If Your Days Really Were Numbered…

Forget the apocalypse, if we keep modelling our relationships on celebrity marriages and chasing sky-high Hollywood rom-com expectations, we’re all doomed.

How to: Support your partner when they’re stressed

It’s moving week. I told you all about it a few weeks ago – how I was expecting to be tired, at my wit’s end and neck deep in boxes by now.
Well, I’m all that.
And to add to the fun, all the expected relationship stress has peaked this week as well.
So now [...]

A Million Years Ago

If you’re anything like me, you love to look in the past – at the good times and the bad. I love going back to what feels like a million years ago to remember who has been involved in my life and who is no longer a part of it. I know they say never [...]

Supporting Your Partner Through Times of Stress

It’s moving week. I told you all about it a few weeks ago – how I was expecting to be tired, at my wit’s end and neck deep in boxes by now.
Well, I’m all that.
And to add to the fun, all the expected relationship stress has peaked this week as well.

So now [...]

How to Impress the Parents

“How soon is too soon to meet the parents?” someone asked the other day.
My friend E would probably argue that you should at least be dating the guy before you have to make that decision.
She turned up at a – ahem – friend’s house late one night for what was, by all accounts, [...]

Who Lies About Money?

The very clever team at Deals.com has come up with this cute-as-ten-buttons visual representation of Love & Money based on some recent findings… just in time for Valentine’s Day!
Money is one of those Big Things that couples argue most about. You only have to look below to see that no matter if you’re doing it [...]

Date Ideas and The Circle

It’s been quite the day! I joined the lovely crew of The Circle on Network Ten here in Australia to chat all things date night, cheap dates and more… unfortunately we were cut off just at the end by a press conference covering the Tropical Cyclone Yasi events overnight – what a news day!
Thankfully everyone [...]

Can You Define Romance?

Everyone’s got a different idea of romance…
lets take Valentine’s Day for example. It’s around the corner (only a few weeks away) and it’s pimped out as the MOST romantic day of the year.
Whether you accept it or not, that is how most of us feel.
In a perfect world what would your partner do for you [...]

Co-dependent Couples

My parents are one of those couples who have to do EVERYTHING together! There are exceptions such as shopping or running errands, but on whole they won’t spend a night apart and heaven forbid if they’re going to travel without the other person.
Most times I find this cute; it makes me feel like they’ve [...]

Revenge: A Dish Best Served Cold

Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned…
And it does seem to be the women that are particularly good at exacting revenge.
It’s easy to fly into a temper when your partner does something wrong by you. Something really wrong, I mean. Like cheating. Lying. Stealing.
Any damage to the ego seems to result in calls [...]

All You Need to Know About Gift-Giving

In one of our many, many differences, Den doesn’t come from a big gift giving family while I come from The Biggest gift giving family you’ve ever seen.
In fact, when Den and I met he was quick to tell me that he doesn’t “do” presents. For the first birthday I had when we were friends/sleeping [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

Why We Love, Why We Cheat

In the midst of researching for my new ebook, I came across this great presentation given by Dr. Helen Fisher at the 2006 Ted Conference. We love Dr. Fisher’s research and I don’t know how this particular clip has eluded me for four years now.
In it, she explains the brain chemistry of the stages [...]

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 [...]

Delight Your Partner with Inexpensive Nothings

Ahh… whispering sweet nothings is lovely, but handing over a sweet littIe gift to your partner for no reason whatsoever will melt them to a puddle of goo in a second.
As you know, we’re all about relationships with intent here at $30 Date Night. Break your usual routine and make your partner’s day by buying [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

For Men: How to Buy Lingerie for Your Sweetie

Today’s post is written by the saucy Bra Queen, who knows more about lingerie than anyone I know!
Valentine’s Day is coming and you’re probably thinking about what a con the whole shebang is. To be honest? You’re probably right. But any man worth his weight in gold would want to Va-va-VOOM his Valentine. Blow her [...]

Denis! You can’t be friends with your Ex-Girlfriend!

I’m friends with an ex – well she wasn’t technically a girlfriend, just someone I knocked socks with for quite some time.
We weren’t always friends… around the time I began knocking socks with Emma the Ex walked out of my life – not because of Emma, just cause it was time to let that [...]

How to Survive the Festive Season Together

Love it or hate it, there’s no escaping the festive season. And it’s approaching fast!
For some, it’s dreams of a white Christmas in front of yule logs, singing carols and trimming the tree… a lot of the time though, the stress of the holidays can result in heated arguments, crappy presents and trying to mesh [...]

Are You and Your Sweetie Speaking the Same Love Language?

It turns out, Denis and I are not speaking the same Love Language… in fact, our Love Languages are so different that Denis might as well talk to me in Klingon for all the good it does to get through, and likewise right back at him.
The Love Language theory was developed by a lovely [...]

Do Soulmates Exist?

I got thinking about this after reading a recent guest post on Mamamia… Do soulmates exist?
I think… I think so, but I think there is more than just one other true soul mate out there for everyone. Like maybe there’s a certain – batch – of people that we are somehow connected to. The ones [...]

“Some People are Just Happier in a Relationship”

I know I’m one of those people. Last time I was single, I gave myself a horrible haircut, dyed my hair a different (hideous) colour and promptly stacked on 10 kilos (that’s 20 pound in American-speak) which was quite the feat considering I was training in dance for hours per week… I was the exact [...]

What are the Best Breakup Songs?

I recently found an old friend I’d all but forgotten: my Missy Higgins The Sound of White album. This album and I go way back. It got me through a hideous breakup with hours of cathartic sobbing, crying and feeling generally sorry for myself. I had it on repeat for months and months…

Do you [...]

How to Make a Love Map

In our spring clean-up this week (more on that later), I unearthed a file of papers from when Den and I did our pre-marriage education weekend earlier this year. In Australia, these weekends are generally a prerequisite for marrying in any given church – though after being pleasantly surprised by the genuinely great information we [...]

Do Opposites Really Attract?

Den and I, we’re not much alike in many of our behaviors. That is to say, we definitely were not much alike when we first met, but over the years I think we have softened each other away from our extreme opposite behaviors… we’re becoming more and more similar all the time – to the [...]

Planning Holidays Together

Coming up to summertime in Australia, it’s about that time of year we should be planning our Christmas holidays if we want even a chance at securing a good holiday house, hotel or destination… or even securing a good bunch of people to holiday with.

I’m not actually sure if we will take a holiday [...]

Time Apart Does NOT Mean Break Up!

I love Emma more than anything in the world – but time apart does wonders for the soul!
I’ve just come back from 7 days in the snow… with friends, mostly couples, but there was no Emma. One of the partners asked where she was – I replied with “we’re spending some time apart.”
Ok, [...]

How Much Time Do Couples Spend Together?

Wow – what a week! Spring has kicked off here in Melbourne with a plethora of gourmet food and high end fashion events and Den and I have barely seen each other since last Wednesday! (oh, and I’m obliged to do that thing here that EVERY blog advice site you read tells you NOT to [...]

Is ‘Happily Married’ Unfashionable?

I just stumbled across this wonderful article by Aaron Traister: It’s hot! It’s sexy! It’s… marriage!
Traister writes:
My wife and I have been married anywhere from seven to 150 years (I’m not good with dates). During those years we have moved six times, and each move was like an exotic gift that happened to be covered [...]

How to Be Romantic in Modern Times

I don’t know about you, but I find these days that romance can be so clichéd. True, some elements of romance will never go out of fashion. Candles will always be beautiful, the right music will always set the mood… flowers will always soften hearts.
But modern times come with a heavy lashing of cynicism. [...]

My Friends are BANANAS!!!

I don’t get it… I spent the better part of last night having a discussion about relationship problems with a friend of mine.
One comment made was that his partner actually said “you never do anything spontaneous or take me out anywhere anymore – simple things like going for a hike!”
I almost fell off [...]

The 5 Top Reasons NOT to do Date Night

Den and I have been doing our weekly date nights for about a year now. It did take awhile to get into the swing of things, but once we hit our stride, we didn’t look back. A week without date night feels strange… we are disconnected, we get snippy at each other, we don’t get [...]