4 Kooky Date Ideas Beginning with K

Our K-date was kind of dismal this week… but more about that later. In the meantime, here are four K date ideas for those playing along at home!
Fly a Kite
Let’s go fly a kite… up to the highest heights! I’ve had that song stuck in my head all week. Pick a clear, sunny [...]

Danny & Annie: A Love Story

I was lucky enough to find this video in my web travels last night (thanks to Sarah Prout for sharing it) and I just had to post it here for everyone because this is a story that should be told. It’s sad (you’ve been warned – grab a Kleenex before you hit play) but also [...]

5 Great Date Ideas Beginning with J

Jigsaw Puzzle
On a rainy afternoon, settle in with one of those huge 500-piece jigsaw puzzles and some hot chocolate and yummy snacks. It’s a great way to spend a miserable day together.
Jump Yourself Silly
Ever seen one of those trampoline parks? They have indoor and outdoor ones, it’s basically Olympic-sized trampolines all set next [...]

Everything You Need to Know About Budgeting as a Couple – Part 3

So, you’ve successfully held a couples money and budgeting meeting together, as outlined in Part 1 and Part 2 of this series. Now what? Guest Poster Timothy Ng fills us in on how to ensure smooth ongoing handling of finances.
Successfully Managing the Budget as a Couple
With an understanding of your partner’s attitude to money, [...]

Everything You Need to Know About Budgeting As a Couple – Part 2

So you’ve done your prep from Part One and you’re ready for your first Couples Money Meeting. Here’s how to tackle it. Part 2 in this series that we’ve asked guest poster Timothy Ng from Credit Card Finder to put together for us:
With your individual meeting prep done, it is time to lay the [...]

The 5 Best Date Ideas Beginning with I

Welcome to I week of ABC Dating. Here is the compiled list of I date ideas, for those of you who are playing along with our alphabet dating game at home.
Ice Hockey
Go see an ice hockey match! The sport has become more popular in recent years. Even our hometown of Melbourne has a [...]

Everything You Need to Know About Budgeting as a Couple

As I told you earlier in the year, I kinda suck at saving. I’m learning how this year, and it’s going okay. Den is exceptionally good at saving. Needless to say, the discrepancy causes a few, ahem, disagreements between the two of us. With the purchase of our first house looming ahead of us, it’s [...]

G is (also) for Games Night!

Relationships are all about games. The Hard-to-get Game. The If-You-Don’t-Know-Why-I’m-Angry-I’m-Not-Going-To-Tell-You Game. The Hide-the… oh, nevermind. The point is…

Do You Make These Relationship Mistakes?

Relationships don’t come with instruction manuals. It’s a funny thing, because anytime you’re embarking on a new adventure be it a baby, a holiday, or buying a house, you tend to research everything you can on the subject.
But how many people arm themselves with instructions on how to be in a relationship?

Not many. And certainly [...]

Write Wedding Vows You Can Be Proud Of

There’s the boring. There’s the funny. There’s the soppy. And then there’s that special balance in between that is touching and sweet while also packing a little giggle.
I think your goal when writing your wedding vows should be to get your audience to shed a few sentimental tears. Everyone comes to a wedding ready to [...]

5 Hot Date Ideas Beginning with H

Oooh… H is one of those tricky ones we keep coming across! These five Happy Date Ideas were the only ones I could come up with, but I know you clever little things will be able to offer some more great ideas to me as well.
Hedge Maze
Get lost in a hedge maze together. This is [...]

mX Column: A Little Privacy

A friend of mine has taught her husband how to wax her pits for her. They are clearly a couple who are very comfortable with each other.
Me? I like to keep a bit of mystery going on in a relationship. Some things are best done behind closed doors.
Hell, I wouldn’t even reference my underarms in [...]

G is for Game Show

It was quite awhile ago that a user submitted an idea to the date night generator suggesting to go participate in a studio audience.

It ticks all the boxes as far a great date night goes for us – something new we’ve never done before, cheap and above all, fun, giving you something to talk about while on your date.

Get Lips Guys Will Love!

Continuing our week of beauty, the divine Stefanie from The Lip Print imparts her beauty wisdom on us with great tips for great lips!

Picture this: you’re enjoying a blissful Date Night with your partner. The mood is perfect, there’s ambient lighting and smooth background music. You close your eyes and lean in for a kiss [...]

Fuss-Free Beauty – New Fun Things

There are three new things in particular that have come to my attention this week in the fuss-free beauty arena. I’m pretty excited about them! As we discussed earlier in the week, being in a relationship makes me lazy when it comes to grooming. I know a lot of other women in the same boat. [...]

Fuss-Free Beauty – Things I Love

When it comes to my beauty routine, I’m kind of lazy. Add to that my general busy-ness and my hate of early mornings and what you get is a girl who either doesn’t have time or patience to spend hours in the bathroom every morning.
In an ideal world, one of two things would happen.
1) I would [...]

A Week of Beauty on $30 Date Night

Happy 201st Post, Daters! Just to mix things up a little bit, this week $30 Date Night is going to take a little deviation down the beauty route.
Why, you ask? What does that have to do with dating and relationships?
Plenty, it turns out.

Because if you feel good about yourself you’ll feel better [...]

7 Great Date Ideas Beginning with G

G is for Green Date Ideas
Which we already discussed awhile ago. Click this link to see our Gorgeously Green Date Ideas list, compiled for us by Cate and Chris at GreenRenters.org
G is for Games

Like, board games. And such. Either hold a game night at home for the two of you or tuck [...]

6 out of 10 People Not Trying Hard Enough

Wow, Daters. Did you know that 6 out of 10 people are unhappy with their relationships? That’s a lot of people. 60% in fact (I should’ve done maths and stuff).
The Daily Mail reported last week that: “More than six out of ten adults in a relationship admit there is a lot they could do [...]

Man-Colds Proven to Exist!

Man-colds do exist!
I knew it! I’ve been saying it all along.

Says the Daily Mail in London:
“Half of men will upgrade a common cold to flu and describe headaches as a migraine to gain maximum sympathy.
They will also moan more than women when suffering a bug or virus.
This is despite the fact [...]

5 Gorgeously Green Date Ideas

We’re up to week ‘G’ and in addition to the list of date ideas beginning with ‘G’ I’ll be posting later (when I’ve written it!), the wonderful Cate and Chris from Green Renters have guested today’s post, giving us five great, green, sustainable date ideas for you to try! Challenge yourself to a month’s worth [...]

9 Fabulous Date Ideas Beginning with F

F is for Ferris Wheel
Ah, the romance of being trapped in a small, swinging compartment with the love of your life, your lips all sticky from fairy floss as you gaze out at the view. This could either be very romantic, or in the case of people like Den – absolutely terrifying. Try and [...]

Using the Mere Exposure Effect to Your Dating Advantage

I wrote in my column a few weeks back about the theory behind Office Romances and why they are so prevalent these days. The idea is that the Mere Exposure Effect dictates your hormones here… the more time you spend around someone, the more attracted you will become to them.
And – obviously – vice [...]

6 Exciting Date Ideas Beginning with E

Ooh – we knew there’d be some sticky letters on this Alphabet Dating business of ours… but I didn’t expect one so soon! And to be honest, I was hoping Den would get stuck with them. X, for example, will be a killer. O might be a bit difficult.
But they’re weeks away yet. Let’s [...]

Newsflash: Couple Dates Each Other, Finds It’s Good For Relationship

I just found this article in The Sun about a couple who took on a one-month date night challenge (sounds suspiciously familiar) only to find that dating each other once a week was – GASP – good for their relationship!
Okay, I’ll stop being snarky now.
Because it’s great.
It really is great that we [...]

5 Date Ideas Beginning with D

Well we’re up to week D and Den seems to be stuck on what to do. So I’m posting this not least to give him some ideas of where to take me for date night this week! Stay tuned for our date review of whatever this particular alphabet date will end up being.
D is [...]

Marriage is Good For Your Health!… Until It’s Not

Marriage: When it’s good, it’s very good. But when it’s bad, it’s… deadly?
New York Times Magazine recently published this long piece on whether marriage is good for your health or not. Very early studies into the matter, circa 1858, concluded that marriage is a healthy estate and that single people died from disease “in [...]

Sexy Christina Hendricks Has Advice for Men

A wonderful open letter to men, from the Best Looking Woman in America (So Esquire says. I might just second that after reading the following advice from Christina Hendricks to Men of the World.)
“We love your body. If we’re in love with you, we love your body. Your potbelly, everything. Even if you’re insecure about [...]

How to Save a Marriage

Laura Munson’s new book This Is Not The Story You Think It Is: A Season of Unlikely Happiness
has just been published, containing the account of the time her husband walked in the door one night, after 20 happy years of marriage and two children, and told her it was over. “I don’t love you. [...]

One of These Things is Not Like the Other

Happiness expert Sophie Keller wrote this great piece over at Huffington Post about whether you and your partner are “Incompatible, or Refreshingly Different”
“My husband loves the middle of a quiche and I love the outside. He hates exercise, I love it. He knows everything there is about music, I know very little. Does that mean [...]

10 Leather (3rd) Anniversary Gift Ideas

They say that by the 3rd wedding anniversary you should be aware of the durability of your relationship together, which is why the traditional gift symbol is leather. The material is strong, durable, warm and resilient.
There are some gorgeous leather-based anniversary gifts you can give your partner on your third anniversary that they may [...]

mX Column: Starting Over at 28

My friend, Y, has a problem. She has just broken up with her boyfriend of six years.
It’s a massive change, but she has coped remarkably well with the separation, and has re-established herself as an independent woman – new house, new job, new outlook on life.
Now, after months of painful healing, her ex [...]

C is for Comedy Festival

And so our alphabet dating streak continues. C, for us, is for Comedy Festival which was a wonderfully spontaneous date we decided to go on last night.
What I love about the Melbourne Comedy Festival is that they run a box office from the Town Hall that you can walk into at any point during the [...]

“Me? Oh, I’m Naturally Gorgeous…”

I had just jumped out of the shower this morning and was in the office, pre-make up when Den suddenly asked me what was on my face. “It’s all shiny” he commented. I’d just moisturised. It was nothing different to my usual daily routine, but he’s usually at the gym still when I’m getting ready [...]

Will Marriage Always Have a Place in Society?

It’s pretty much common knowledge by now that the marriage rate in the Western world has been on a steady decline since the 1950s. Even moreso in Europe than in the US, people are electing again and again not to get married.

The divorce rate is insane, and divorces are easier and cheaper than ever [...]

Alphabet Dating: 9 Date Ideas Beginning with C

C is for Casino
Ever played roulette? No? Perfect. Set a budget for your date night (it’s no secret we like ye olde faithful $30 limit) and head to a low-betting table at a casino to learn the ways of roulette and (hopefully!) win some money. If you pick a table where there are no [...]

Unleash Your Inner Bunny!

Happy Easter, Lovers! It’s going to be a fun weekend… if you’re feeling like doing something sweet for your sweetheart then send them on a personalised Easter Egg hunt!
Imagine the look on their face when they wake up in the morning to find the house strewn with chocolate eggs! Or send them into the [...]

5 Cotton (2nd) Anniversary Gift Ideas

Given everyone loved the paper anniversary post so much, I thought I’d continue the series of Traditional Wedding Anniversary Present Ideas for couples. We’re at 2nd year anniversary – cotton!

Clothes – It’s obvious, yes. There are a few ways to execute this present though. You can either:
1. Pick up some great threads for your [...]

The Same Four Tracks

You learn a lot about a person when you work and live with them all day, every day.

I am fast learning that my husband is a creature of habit. He gets very comfortable with the things that he knows well. For example: All day every day, we hear the same four music tracks over [...]

Mistresses vs. Wives – The Showdown

A survey conducted by the Women’s Weekly shows that nearly half the 1115 respondents that answered the survey report that when they were single they had had an affair with a married or otherwise-committed man.
While these affairs rarely led to the break up of the man’s marriage/relationship, over a third of them lasted for [...]

Alphabet Dating: 10 Date Ideas Beginning with B

B is for Breakfast (or Brunch)
The perfect date if there’s just not enough time in your week or you suddenly find all your nights booked up. Get up a little early and have breakfast with your sweetheart, whether you take them out or cook for them in bed is up to you!

B is [...]

mX Column: The Age of the Bromance

I think my husband may be having an affair.
G. – the object of his affection – is tall, good-looking, and also happens to be our next door neighbour.
They see each other every day. They are members of the same gym, take frequent coffee breaks and if they can’t be in the same room [...]

Alphabet Dating: 9 Date Ideas Beginning with A

So to support you (and us) through an Alphabet Dating adventure, we are going to publish a list of date ideas each week that start with our Letter of the Week (Sesame Street, we’re coming after you!)
If you’re thinking of Alphabet Dating, now’s a great time to start. You can check back in every [...]

A 3-way Relationship? Bingle, Clarke, and the Rest of Australia

The end of a relationship – or facing any relationship problems, for that matter – is never easy, never clean-cut.
In the case of Lara Bingle and Michael Clarke, the nude photos, the Fev affair and the very public flight home from New Zealand have made it even less so.
I feel for them both, [...]

Alphabet Dating: A is for African Cuisine

You may have caught yesterday’s post on ABC Dating – we’re going to spend the next six months working our way through a dating alphabet. This has a few benefits – we make sure we’re doing something different every time we go on a date and we also introduce a little more structure into the [...]

Alphabet Dating

Well, we felt we needed even more structure than usual this year – and to be honest, a new dating challenge. When we have SO MANY date ideas to choose from on our little date night generator, it can get a bit hard to decide what to do next.
The ABC Dating trend has been [...]

Getting Back on the Date Night Horse

I have to confess, ever since Christmas hit Den and I have been kind of… slack when it comes to date night. It’s been a blur of road trips, holidays, birthdays, anniversaries, partying… summer nights at rooftop bars… bad, bad date night couple.
We’ve waned from our usual Wednesday night date night, which means some [...]

The Post-Break Up Makeover

I’ve just finished reading this great post The Power of the Post-Break Up Makeover from the ever-fun Zoe Foster over on Primped.
Says Zoe: “Nothing says “I’m over you” to your ex-boyfriend than hiring a Monster truck and gleefully driving over his car, or in the case of Miss ABBIE CORNISH (who recently split up [...]

8 Paper (First) Wedding Anniversary Gift Ideas

It’s our first wedding anniversary today! That makes it a paper anniversary. We’ve decided that we’re going to stick with the traditional gifts in the traditional order.
Of course being a guy, Den automatically went “Well, what do I get you? A ream of A4?”
No, Den. No you don’t.
Here’s a list of paper-anniversary gift [...]

Me and Febusave

I am the first to admit that I’m crap when it comes to saving money. For a long time, I was convinced that there were many more interesting things I could be doing with my money, rather than hiding it away where it would never come out to play.
Things have changed.
For one, I [...]