Date Night Bargains!

My husband and I love to go out to eat! We don't do it very often though, maybe once a month, probably less. We have a very small budget for date nights and in order to make our money stretch even further we often use coupons or wait for a good deal.

I want to share some ideas with you of how to have a frugal, but fabulous date night with your spouse!

1. Don't throw out the junk mail! Think twice before throwing out the junk mail each day. Those Red Plum, ValPak and other ad mailings are filled with valuable coupons to your local restaurants. Search through and tear out any coupons that you might have an interest in and set them aside in an envelope or file folder for future reference. Keep the envelope in your car so it's always on hand and you don't forget it at home.

When date night rolls around take a peak at the coupons you've collected and pick a restaurant based on what deals you have in your hand.

My husband and I used one of our "junk mail" coupons to go to a Mexican restaurant recently and our total bill was only $7 +tip. We had a great dinner and were very happy with the restaurant. Who can beat date night for $7?!!

2. Join Groupon, Sweet Daily Deals, or a similar discount deal service in your area! This is the perfect way to get a great discount for dates nights and activities around your town! You can save a ton through Groupon!

About Groupon:
Such a sweet coupon service that has awesome daily deals to restaurants, attractions, and businesses in your area! Each day there is a new deal to be had - sometimes up to 90% - and if enough people want to purchase it that day you get the deal!! You can even purchase these deals to give to others as gifts!

To give you an idea of what can of deals they offer up here are a few that have been up this past week in my town!

- 50% off to the local science museum, Only $9 instead of $18! Fun to take the kids too. Couldn't afford it without this coupon.


- Today's deal for my city is 50% off at The Melting Pot - Only $20 for a $40 certificate. I'm thinking this would be the perfect gift for my parents upcoming anniversary!


- A $3 medium smoothie at Smoothie King - regularly $7! Perfect for those hot summer nights strolling the park with your spouse.

Click on the logo and sign up today so you can score a great discounted coupon for your date night this weekend!! It takes about 3 seconds to sign up!

The sweetest deals delivered right to your inbox Click Here

3. Get Great Deals on Movie Tickets!

Although I haven't used this service myself I keep reading great things about it on other blogs!

When you sign up with Weekly Cinema (Click on Logo below) you can get 4 movie tickets each month for just $19.99 - over a 60% savings! You also get a FREE movie ticket just for signing up. You redeem the tickets through Fandango and you can cancel the service at any time without being charged a cancellation fee!

We only go to a movie once or twice a year because of the high prices, but Weekly Cinema is certainly a great money saver since movie tickets are about $10 - $12 a piece these days in our area!

Has anyone seen Inception, Despicable Me or Twilight: Eclipse yet?!

4. Check Your Local Paper for FREE Events!

Your local news paper (in print or online) is a great resource for local events. I usually find several free or affordable events in our area that I would have never known about just by checking the local news station or newspaper online.

We have weekly FREE outdoor concerts in our area. Pair that with a cheap dinner out and you've got yourself a fun and frugal date night out!

5. Don't Pay For Babysitting!

If you have kids you know how quickly paying a babysitter can add up. Our oldest daughter is now 7 and we've only paid for a babysitter 5 times in all those years. We now have 4 children (and are still students) so paying for a babysitter is almost always out of the question!

So here is what we've done to still be about to go out without the kids.

Trade Babysitting: Find another family who has a similar number of kids that you do and plan to trade babysitting once or twice a month (or more if you want). This way you are getting your child care for free. I usually would go to my friend's house and watch her kids there so I could have them in bed by the time they returned home.

A few deals to cash in on this weekend!

**Go Bowling for FREE this weekend! It's National Bowling this week and you can go bowling for FREE this weekend by printing out your coupon at Go Bowling!

** Smart Source has a great 2 for $5 Cold Stone coupon! Click HERE to print it!


**Resturant.com also has amazing coupons for dining out too!

I hope you have a fun and frugal date night this weekend!!