Date Night

While we were dating, my husband and I started a weekly date night. It was one of the ways we made spending time with each other a priority with our busy schedules, between work, school, homework, student teaching, him being an RA, etc...we had a lot to juggle. Anyway, we've been pretty good about continuing that habit for most of our married life too. Although, we've hit seasons where it's been significantly more challenging then others and honestly, there have been times when it's been non-existent. That hasn't stopped us from really trying to work at it though and we've experienced the value of having one-on-one time to talk about our goals, dreams, thoughts, ideas, and us stuff. Not about money, kids,  and work. It's nice to have the time carved out of our schedules that we know is our time to be "us"--the in love us. Like I was saying, some times it's been easier then others. There was a time when we could do real simple and cheap things like candle light dinners, rent a movie, picnics, walks downtown, and watching the stars in our backyard. Now, it's a little trickier to pull those off and they certainly aren't as cheap because now we have to add babysitting costs to almost all of them! Which is hard and I don't like it, but I know the benefits of us having a good relationship is worth that extra cost.

Due to the rising cost of our dates, we've had to do some adjusting and thinking through how to make this work. One of our ideas has been to have a separate checking account that is only for dates. We have put a set amount in there that we are able to spend this year and we use it for our dates and babysitting expenses. It's helpful to not feel like we're taking from the "monthly budget" to go out every week and it frees us up to just enjoy our time together and not be thinking about the cost. We've also used all kinds of coupons for restaurants and outings that we've found at different places. One of them is the Entertainment book that has local coupons in it. Another has been restaurants.com that sells gift certificates to a wide variety of restaurants (it basically works like a coupon b/c there are restrictions and requirements--all the small print kind of stuff).

So, last night was date night! We went out to a fun Thai place called Spicy Basil with really good food and for really reasonable prices. We walked around downtown for a bit afterwards and came across the most fabulous Goodwill! It had incredibly nice things and for really cheap too. So, we enjoyed browsing through the store and come out with two treasures. I found a brand new set of curlers for $5 and he found a vintage/old-style suitcase for all of his merchandise that he sells at shows. The best part was that we had great conversation all night. We really enjoyed being with each other. Cheers to great date nights, even when you're on a budget!

Here's a picture from last night. Doesn't that food look yummy?!?! :)