The fact that it’s more frugal than dinner out is just a bonus at this point, but cooking from home is always a great way to save money on date night. However, there’s something to be said for getting away and enjoying an evening out.

Here are 3 great ways to go out for dinner for less:

Begin at the Beginning

You don’t have to order a whole meal, to enjoy a dining experience. The hubby and I actually go out often, just for an appetizer or two. We can share an appetizer spread for far less than the cost of two dinner entrees.

Daywalker

Who says you can’t celebrate Valentine’s Day during, you know, the daytime? A lunch date can make for significant savings, especially if your children are in school. It eliminates the need for a babysitter. Plus, many restaurants offer lunch menus at a discount.

Just Desserts

I don’t think there’s anything more sexy than sharing a dessert with the hubby. Enjoy a meal at home, then linger over a special dessert or after dinner drinks. It’s an inexpensive way to snag a small part of the dining experience.

Photo Credit: Flickr

1. Budget Date Nights
2. 8 Ways to Budget Date Night
3. Fine Dining on a Fast Food Budget

Sure, the library also has DVDs, audio books and eBooks, but it also opens a world of opportunity inside its doors. Most libraries have special events throughout the week for even more value. Some events are free, while others may have a fee attached. Check with your local branch for details on programs, classes, and expert advice.

Here are a few opportunities available at public libraries:

• Free Internet Access: The library is my go to place to work on school breaks. I can use the free wifi, while the kids read, join clubs or play in the children’s section. It’s also where I went when the air went out this summer, and I still needed to be on the computer. Or, the first place I think of when the DSL goes out at home.
• Tax Forms & Assistance: Since the IRS is no longer mailing tax forms, you can find them, as always, at your local library. Many branches area also offering tax assistance or classes.
• Computer Skills Classes: Gain valuable skills for work or personal use through computer skills classes at your local library. My own library offers basic skills like office programs, email and social media as well as advanced classes for those who need a little more information.
• Fun & Games: Libraries are also a great source of family fun & entertainment. We’ve been to animal entertainers, meet the author nights, craft days, and special events. The children’s department also has Legos, Wedgits and computers just for kids.
• Clubs & Social Events: Book clubs are a natural fit for the library. Ours also has a knitting club, euchre club, teen clubs, and various kids’ clubs based on special interests. My girls seem to have outgrown the Webkinz Club, but we’ll keep an eye on what’s next.
• Story Hour: I’ve been going to the library since my teen was just a little tyke. We’ve graduated through baby stories, toddler time and preschool story hour. The school aged story hour features a related craft each week.
• Homeschool Classes: Our library has recently started offering several classes for homeschool families. I’ve seen Spanish, creative writing, art, and science in the last couple years. It’s a great resource for those who want additional skills for their educational choice.

1. The Library – A Fantastic Tool for the Budget Minded
2. {The New Home Ec} 10 Ways to Save Money on Books
3. Free Summer Fun

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All of a sudden my kids want to try EVERYTHING. Karate, dance, sports…..the list just continues. At 4 and 2, these kids have a ton of interests and none of them include sitting on the couch watching TV or playing video games. They want to be doing things, go figure!

My dilemma, being the frugal chick that I am, was to find a way to introduce the kids to all of these new activities without spending a ton of money on yearly contracts that cost a fortune, have a “no refund” policy and will eventually cause the kids to hate the activities.

Why? Well, think of it this way “oh, you’re going, even if you hate it, since we already paid for it” and you can imagine how resentful the kids become hearing that every time class rolled around.

Beyond free bowling and free movies, I had to figure out how to incorporate these new “interests” into our budget. It didn’t take long to find the answer. A stroke of brilliance hit me one morning while I was flipping through all the programs our town offered over the summer. All of these classes are offered over the summer, for a discounted price and they don’t require a huge time commitment. It got me thinking “if the town offers some programs like this, perhaps local places that do dance, karate and other programs, might offer some summer programs as well”.

Guess what? I was right. I needed to find places that would take both kids, the town didn’t offer dance classes for my son’s age group, just my daughter. I set out to find a dance school around our area that would satisfy our needs: age requirements, time commitment, price. I got the local Pennysaver and Yankee Trader and found ones that were local, had summer programs that didn’t take up the entire summer and that held the classes for both my 2 year old son and 4 year old daughter. After calling a few, I made my list to visit two of them and chose not the cheaper one, but the one where my son felt comfortable. Both kids are signed up for dance for 4 weeks this summer. YAY.

The same applied for Karate. I couldn’t find a Karate school I liked, so I looked at other disciplines. I found Jiu Jitsu. They had a fantastic offer for the three months of Summer for new students: $50 of unlimited classes for June, July and August. They had a program for 2 year olds and tons of programs for my 4 year old. My son didn’t take to it, but my daughter signed up, got her Gi and has been attending every class available to her.

She goes once a day, with just Fridays and Sundays off. She loves it and now we know, once the Summer is over, she can continue on with classes if she chooses to do so. They don’t charge a yearly contract, we go month to month AND through the year, the kids can attend UNLIMITED classes! At some point, my son will pick it up, he loves to learn from his sister at home. Just needs a bit more “focus” in class.

Finally, I found a tennis program through the town for my daughter. My son isn’t ready yet, but my daughter is up for the challenge. The town offered a huge discount for a two week program: 10 days, $35 for one hour lessons. She’s excited to learn the sport Mommy played for many years. The town program is run by a tennis pro at a fantastic LOCAL country club. And the price just fit our budget! If she likes it, she can do it again next year and we can always sign up for more than one session over the summer – they have three of them throughout the summer.

The moral of this story? If your kids want to try something new that their friends are doing, or they just showed an interest in, test it out over the summer. It costs less, won’t be as big of a time commitment for the kids and you’ll be able to see if they truly enjoy it and then continue with it throughout the school year without worrying about hearing those dreaded words “I hate it, I don’t want to go to dance anymore” after you’ve signed a contract and paid a huge bill!

1. Free Summer Fun
2. Keeping Cool for Free this Summer
3. The Library – A Fantastic Tool for the Budget Minded

I’m a homebody. I love being home, because I love my house, my yard and spending time with my kids in the house we waited forever to be able to purchase. Yes, I live on a lake. Yes, I have a park that I can walk to every day. HOWEVER, we live on Long Island and it snows, rains and is sometimes too cold to even think, let alone go outside. So, we stay home quite often.

What the heck do we do all day? Recently, we started baking with the kids. They love to help measure out ingredients and put it in the mixer. We buy a lot of boxes of mixes when they’re on sale, we always have the staples in the house like sugar, flour and eggs. We even have vanilla extract, baking powder, yeast and baking soda. I know, we’re a regular pioneer family, right?

We have fashion shows. Our kids get dressed up and show off their style, we take pictures, play music and then put the photos on the digital frame until the next fashion show. Now this serves TWO purposes for me. One, it’s fun to do at home. Two, it helps me find out what fits and doesn’t fit anymore, without having the tears that come along with those dreaded words all kids hate hearing “just try this on to see if it still fits”. I do this at the very start of a new “season”, meaning when winter is winding down, we try on all the goodies from last year that I purchased at season ending clearance sales on line. We make sure they all fit, see if I have to buy a couple of more items and sell something that may not fit (or put it aside to give as a gift).

Coloring, drawing and of course, painting are always fun for kids. The messier it is, the more fun they have. We invested in some smocks (plastic of course), a cheap shower curtain that goes on the floor to catch all the spills and the kids can color, draw, paint, cut stuff out and craft up a storm without me getting NUTTY about a huge mess. They have fun, I get to hang out and relax with a cup of coffee, help out when needed and let the kids just go nuts and have fun.

There’s so many things to do in your own home, there’s not a need to head out the door where you’re spending money on activities, gas and food. Just hang out, let the kids relax and wear their PJs all day……no harm in that, right?

1. {The New Home Ec} How to Save Money on Holiday Electric Bills
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3. Halloween, Candy and Costumes: How can you save money this year?

Psychologists and marriage experts say that date night is critical to the longevity of a marriage. It’s a way to stay connected, talk privately, catch up on what is important to each other and spend time together. And it doesn’t have to break the bank. Budget date night can be creative and fun. So even if you have to spend your entire budget on a sitter, don’t cross off date night (or afternoon or morning!) from your calendar.

Here are eight fun and creative budget date night options to help you focus on the reason for date not, not the dollars:

1. Eat breakfast for dinner – almost every town has a 24-hour joint that servers breakfast all day long. Often, breakfast is a less expensive alternative to dinner. And you’re likely to skip dessert and appetizers.

2. Enjoy game night in – if the kids are off on a sleepover, there’s no need to go out. Make an easy meal or even just a bunch of appetizers and pull out those games the kids never want to play. Don’t do the laundry or clean the bathrooms. This is time to talk (about each other, not the kids!). And, of course let him win (maybe).

3. Check out a new restaurant – since you’re likely to be planning a bit in advance, why not take advantage of dining deals available in your community. Instead of heading to the same restaurant, try something new using a discounted certificate from Restaurant.com or from one of the daily deal sites like Groupon or Living Social. You’re sure to find something you both like and with the discount you’ll be keeping to your budget date night needs.

4. Go out during the week – Rather than wait until Friday or Saturday, consider making a week night your budget date night. Often restaurants have special deals just to drive in traffic. Museums, art galleries, plays, musical performances or the local theater will have discounted rates for certain nights during the week.

5. Meet for Happy Hour – a few months back I heard that Morton’s steakhouse has a ‘power hour’ type happy hour where everything on the bar menu is $5 and they have drink specials. For $40 you can have a really upscale evening!

6. Take a walk – now might not be the best time, but when the weather is warmer take an afternoon or evening walk in your neighborhood. Drop the kids at a friend’s house and find a local park and just walk, talk, hold hand, and look at each other. Remember those days when you were courting and just being together was enough.

7. Try a gallery hop – many cities have a specific day of the month when art galleries are open and have a special social atmosphere. Where I live, we have First Friday. There is an area of town where there are several blocks where art galleries and studios are located. They open their doors from 7 – 10pm and invite the public to visit, have some wine, hor d’oeuvres and look at beautiful art. Maybe it’s not your particular taste in art, or you’d never spend that much money on a piece for your home. But that’s OK. It’s a way to spend time together, have some tasty tidbits and a glass of wine (or two), and enjoy your community.

8. Plan a picnic – whether at the park, by the lake, in your back yard or even your living room, pack a picnic and find a place to relax and connect. This is a great option for a budget date night if your night happens to be in the afternoon. Not everyone’s schedule works for going out at 7pm. Sometimes, it’s better to make date night at a different time. Who’s to say date night must be at night?

Whatever you do, just do something! Don’t fret about the planning. Set your budget and be creative. Check out your local newspaper’s community page online to see what’s going on in your area. You don’t have to spend a fortune to go out on a date with your spouse or partner. Date night can be budget friendly. It may take some creativity, but regardless of what you do, the goal is to make budget date nights something you can do every few weeks so that you can keep fanning the flames.

Are date nights a priority for you? How do you make them fun and still budget friendly?

1. Money Saving Monday: Budget Date Night
2. Date Night on the Cheap
3. Budget Date Nights

My girls love the snow—they love to see it, and they love to play in it. They even love to shovel it. Which is lucky for our family, because I? Am not a fan of the outdoors. Especially when it’s cold and wet.

Every year, I swear it will be different. This winter, I’ll help them build a real snowman. I’m so determined to get out of my comfort zone, and out in the snow, that I actually put it on my 40×40 list. Yet, each time they play in the snow, I wait inside with the hot cocoa or hide behind my camera, snapping pictures of their adorably pitiful attempts at Frosty.

Yesterday, my girls were thrilled to wake up to a snow day. Yet, I once again avoided the cold & wet. We spent the afternoon at the Eiteljorg—taking advantage of 12 Free Days of Indy Christmas to see the Jingle Rails exhibit I’ve heard so much about. The trains & landmark replicas are amazing, but I’m left feeling a little guilty about skipping the snowman.

So, we’ll build snowmen later this week—and I’ll still never have to leave the warm house. We build snowmen out of styrofoam balls. We decorate marshmallow snowmen. I’ve even made a snowmen cheese ball. Our favorites are the edible ones, of course—I think we’ll try Renae’s snow globe treats next.

All of these snowmen are a lot of fun to create, and instead of waiting for your hard work to melt in the sun, you get to eat yummy treats!

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Movie marathons are not strictly a holiday event around here. It’s a great treat for the girls to hear we’re having a family movie night. They like to guess what we’re watching and love knowing the popcorn is coming out. We even have several popcorn tubs, from the Target dollar section.

Our holiday movie marathon is planned for a weekday this year, which means we’ll start the day with cartoons & their favorites. We love to share my childhood favorites with the girls, so those will come out when the hubby gets home. If I have my way, the marathon will continue straight through their bedtime, when we can watch movies that might not be child appropriate.

Scrooged tops that list—what are your holiday favorites?

1. {The New Home Ec} 6 Ways to Make Movie Night More Exciting
2. 24 Days Until Christmas: Counting Down to Christmas
3. 9 Days Until Christmas: The Gift of Memories