Being an adult can be hard and strenuous work sometimes. Getting out of bed, going to work, maintaining a healthy and active social life, taking care of yourself physically, emotionally, spiritually, etc. can be very hard to juggle and that’s not even mentioning relationships with your family, spouse, and children.

Trying to spice up the relationship can be difficult especially when juggling jobs, social life and other responsibility most people, including myself, would just rather sleep and lounge on the couch after a long day. Going on dates is a fun way to get out of the house but depending on what you do such as a movie, along with dinner and drinks can cost between $50-$100 just for the night.

When you don’t feel like breaking the bank, here are a few ways you can get out and have fun while on a budget.

 

1) Thrift Store Date

I am sure most people have seen this idea floating around for a while but nonetheless it is still a wonderful and comical idea. The idea is that you give your spouse an amount between $5-$20 (whatever you want your budget to be) and buy them an outfit from the thrift store that they must wear for the date. From that point on you decide what you want to do (movie, dinner, boardgame night, go crazy!).

 

2) Have a Cooking Contest

Have you ever seen Chopped or MasterChef? If you have great, if not, I would highly recommend it. You and your partner each get ($5-$20) for 5-6 ingredients that they must make a meal with (you can use any additional ingredients you already own) and must make each other a meal using the ingredients they bought.

 

3) Find Free Local Events in the Neighborhood

I live in a small town in ND so we don’t always have the luxury of going to the beach or the museum or the mall (because our mall has less than 20 stores) so when we see a free event like the wine walk downtown we jump at the opportunity! Some of our favorites are the farmers market along with pop up flea markets and free concerts in the park. You can always check your cities community website to see any upcoming events in your area.

 

4) Go to Trivia Night

Most Bars have usually one day a week or month dedicated to trivia night where you can win all sorts of prizes, gift cards, merch, or even your bill paid. This could be couples only night or you can bring along any other friends or family to help get some free stuff for having random knowledge. Rhombus Guys in Grand Forks holds one frequently and it is really entertaining.

 

5) Checkout Places Within the Town you Haven’t Been to Before!

I used to (but still somewhat) play guitar and we just went to Poppler’s music out of boredom and ended up being there for a few hours and ended up checking out the local guitar shop next door. After this day, we checked around to some other places we haven’t been before like the rolled ice-cream place, the library (which is beautiful) and a Japanese flower garden. Who knew we had these treasures in our small town!

 

6) Geocaching

I just recently found out about this one and if you have an adventurous side this is the perfect activity for you. Geocaching.com is a great and informative site as to what geocaching is and what it details. It is a fun way to explore your community as well and find treasure! In the small town I live in we have 200 or so boxes so I can only imagine how many boxes a place like New York or Seattle has.

 

7) Try to Beat a Guinness World Record

There are some insane and silly records held within this book. Some such as: most sticky notes stuck on face in 60 seconds, eating 2 pounds of Jell-O with chopsticks in a minute and so many other ones. All you have to do is go on YouTube or https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/. You can do many of these records for under $10.

 

8) Take a Free Class at Places Like Lowes, YMCA, Etc.

Want to learn how to cook healthy food for the whole week for under $20? The YMCA has classes like this all the time and if you are a student they are usually free with your membership on Campus. Want to learn how to put up a backsplash without wasting money go take a Lowes master class so you can see how the pros do it without having to watch hours of YouTube videos. These classes can be so fun and affordable, along with learning some cool life skills.

 

9) Create a Relationship Time Capsule

When I was a kid I always thought it would be so cool to uncover somebodies time capsule, so I made one when I was like 12 for school. I recently found it and had such an amazing laugh and trip down memory lane. You can make your own right now! Write about your current life like your living situation, your jobs, your favorite tv shows or foods and other things. Paint a plastic bottle, glass jar, whatever you want really and place items or writings that you made and open it up in 3, 5, 10 or however long you want to wait in years. It will be such a good time looking back when you open that container up.

 

10) Invite Friends Over

Last but not least, invite over some good company for great conversation and even better times. You can just chat, watch movies or catch up on a show together (I recommend SuperStore, it’s very relatable for those who have worked in retail).

 

I hope these have given you inspiration to get out of the house and shake up things. Is there anything I missed or have any other ideas? Drop a comment below and let’s talk about it! If there is anything you would like to see on here drop a comment as well!