dining is. You can make a picnic one week and then spend double the following week at a nice place. You can make dinner at home and go to see a play or movie. In our case we could go to the beach with some hot dogs, potato chips and soda and make a nice bonfire
  3. Use gift cards to supplement. We get them for different occasions and kind of "hoard" them until needed. If there is a Birthday or Anniversary, we actually tell our kids that we would like gift cards. In this way we have been able to go to eat and the movies for free that week. You can also buy discounted gift cards online at Giftcard Zen, or use part of your budget to buy cards when the stores offer deals such as buy 4 cards and get 1 for free
  4. Use coupons that have been mailed to your house. Many of them will have reduced prices on certain meals, two for one combo prices or free desserts or appetizers
  5. Go to dinner on nights or to places that offer Senior Citizen discounts, Veterans discounts, AARP discounts, etc. 
  6. Pay for just the meal and ask for water rather than a fountain or alcoholic drink
  7. Use the receipts to file surveys online and get a discount on your next food purchase
  8. Have a meal out and come home for the entertainment. Rent a move online or at Redbox. Watch something on Hulu or Netflix or a movie you haven't seen for a while that's in your collection. 
  9. Dine out during "early bird" dining times and save money
  10. Eat meals off the 55 and over menu. These meals can be slightly smaller and a lot more economical
  11. Use online sources such as Groupon.com to buy two for one price deals
  12. Make a special meal at home complete with fine china, candle light and restaurant style food. Soft music in the background. You may think you are actually dining out!
We've done dates watching our local baseball team with dogs and cokes, biked for a picnic style dinner to local parks and had some really nice meals out. Date night is about the relationship not the money. It's about making special time to be together and nurture your relationship. I'd love to hear all the ways you go about making Date Night special. Leave a comment and give us some good ideas!

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Baby Shower Busy-ness

Ok, you probably thought I fell off the face of the earth right? Nope, there is just alot happening around here. The next event is Beckie's Baby Shower this Sunday. Decided to make my very first Diaper Cake and these are just a few of the pictures. The first thing I did was watch about 20 YouTube videos describing how to do it. Then I bought my supplies and put it together roughly first then more refined about a day later. This is a close up of the baby sock roses with mitten leaves. Yes, that video DOES exist! Next is a close up of wrist rattles and a little caterpiller radio that makes soothing sounds for baby. Background ribbon is from WalMart and the blanket set is from the Jungle Adventure Collection at K-mart. The topper for our "Jungle" themed cake is a Silver Back Ganz Gorilla . These little links slipped easily over the ribbon and added a little extra bling to the sides of the cake. Each layer consists of diapers along with extras like washcloths, burp pads and

Norwegian Pancakes (Norska Pannekaken)

Every culture has its pancake and this is the Norwegian version, a very light, crepe-like pancake that goes with just about anything. These "pancakes" are light and eggy and go with both sweet and savory fillings. When my chickens start up laying eggs in the Spring, we LOVE to make these pancakes, freezing the excess for another day. Yes, they freeze and thaw perfectly! Most people have the simple ingredients on their shelves and in their refrigerators SO LET'S GO! Original Recipe Can Be Found on the Outside Oslo Website   Here . Norska Pannekaken 3/4 cup all-purpose flour 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt 1 tablespoon sugar 1 teaspoon Scandinavian vanilla sugar* 3 eggs 1 1/2 cups whole milk 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted, plus more for pan Mix all ingredients except butter in a medium-sized bowl using a whisk or fork until the batter is smooth and you have no lumps. Stir in butter. Refrigerate for 30 minutes to let the batter rest. Meanwhile, warm a

Gratitude

Looky what came yesterday! My Word of the Year Necklace created by Lisa Leonard ! As the New Year approached I decided to choose a word that would define my upcoming year and I chose Gratitude. Around Thanksgiving, I set up my new blog, " I Am Thankful For..." and started keeping a daily journal of all the things I have to be Thankful, or Grateful for. Each day I would review my day in my head and list at least 5 things I had to be Grateful For. It has changed the way I approach each day tending to look for the positive instead of the negative in what life has to offer. If you'd like to find your word of the year, visit Christine Kanes' website  and pick a word of the year for yourself. Then I'd hop on over to the Lisa Leonard site and pick a wonderful necklace stating your intention for the year!