Today is Friday! I'm finally feeling better. Having the stomach flu is the worst and I hated it so much. It was miserable having to work for 9 hours and then going to class for another 4.5 hours this week. 2 weeks down, 13 to go? I think that's right. Like I've said, I have to miss the last 1-2 weeks of classes for work, so I'm not sure how much I have left really.
Anyways, me and the BF have been really lazy lately. We have been staying home a lot (and sleeping a lot). There is really no excuse for this except that I hate the cold and really don't want to step a single foot outside. Once the weather gets better, there are tons of things that we like to do.
We really need to stop being lazy though! Of course we like to save money when we do things also. What are some frugal date ideas that you have? Below is a list of things that we like to do or would like to do.
Some date ideas:
- Try new restaurants. We love using Restaurant.com certificates because we can try new restaurants without spending a ton of money. If you sign up for their e-mail list, you usually get e-mails a couple times a month for 80% or 90% off their certificates. So this means that I often buy these certificates for around $2. Since you usually only have to spend $10 to use the $25 certificate, that means that we get around $35 worth of food for only $12 (plus tip). But that's a good deal! There are a lot of restaurants that we go to a lot that are on there also.
- Have a picnic. We love going to the park and having a picnic, we haven't done this in awhile. Last time we did this, we rode our mopeds (yes we have mopeds, and yes they are fun) and a photographer actually took our pictures for the newspaper (or at least that's what he said)! This is relatively cheap and a lot of fun. Usually there are interesting people and we can people watch also.
- Go skiing. Haven't done this yet, but if it gets cold this weekend, then we plan on doing this finally! It's expensive though, I looked up prices and it'll be around $100 each for equipment rental and everything.
- Order/make lots of food, watch scary movies, and stay in.
- Go to the zoo. For some reason, the zoo always seems like a fun idea, UNTIL I get there and I want to leave. Parking is always horrible and it's always hot. But, I do love going! The zoo where we live is free, so this is always fun! Parking is free also (they have paid parking but I don't mind walking 1-2 minutes and park).
- Take a weekend vacation. We've done this a couple of times. What we'll do is take that Friday off and make it a 3 day weekend. Last year we went to Miami for the weekend. It was fun, but it was hard to pack in the flights, travel and everything into 3 short days.
- Go to the movies. We don't go to the movies a lot (because it's like $13 a person and because I always fall asleep at the theater), but we do have $50 on a movie gift card, so we plan on using it soon. Nothing too good has been out lately though, but I'm definitely seeing The Vow with Channing when it comes out next month! Who else is excited for that?
- Hike. We have a lot of hiking trails around us, and we finally went hiking a couple of months ago on the trail near our house. It was fun and interesting for us. FREE
- Drive around. I know this isn't eco-or-pocket-friendly, but the BF likes to drive around, and I like just sitting in the passenger seat. It's relaxing. And we just talk about nothing and everything.
- Look at the stars. The BF's grandma has a lot of land, so sometimes we will drive all the way out there and lay out a blanket and just relax. It's nice and very pretty.
- Shooting range. We go shooting at least twice a month. It's fun, but very expensive.
- Hot air balloon. Haven't done this yet, but would like to. I'm a little afraid right now though since there was an accident last month where everyone died. I'm not sure how much this cost? Maybe $150 a person? More? I don't know…
- Sky Diving. Haven't done this yet, but would like to. He doesn't see the need to jump out of a perfectly good airplane, yet he will do tons of scary things that I don't get. I plan on going with his friend this spring, so this isn't much of a date idea, but maybe the BF will join. This will be around $200 just for me when I do this in the Spring. I also want to get pictures from it, and that's around an extra $75.
- Paddle boat. Downtown there is a little man-made canal thing (yes I know I sound so smart) and you can paddle boat, get a canoe or a kayak. It's a lot of fun, really pretty and pretty cheap. Only around $15 an hour (but they don't really make sure that you've only been gone for an hour).
What do you guys like to do? Any new ideas?
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Lisa says
January 27, 2012 at 3:39 amThese are great ideas! Don't think I would ever skydive though… yikes!
Daisy says
January 27, 2012 at 3:43 amThe boy and I love to drive around neighborhoods we haven't spent a lot of time in and look at houses.
Bethany says
January 27, 2012 at 4:17 amgreat suggestions, girl!! LOVE!
Becca Christensen says
January 27, 2012 at 4:37 amI love resturaunts.com!! I've had such good luck with it. And groupon for lunch places as well.
Samantha says
January 27, 2012 at 4:39 amLove these suggestions! I'd love to ride a hot air balloon!! Sam
McVal says
January 27, 2012 at 5:10 amWow! You guys have exciting dates! We're an old married couple… (24 years this spring) A date to us, is anything without the kids. Just time spent driving to a kids event alone in the car together. Having a quick dinner out before having to get back home so we won't miss The Walking Dead… A dollar theater movie together. Yep – even grocery shopping, if we're alone…
Michelle P says
January 27, 2012 at 4:04 pmhaha well congrats on 24 years! Amazing!
Tanner says
January 27, 2012 at 5:25 amThose are great lists. I personally am more fond of the stay-in one. Also, play tourist in the town next door (take a camera and wander aimlessly for a few hours). I need to look into Restaurants.com and see if I can find something I can use. It looks like a pretty nice deal.
Amanda says
January 27, 2012 at 5:46 amOmg! Go skydiving!! It is the greatest feeling ever. I am DEATHLY afraid of heights and by deathly afraid I mean I don't even like being on ladders. It took everything I had to do it but once your body is sticking halfway out of an airplane it's go time! You will never experience such a rush in your life. I highly recommend it…and now that I think about it I might just blog about it 🙂
Michelle P says
January 27, 2012 at 4:05 pmI need to go so bad! You make me want to go right now!
Live Simply- Live We says
January 27, 2012 at 6:08 amSkydiving is awesome. You will lovely. I think that is how you should celebrate being done with school!
Michelle P says
January 27, 2012 at 4:05 pmGreat idea!
shoppingtosaving says
January 27, 2012 at 6:50 amWe do a lot of this stuff!!! We are doing the scary movie date tonight with popcorn and Paranormal Activity 3. More cheap dates we go on – running with our dog, go to the dog park, play video games, go to the beach, try hole in the wall restaurants, and go to the jacuzzi at the Y.
Michelle P says
January 27, 2012 at 4:06 pmI love scary movie nights! And I wish we lived near the beach 🙁
twiggy@thedirtlife says
January 27, 2012 at 7:03 amwe DO NOT watch scary movies. we are babies.this is our ideal saturday morning: sleep in so late, that the first thing we say when we wake up is, "where do you wanna eat lunch?" and we already know the answer because we always eat at the little mexican restaurant that serves beer in toaster sized glasses.
Michelle P says
January 27, 2012 at 4:07 pmWe eat at Mexican restaurants all the time, best food ever!
Holly says
January 27, 2012 at 7:31 amDriving around is one of our favorite past times. With gas prices it's not necessarily free but it is nice to just ride around, chat, look at new things. There is just something really relaxing about it. Glad you're feeling better! Have a good weekend 🙂
Kris @ Simple Island says
January 27, 2012 at 8:48 amSince we have a toddler, and we don't have any babysitters, date's usually revolve around what happens after he goes to bed. Before I got pregnant, my husband would make us cocktails and we'd talk or watch a movie. When we had babysitters, a date consisted of a matinee and some popcorn. We love us some movies. Since we used to spend tons of money going to great restaurants (restaurants.com doesn't have any restaurants in my state), this is much cheaper for us – although we can't wait to go and have a nice meal somewhere again.
Amy says
January 27, 2012 at 10:07 amSuch great ideas… I'm always trying to think of new ones, so thanks for thinking for me haha! I did a hot air balloon ride 3 years ago and it was awesome… you should definitely do it! I seriously can't wait to do it again!
Neely says
January 27, 2012 at 10:45 amGreat ideas! I fall asleep in movies a TON!
femmefrugality says
January 27, 2012 at 12:02 pmWe use gofobo for movies so we go for free, or find dollar theaters. I'm going to do a post sometime this week about how to find discounts for ski resorts….they truly are pricey! We also like to play tennis…outdoor courts are free at a lot of parks in our city. And go geocaching. I'd love to go paddleboating, though!
Cassie says
January 27, 2012 at 2:43 pmThe Boy and I are planning on going skating tomorrow. It's free at a lot of the outdoor rinks.One thing about shooting, I don't know if either you or your boyfriend have your firearms licence, but if you do you might be able to buy your ammunition from an gun shop and then take it to the range. That's what we do here, it saves ~50% off the ammunition price at the range.
Michelle P says
January 27, 2012 at 4:07 pmThanks everyone! And you all had some great ideas that I'll have to add to the list.
Edward Antrobus says
January 27, 2012 at 4:15 pmA couple times a year, my wife and I like to go up to the spot where I proposed for a picnic.
Rorie says
January 27, 2012 at 4:34 pmI basically want to do all of these!! We usually do something crafty together or bake something from scratch!
Jane says
January 27, 2012 at 4:45 pmThat is a great tip about restaurant.com! Thanks. I am definitely going to be checking that out.
Lena says
January 27, 2012 at 4:59 pmSome great date ideas here! We totally need a weekend vacation…maybe, in summer. And I'm glad you are feeling better!
TracyZLesh @ Then I says
January 27, 2012 at 5:55 pmAll of these are such great ideas… I really want to go on a picnic & skydiving… now if I can just talk him into it 🙂
Laura says
January 27, 2012 at 6:33 pmLots of good ideas! I'm with McVal though – we're an old married couple (coming up on 33 years) and any time without the kids around is a date. We're excited now because we get to go food shopping together in a couple of weeks without the kids (sounds kind of sad, actually). We enjoy each other's company though and always have lots to talk about.We've gone to B&B's in our own city for overnight "dates" – it's fun to eat breakfast and chat with out-of-town visitors in the morning.Does a local museum have a free day? We've done that as well and then gone out for coffee or a drink after. We now have a membership to our local art museum and have gone to special events when exhibits open (with terrific catering) for a very small or no fee.
lorenabr says
January 27, 2012 at 8:42 pmWonderful ideas! He talked me into fishing…. now it's ok quite some fun! (But of c I don't tell him:))Wonderful blog!
Maldivian Finance Bl says
January 28, 2012 at 1:34 amWhen I started reading this post, it felt like a piece about my own life these days. Working and at the same time attending classes is definitely not something easy.Our spare time spending doing nothing and been lazy. I guess I need to do a list like this and be a bit more productive. I might not be able to do many of these due to our lack of resources. But am sure there will many we can do with our time constraints and limited resources.
jpkittie says
January 28, 2012 at 3:37 amwe love skiing 😉
MyMoneyDesign says
January 30, 2012 at 12:19 pmGreat list! My wife and I are always looking for new things to do. The going out to dinner + movies + shopping routine can get pretty old sometimes. However, I will say that Number 1 on your list, Restaurant.com, has worked out for us pretty well! We have found a lot of really great local restaurants that way. And for cheap! If you buy your certificate at the right time (when they cost $2), you can basically get just over 50% with tax and tip. That's fine dinning!
Audrey @ Putting Me says
January 30, 2012 at 8:14 pmLove the list! We use restaurant.com too, go hiking or go to the zoo in the summer when it's open at night. I think my husband and I need to do more picnics! We also love just going to the park and throwing around a frisbee.Audrey <a href="http://www.puttingmetogether.com” target=”_blank”>www.puttingmetogether.com
Sarah says
January 31, 2012 at 9:13 amWe've saved up $1200 over the course of last year just by using our Tracfone SVC's with Tracfone cards compared to being on a contract. We didn't have loong talks on our cell phones but the sacrifice has paid off and we want to go kayaking in the Xuma islands for a week. You can actually rent kayaks and camp on the beach or stay in a hotel and you get given good maps and a radio for emergency help if required. I'ts been a dream of ours for a long time and I'm dying to get there as soon as possible in March.
Anonymous says
April 16, 2012 at 10:42 amHot air balloon for $200-$250 piece (at least) if it's just the two of you.