Dating on a Budget: Long Distance Love
I have been in Florida since the 3rd of July. Let me tell all of you long distance lovers, I can now empathize with you. When I happened upon a new park, store, or restaurant I longed for my honey to be nearby. I couldn’t turn to my left and say, “Hey look at the great deal on these shoes!” (They were $7.99 in a boutique in Hollywood Beach, FL) That was the hard part. How do you do it?
Although not my preferred method of communicaition, I must eat my words and say that text and instant messages have become my friend. Although my fingers and wrists don’t like it one bit, the technology is useful for keeping my telephone budget under control.
Since this was a short-term separation, we chose to get pre-paid cellular phones. We purchased Virgin Mobile phones for $14.99 and chose the Unlimited Texter’s Delight Plan for $19.99 the entire month. Because I am a talker and really don’t know when to put the phone down we chose this method. If I had a plan, I am sure I would have talked up those minutes very quickly. I will see her again in a few days so there was no need to go out and get a 2-year contract on a cell phone plan.
To sustain my sanity, we did play a few online games of Gin Rummy. You can actually choose your own table and password protect it so that only you and your honey can be in the room. That was a lot of fun. I lost many of those games. Hmmm, maybe that’s why we stopped playing.
Another thing we did was send emails. This is a common practice but I didn’t really look at it as a viable option for dating. But once again, I can say it definitely helped me feel closer to my partner. Also, sending e-greeting cards is a practical way to keep the romance alive. Go Gay Cards.com has a huge selection of postcards and live video cards for the lgbt company.
When planning trips together to cut down on costs, be sure to plan ahead of time. As I planned my return trip home, I was dismayed at the amount of fees on the airline tickets, hotel rooms, and rental cars. And when I tried to change the date on my ticket my credit card cringed.
As this is my first experience with this I, and many of the readers I am sure, would love to hear your ideas for keeping a relationship fresh and interesting on a budget especially when you and your partner are not even in the same place. Share your tips and tricks to help others in a similar situation.
Photo Credit: Stock.Xchng
Tamara, those are great ideas. I especially like the one of playing online games.
When Shannon & I still lived in different cities, IMing was the key to being able to talk every day. I could log on from the computer at school and chat while I worked my shift in the library.
We also sent each other honest to gosh letters. Sometimes I would put a postcard in the mail every day – sometimes it was less often. But it was nice receiving something other than a bill in the mail. And I have always enjoyed writing actual letters. You can choose cute paper, stickers to decorate the envelope, and fun stamps to make the letter more than just a plain white envelope. Handwriting the letters is what really sets them apart from an e-mail. The way to keep the cost down on this is to look for stickers in the dollar bin at the craft store or Target and to go easy on the greetings cards and such. If you can get a multi-pack of cards, that ends up being cheaper than greeting cards at $2-$3 a pop. I know this sounds dorky, but I have all of Shannon’s letters saved in a cigar box. And when either one of us goes out of town, we still leave each other a letter (or at the very least lots of little Post-it notes).
It ain’t easy, sister, let me tell you that. :/ It must be one of the hardest things I’ve yet to go through in my life. I cannot wait until we can finally just be together for good.