Last year I wrote about our second anniversary date and funny enough as it turns out we had a similar anniversary date for our third anniversary this week. Mr. A wanted to go into the big city to an event he'd been looking forward to attending, and on our way back home we stopped by a Savers. I needed to pick up a few blouses since the only tops I currently own are short sleeved and it has finally cooled down here in the desert. Finally. I found six beautiful new tops that cost me $33 and one is going to go perfectly with my long black skirt. It is black with small red roses, and the sleeves are fluted at the bottom, it is just gorgeous.
We were thinking about going out to eat, but it has become such a difficult process since I'm on the Gut and Psychology Syndrome Diet and I'm not eating anything processed, no bread or grains, gluten free, no soy or tofu, margarine, sugar, artificial sweeteners, etc. It's like the combination of things I cannot eat pretty much guarantees that it will be a challenge eating out. Not to mention I've never been one for eating out in the first place. We ended up buying round steak on sale at Safeway for $1.67, had the butcher grind it into burger and picked up some mushrooms on sale for $0.99 for eight ounces. I had red bell peppers at home that Mr. A found on sale so I sliced up one of those. It was a delicious meal and I didn't have to worry about accidentally getting contaminated with something from the restaurant. And we saved a heck of a lot of money on the meal!
Here are my favorite cheap dates (admittedly most of these are for an established couple living together):
- Star gaze – we can do this cheaply because we live in a rural area and it is still fairly dark out at night (unless the moon is full). This is one of my favorite reasons for living where we do. This is a great book to use: Star Watch: The Amateur Astronomer's Guide to Finding, Observing, and Learning About over 125 Celestial Objects.
- Camp out in your back yard, if you have a fire pit make a fire then snuggle together in sleeping bags.
- Spend a Friday or Saturday morning going to yard sales in your neighborhood.
- Write a poem about your life together, either now, in the past or what you think the future holds.
- Cook dinner together.
- When dinner (or lunch) is ready, put it onto plates, wrap with aluminum foil, grab something to drink, silverware, salt and pepper and drive to the nearest park and have a picnic together.
- Take a walk together in the early morning.
- Read out loud to one another from the newspaper or a book, or something you found on the Internet.
- Play cards.
- Play board games.
Here are a few other cheap and frugal date blog posts from around the personal finance blogosphere:
- 22 Ideas for Cheap Dates by Fiscal Fizzle
- 5 Reasons to Ask Your Spouse for a Money Date by The Centsible Life
- Coupons on the First Date: Yay or Nay by Well Heeled
- 5 Romantic Outdoor Day Date Ideas for Under $30 by Consumerism Commentary
- Top Frugal Date Ideas to Impress Your Partner With by Frugal Zeitgeist
- I Might Be Married But I Still Wanna Date by Punch Debt in the Face
Personal Finance Articles
- My Money Story Part One Growing Up by Paying Myself
- Get Your Debt Under Control with These Debt Fighting Tips Guest Post by Punch Debt in the Face at The Digerati Life
- Four Sites that Turn Your Gift Cards Into Cash by Cash Flow Sherpas
- How to Make Money Blogging by Ultimate Money Blog
Thanks for linking me :).
I like star gazing too, sadly it’s not so easy in Cairo but when we make it out of town it can be really fun. I have an application on my phone too that points at the stars and tells you what is what using GPS, it’s really fun!
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Mrs. Accountability Reply:
October 30th, 2010 at 7:14 am
@Forest, that phone application sounds really cool. The book I mentioned is kind of dry but one of my goals when we moved out here was to try to find more constellations in the sky. I already know where a few are. Just wanted to expand my knowledge while it’s still dark. The more “city folk” that move out, the brighter it gets because they love their big bright night lights.
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Are you saying I shouldn’t take this girl out for some toro sashimi and all you can drink sake for a cheap date?? 🙂
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Mrs. Accountability Reply:
October 30th, 2010 at 7:19 am
@Financial Samurai, that sounds like a great cheap date for you and your girl. Not sure how you got that I was saying that you shouldn’t. If you were referencing my statement that my ideas were for a committed couple that’s because I realized as I was writing them down that I don’t think a new girlfriend is going to think camping out in the backyard is any fun at all, or taking the dinner meal to the park would be a good idea. The person hearing the suggestions might think you’re nuts, unless you’ve been together for a while, and then he or she might still say you’re nuts to want to camp out in the backyard.
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I have never heard of that diet…how is that going for you?
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Evan, thanks for asking. It is actually going very well – I have gained back energy and the depression and anxiety (and aches and pains I’d assumed could only be attributed to old age) have disappeared. And of course the most important thing to almost everyone, the loss of fifty pounds. I’ve been on it almost a year, and I’m so thankful that I gave it a chance because it has changed my life. It is pretty strict but I’ve gotten to the point where I no longer miss the off limit foods. Now it’s like a challenge to attend events with off limit foods just to see if I’m going to feel tempted. Just got back from a two day conference for my job and did great. Thanks for asking.
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Wow, Mrs. A. Congrats on the good health! I am contemplating eliminating most processed foods and eating a much more natural, even raw diet. Please note that my current diet is anything but natural:)
Anyway, I like these ideas. Yeah, probably beter to do this while married, as many dates would be turned off by this. That said, if a date is NOT turned off by frugality, then one might have a keeper! At least from a personal finance blogger perspective 🙂
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Mrs. Accountability Reply:
October 30th, 2010 at 9:08 pm
@Squirrelers, thanks. I swore off “diets” fifteen years ago but when I read of how I could possibly address my fatigue and depression by doing GAPS, I was persuaded to try one more diet. Did you not have any good frugal date ideas to add to mine? 🙂
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Squirrelers Reply:
October 30th, 2010 at 10:27 pm
@Squirrelers, thanks. I swore off “diets” fifteen years ago but when I read of how I could possibly address my fatigue and depression by doing GAPS, I was persuaded to try one more diet. Did you not have any good frugal date ideas to add to mine? 🙂
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Not sure if the “personal finance articles” section is automatically generated or not? Nonetheless, thanks for the link love!!
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Mrs. Accountability Reply:
November 1st, 2010 at 9:24 am
@Jenn @ Paying Myself, hi there. No, it’s not automated. I liked that post from your site. Thanks for linking to my decorating tips post last week in your roundup!
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After dating for quite a while, we use to go to matintee movies and dollar theaters for a cheap date too!
We now do (or at least try) a weekly family movie night with DVDs borrowed from the library or red box. Someday, we’ll probably go back to netflix and download movies too…
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Oh drat, I meant to say that in addition to star gazing, we use to go out on nights when meteors showers are expected and watch for those. It’s another great time to be alone and get to know one another 😉
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Oh dear. Is soy processed?? 🙁 I didn’t think of it as processed versus frozen dinners for example.
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Mrs. Accountability Reply:
November 3rd, 2010 at 6:42 pm
@FB, yes, it’s processed. Having read this book: The Whole Soy Story: The Dark Side of America’s Favorite Health Food I now avoid it like the plague. Thankfully it’s no loss since I never really liked soy products.
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An oldie but a goodie–thanks for featuring my post!
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Sounds like some good ideas. My husband and I use to go bowling as a ‘cheat date’. But these days going bowling is like going to the Movies. Its not as cheap as you think it is or as cheap as it once was. But if you get a coupon or a discount, it can be a pretty cheap date and lots of fun!
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