My husband and I have had our share of good and hard times. I feel like we have been put through a lot these past 4 years and we have been in survival mode. My husband survived Lymphoma, we have been hit financially with everything that comes with cancer, and raising 4 children while all of this went on. Exciting? No not really. EXHAUSTING!
Our marriage suffered because of this. My husband picked up a second job, I home school our children, and I work from home. This left little to no time for each other. We have always been soul mates and knew we could get through anything together, yes we are the best of friends, but our romantic life has been last on the list of priorities.
We had a wake up call that made us put loving each other first on the long list of “things to do”. You see when you love each other everything else seems to just work. It makes life “not so hard” when you know you have your love next to you no matter what. We are realizing to be that best “us” we needed to have more fun, and carve out time for us no matter what goes on around us.
This past summer my husband worked 40 days without a day off. Our dating life was not happening. I got lonely, and depressed. He was tired, and mentally drained. We knew something had to change. We couldn’t do this any longer. We were arguing when we were together about wanting to spend more time together. What a terrible way to spend our few minutes together. Kind of an oxymoron.
So we knew instead of arguing we needed to be creative with our time, we had to figure out how to spend time together using the time we already had. EVEN with the kids around. It can happen, yes, you can date with your kids in the house. Below are 5 simple and affordable date ideas for dating your spouse again. Yes, again. You did it once ,when you first met, you can do it again, it will just be different.
1. Cost: $1.25 – $4.99 Idea: We go on this date at least twice a week. We rent a movie from Redbox or Amazon and let the kids all watch it in the living room. Then we go in our room, lock the door, and watch T.V. together or a movie we’ve been wanting to see. Then you can do whatever you want. Wink, wink. Easy, and you don’t even have to leave home.
2. Cost: $10.00 – $25.00 Idea: Our children go to Awana at a local church on Wednesday nights. We take that hour and a half and go on a dinner date. It can be a fast food joint, or a nice restaurant, whatever the budget calls for that week. We go to a local restaurant order our food, eat, and then just talk for the rest of the time we have alone. We put this on the calendar and it is non-negotiable. This is time we get to talk uninterrupted, and can connect. We coordinate our calendars, plan the weekends, talk about what is going on in our personal life, and laugh. Just have fun! 3. Cost: Free – $20.00 Idea: Prepare your favorite meal or desert together, get the kids a movie to watch, and then have fun. My husband cannot cook at all, so this make it fun for us. I get to teach him a new skill, and he loves learning. This is really a lot of fun to do together. Put the kids to bed and then enjoy your creation you made together. Then get a movie of your own to watch, and snuggle up together.
4. Cost: Free – $25.00 Idea: Canoeing at your local lake. This is so relaxing and fun. It takes teamwork, and some skill. Take a blanket with you, and some lunch. Pull off somewhere private and lay the blanket out, eat lunch, and cloud watch. This will be a date you will remember and look forward to having again.
5. Cost: Free – $30.00 Idea: Go to a free concert in a local park. We have these at our local zoo too. Bring dinner, special snacks, big blankets, and some pillows to sit on. If you need to bring your kids they will enjoy this as well. These are seasonal and depend on where you live. Check with your local parks, and Chamber of Commerce.
The main idea I want you to take away from this post is just fun, get out and do something different, even if all the kiddies have to come along. Find the little moments and snatch those up. If you don’t have a lot of alone time together be creative with what you have. My husband and I have had to become creative with our time with having 4 children. I do look forward to the day where we will have lots of alone time and have plenty of dates by ourselves, but until then we will have to make the most of what we have. I am hoping to give you some ideas that you can use, and strengthen your marriage. It makes it fun when you try to come up with creative ideas for alone time. It makes that time so much more important.
Have fun, make time, hug, kiss, and snuggle!
For more marriage tips I have started to follow: Dollars and Roses Blog They are a great resource for podcasts, and marriage challenges to have fun with. Check them out!
