I feel like dating in general is pretty expensive (I’m a woman). I spend about the same as my BF, maybe a little more if we’re being honest. When I was single, I went to brunch maybe once a month, cooked all my own food and didn’t do many “fun” activities. My days were spent on hobbies like guitar, painting, and taking my dog to the dog park.

Now that I’m dating, it sort of feels like we need to do something (like an activity) every weekend. While there are some cheap activities you can do like picnics, those wear out fast, and it’s amazing how expensive things can get even at the free activities. For example, we went to the zoo one weekend, which was completely free. While there, he wanted to get lunch, and the food at the zoo is insanely expensive. I paid over $40 for a single chicken tenders basket and a fry basket, plus a 2 Gatorades and 2 bottled waters. And that was the “free” date.

If you do a date that costs money, it adds up crazy quick. Especially if there’s alcohol involved. One date we did was kayaking + brunch. Kayaking was $50/hour/kayak. 2 hours for 2 people = $200. Then brunch was $50 for 2 people, plus a couple extra drinks, tax, and tip. And suddenly we’re looking at $300 for one “date.”

I honestly probably need to have a conversation with my bf about the cost of dates because it’s getting too expensive for me. I used to be able to save money from each paycheck and I do have some savings built up. Since we started dating, I haven’t saved any money from my paychecks. And it honestly leaves me feeling grouchy and miserly when I have to pay for things, and leaves me in the mindset of keeping score/tabs on who is paying for what and how much.