Date night on 3 budgets

Every couple needs to have date nights no matter what their budget or situation so I have come up with six date ideas on three budgets. The first set is more of a typical date and the second set is a little less traditional and a little more exciting.

Dinner, movie, and drinks!
1. $100.00 date night
Go to a restaurant where you can typically pay around $50.00 for two people, i.e. Applebee's. After dinner go to the theater and try to agree on a movie. The movies can cost any where from $8.00 to $12.00 a person depending on where you live. On the way home pick up a bottle of wine or a six pack of beer depending on your tastes.

2. $50.00 Date night
Rent a DVD at a video rental place or pick on netflix.com if you have it. Go out to an inexpensive restaurant that will cost $30.00 for the two of you and then pick up some drinks to have while you watch your movie at home!

3. $25.00 date night
Google different recipes and find one you will both like. Here are some great links to find recipes.
http://allrecipes.com/
www.foodnetwork.com
Rent a movie from a video rental place or on netflix.com and pick up some drinks to enjoy. It could be lots of fun, especially if you cook together.

Non-traditional dates

1. $100.00 date
Paintball! It's an exciting way to have an action packed date, you can even double date or have a large group date. From what I have found you can rent everything and play for as low as $30.00 a person but can be more. Just do your homework for the best rates around you!

2. $50.00 date
Canoeing! If you are in an area with lots of lakes and rivers this could be a fun bonding experience. You can rent a canoe at a canoe rental place for around $25.00 and spend the next couple hours going down the river talking and eating. Use the remainder $25.00 to pack a lunch and buy sun block and bug spray!

3. $25.00 date
Disc Golf! This is a fun game mixing golf and Frisbee. You can find free courses all over the place. The only thing that will cost money is the disc's themselves. You can buy them for $10.00 a piece new or buy a few more of them by getting used ones on www.ebay.com. I found them as low as $2.50 and with the savings you can pack a picnic, sun block and bug spray!

My first book review

Best Friends Forever by Jennifer Weiner
Another great read by Jennifer Weiner. It's a modern day Thelma and Louise with a happy ending! The story follows two old friends "On the Lam". It takes you through a funny yet heart breaking experience of best friends reuniting while running from the cops and a crime they're not even sure if committed or not. It's an easy read and the chapters go from one perspective to another both in the past and present. It's a great book to curl up with on a cold night or at the beach!

Saving money around the house

I don't know about you, but the cost of little things you need around the house really add up. So I have found some little tips that help cuts costs so you can spend that hard earned money on stuff you actually want or even save it! I am going to go room by room and give tips and ideas on how to save money on everything from cleaning supplies to toiletries!

The Kitchen
Dish Soap can actually be bought by the gallon at bulk stores and it works just as well as name brand. 1 gallon of dish soap at Sam's Club is $5.00. Also you can add some borax which you can get a 4 lb box for less than $4.00 to help with the tough pans. Borax can also be used in the dishwasher and works wonderfully.
We go through Dish cloths like they are going out of style. I like to go to Kmart and buy a 25 pack for $5.99. That way if they get gross or stained I don't feel bad about putting them in the rag pile.

The Laundry room
Now I have not tried this but a nurse at my work swears by it and I plan on doing this as soon as my laundry soap starts to run out! It's actually a recipe from the Duggars.

Powdered Laundry Detergent - Top load machine

1 Fels-Naptha soap bar
1 Cup - Arm and hammer super washing soda
½ Cup Borax

-Grate soap or break into pieces and process in a food processor until powdered. Mix all ingredients. For light load, use 1 Tablespoon. For heavy or heavily soiled load, use 2 Tablespoons. Yields: 3 Cups detergent. (Approx. 40 loads)

Also instead of buying expensive fabric softener, just add a cup of White vinegar which you can buy by the gallon or if you like the smell of fabric softener by the brand you like and add water. It'll still work great if you do two parts water to one part softener.

To keep your whites white, just add a little bit of borax to your load of laundry!

The Bathroom

We go through lots of hand soap so we buy large things of liquid hand soap and just transfer it in to a smaller pump bottle. You can buy a one gallon jug for under $5.00 and it fills those little bottles many times over!

Shampoo and conditioner can be costly so we buy the large economic pump bottle and only use one or two pumps per hair wash, you will save money on the larger containers and because it'll last longer since you are using less.

Now if you are anything like me, you like good smelling lotions and body washes. Unfortunately they can be pricey, so I've learned if you buy a small thing of smelly lotion from somewhere like bath and body works on sale for $1.00 or $2.00 then buy a large thing of unscented lotion from Walmart and mix them you'll have a large thing of scented lotion for less and it's not as strong which my husband likes. The same can go for body wash too!

General cleaning

Steam cleaning is free once the first purchase and works wonders. I recommend the H20 ultra steam mop for all of the floors and hard surfaces. It's 136.00 with shipping from amazon and you can clean just about any surface in your house. You can use it on carpet and furniture to get out stains and smells, on and in the stove to get off all the gunk that can accumulate, and to disinfect everything!

I love fabreze but it can be expensive so we buy a spray bottle and the refill bottle of fabreez. Fill the spray bottle 1/3 fabreze and the rest with water. It still works great and you are saving quite a bit of money!

I know that linen sprays are becoming very popular but have you seen the prices of those, crazy. I found a recipe to make your own.

1 tsp. lavender essential oil

1/4 cup unflavored vodka

3 1/2 cups filtered water

I hope these idea's will help you save money and continue to have a fabulous home! If you have any other tips or idea's just leave a comment!