Our Date Night Experiment

Picture from theplaylist.blogspot.com

The reality set in a few weeks ago when Dave and I sat down to do our budget.  We both feel very strongly about the importance of date night, and we have a specific budget category set aside for it.  But all of the sudden our costs were going way up.  It wasn't that we were going out more often.  It wasn't that we were doing more expensive things.  It was that we are now having to pay a babysitter  (Side note: it is very annoying to have to pay a babysitter to come over and watch cable, because Kate just sleeps the whole time.  But somehow I don't feel good about leaving her alone in the house . . .)  And in case you didn't know, that can add up pretty fast.  Even if we only paid a babysitter $5 an hour, and were only gone for 3 hours every Friday night, that's still an extra $60 a month!

So, we came up with a new game plan.  ONE Friday of the month we do a temple night.  Not only do we get a spiritual boost, we save some temporal bucks.  ONE Friday of the month we do a stay-at-home night.  This may not be the most exciting, but we try to do more than just reach for the remote control.  ONE Friday of the month we get out, but the date has to be completely free.  This has forced us to think outside the going-out-to-dinner-and-a-movie box.  And finally, ONE Friday of the month we get to go on a regular date and throw around a few GWs.

It's only been a few weeks, but we've already had some success.  For our stay-at-home night, we made personal  pizzas (a really good recipe that I need to post), had popcorn, and watched Dirty Rotten Scoundrels.  I had never seen it before, and I loved it!  I hadn't laughed that hard in a long time.  Take a look at our pizza creation:

To make things a little more exciting at home, I bought these adorable popcorn holders at the dollar store.  Eating out of these made it feel like we were in a movie theater.  Except that we got to wear really comfortable pajamas and sprawl out on the couch. 

For our free night this month, we went to a free violin concert up in Salt Lake.  We're finding out that there's quite a bit of free stuff out there, if you put in the effort to look.

Our temple night . . . well that was a failure.  I know, I know, you're wondering how a temple night could possibly fail.  Let's just say that you need a current temple recommend, not one that is expired.

And as for our ritzy date night?  That's this weekend . . . perfect, because it's our anniversary! 

I'll keep you posted on our ongoing quest for cheaper date nights.  I'd love to hear if any of you have any really great ideas.  In the meantime, I can't wait until Kate turns 12 and can babysit herself :)