ENTERTAINMENT AND DATE NIGHT
In my opinion, this is one of the most important categories when it comes to maintaining your relationship in medical school. My tip for this category is to keep it simple, but splurge every now and then to celebrate your triumphs and big days through medical school. I really love The Dating Divas because they have some fantastic, affordable (and free!) date ideas that we have loved doing!
What is your best tip when it comes to saving money for going on dates and entertainment?
YVETTE: The time taken by school helps us to spend less haha… When he is free, we either just want to relax at home or get outside which costs nothing. We do rent movies sometimes, play old video games or board games. Outside of that, the thing we love most is taking drives to explore the new cities around us since we’ve moved!
HEATHER: Most of the time we will have “spouse date” which involves getting some fancy cheese and crackers at the grocery store, and watch something on Hulu that we save to watch together. We split Hulu with my sister and Netflix with his sister so that we get both for less. We don’t have cable.
When we do go out for a BIG date, we do allow ourselves to spend money. Last time we had a hotel and fancy dinner which to me is worth the cost to invest in our marriage. Perhaps if my ex had used that theory, he wouldn’t have been so nervous when the judge asked if I wanted alimony.
For family entertainment, we have memberships to the aquarium out of state from where we live because we are there once a month. We can go when I’m there for work. There is also a children’s museum here. The one time fee is worth it for us, especially since we don’t keep a lot of toys in our house. We have a ton to play with there and at libraries, so we get to buy and care for less. Not to mention it’s great to take advantage of those indoor activities on crazy hot or cold days when we don’t want to crank the heat or AC!
MORIAH: Dates and entertainment doesn’t always have to cost a lot of money. Many areas have free museums or other attractions. Depending on where you live, you can go out on a hike or go to the beach. Sometimes a date can be as simple as a night at home catching up over the week or watching a movie together.
AMANDA: Entertainment and dates tie back into my grocery system. Albertsons and Smith’s typically offer 4x the fuel points of gift cards! So I plan ahead and pick a place for dinner or entertainment from the gift cards provided. Dinner and a movie in a $50 gift card turns around and pays me back by adding 0.16 cents per gallon on my fuel points! I was going to spend that money anyways, so why not take an extra minute to think ahead and save some money?
SAMANTHA: We don’t do them very often and we do a lot of “date night ins” after our son goes to bed. Popcorn, some D. Coke with lots of ice (our guilty pleasure) and maybe a dessert of some kind. We put a show on and relax on the couch or we build a puzzle, or sit out on our patio together and chat…it’s nice to get out and get away from the routine of “home” but…it can also be expensive – especially when you consider babysitter costs…which tend to be where things get a bit crazy pricey!
We simply don’t go out much. We save our babysitter spending to social functions or events that are adult only or not kid friendly…and on special occasions we may splurge…I think date nights can be over complicated and over thought…my best advice is create a good and somewhat “early” bedtime routine for your kids and give yourself downtime in the evening to enjoy it with your spouse!
MICHAELLA: We tried to do things that were free or cost little money. When we did go out, we would go out to restaurants where we know that we could save money by sharing a meal. For example, ordering a large sandwich and splitting it between the two of us. It has worked out really well for us.
CASSIDY: My best tip in this category is to GO ON DATES! I know it may seem like there is no extra money for them, but what I have learned over this past year is how important it is to make the effort to do a date night. It doesn’t have to be every week; we celebrated after each block with a date night and that worked for us. It all comes down to having a budget and I think it helps to set aside a little extra just for this. (even if it’s just an extra $10 because hello, Ice Cream date!)
KRISTEN: Coming from people who once went on a $90 date to see a Marvel movie, we can for sure say we learned the hard way. Find another medical school couple willing to swap or a couple without kids at home that will volunteer to watch your kiddos after they are in bed. Babysitting fees add up quickly. In our case, we do dates when my parents come to visit which is roughly once a month.
TAMELA: Do free stuff? Lol. We have a specific category in our budget that we use for this. Something you’ll hear a lot in finance books is that young people are trying to live the life their parents have when their income is like 1/8 of their parents’. Just keeping the perspective that we are students and our money is borrowed helps us keep our date nights to Redbox and some Del Taco.
But also! (Sorry, I’m very passionate about it haha) we have passes to Disneyland that cost us $200 each. Disneyland is something that we both love and we’ve figured out a way to do it so it only costs us $30 every time we go (including lunch, dinner, snacks, and parking). We figured that the amount of fun we have there and the joy it brings to our relationship outweighs the initial cost.
Do you have any money saving tips for entertainment or date night? Share in the comments below!
This is really helpful. I’ve been trying to research guides and recommendations to make my financial status better every year. Thanks for this!
I’m so glad you’ve found it helpful! Each gal has got some great ideas!