My husband and I are on a budget. But isn’t everyone on a budget these days? Well, our budget allows us to have two date nights a month. We each “host” one of the nights and have $50 allotted. We can supplement with our allowance money – another story – but we get a $50 credit. We rarely use it.

The other night, for example, my husband made chicken parmesan for dinner, we watched a Netflix movie of his choice and then we sipped a bottle of Chianti by a home-built fire in our courtyard. We had a good meal, cuddle time on the couch and a romantic fire. I love date nights!

Sometimes we go to the movies and have ice cream afterwards – but nowadays that involves a babysitter, significantly digging into our $50 allotted to the evening’s activities. I sometimes use the cash to order sushi take-out and we eat in while watching a movie of my choice – hello bad movies like “Enchanted” or – during the holiday season – “Elf” on repeat.

I really like the way we set-up date night because it puts the responsibility on one person to be at least semi-creative and treat the other person to an evening where you don’t have to make any decisions – you can just sit back and enjoy. On the flip side, it allows one person to be able to call all the shots and the boss in me thinks that’s a blast.  Both sides of the coin are enjoyable and it also keeps us on a budget we can live with.