Given the current state of the economy, people may not always have extra money to spend on dating. This in turn forces them to either stop dating altogether, or come up with creative dating ideas that do not cost a fortune. If the recession is taking a toll on your dating life, these recession dating tips may offer you some help.

Catch the Early Movie

If you and your date want to see a movie, you may want to consider attending one in the afternoon. Most movie theaters offer matinee prices until early evening, which are considerably lower than later shows’ prices. Early movies are also a great idea if dinner is going to be a part of your date. You and your date will be much less likely to purchase pricey popcorn and snacks at the theater if a delicious dinner is in the works.

Watch for Dining Promotions

Anyone who has eaten at a restaurant knows that dining out can be very expensive. Luckily, many popular casual dining chains offer promotions that make dining out much more affordable. Watch for promotions that offer two dinners for one low price, or a 3-course dinner for the price of one regular entrée. It is a good idea to check the websites of your favorite restaurants. You will not only find out about the latest promotions, but you may find coupons that will save you money as well. It can also save you money to dine out earlier in the day when lunch prices are still in effect. This is because lunch prices are normally lower than dinner prices.

Have a Picnic

Having a picnic is a great way to spend some alone time with your date and save money. By packing your own food and drinks, you will avoid paying high restaurant prices. Pick a place that both you and your date enjoy, then eat, drink, and chat the day away. If you and your date enjoy hiking, you may think about incorporating a picnic into your hike.

Attend a Semi-Pro Sporting Event

Professional sporting events can be extremely pricey to attend. If you and your date are sports fans, why not consider attending a semi-pro or even local sporting event?  Semi-pro and local sports can be just as exciting as pro sports, but they are typically very reasonable in cost. Many sporting events offer free admission once the game has begun, so that is something to check into as well.

Attend a Local Music Show

Music fans know that concerts at large venues have gotten ridiculously expensive. If you and your date enjoy the music scene, find out if there are any smaller shows taking place at local venues. Local bars and clubs often host bands and artists that are just starting out. This is turn makes their shows much more affordable.

Skip Dinner and Go for Dessert

For a fun, yummy, and cheap date, skip dinner altogether and get dessert. You will have the experience of dining out without the large bill. Eat dinner before you go on your date, then pick a place that serves tasty desserts. Perhaps you and your date could get some coffee with your dessert as well. Even so, your bill will be much more affordable than if you got a large meal.

Rent a Movie

For a fun night in, rent a movie that both you and your date would like to see or that you both enjoy. You will save a great deal of money by avoiding the movie theater. Pick up some microwave popcorn, candy, and beverages to make your night in complete.

Visit a Farmer’s Market and Make Dinner Together

If you and your date enjoy cooking, consider visiting a local farmer’s market. There you can purchase fresh, local ingredients that can be used to prepare a yummy dinner. Not only are farmer’s markets fun to visit, but their prices are usually very reasonable. After you and your date select fresh ingredients, go home and prepare dinner together.

Just because the recession has made money more of an issue for most people doesn’t mean you can’t have a fun date with someone. If you are looking for some recession dating tips, these ideas are definitely worth a try.

Guest post from Jaime Castle. Jamie writes about dating and dating websites for OnlineDating.org.

The internet can be a great tool for keeping up to date on your bank accounts and shopping. The internet can also be a playground for thieves. There are many people that use the internet to steal your personal information, so it is very important that you protect all of your personal and financial information while using the web. Below are just a few steps to provide yourself with identity theft protection.

Secure Passwords

It seems like every website you visit wants you to set up an account and password. It can be tempting to use the same password for all of your accounts, but this is not a good idea. Each account should have a different password. Your password should be complex and include a variety of different letters, numbers, and characters. It should not contain personal information, like your birth date, address, or the names of your children. You should not save your passwords in your browser. It is much safer to enter your password every time you want to access that website. It is also beneficial to change your passwords every couple of months.

Protect Your Computer

Having the correct security protection for your computer is a necessity. At the bare minimum, you should have virus protection, spyware protection, and a firewall on your computer. Once you have installed these on your computer it is important to keep them up to date, which means you will have to either set up automatic updates or check for updates on a daily basis. Although having these security features on your computer will greatly reduce your risk of being a victim of identity theft, they cannot guarantee complete protection.

Be Secure

One of the simplest ways to protect your personal information online is to hit the log off button on every website before leaving it. This will lessen your risk of someone hacking that site. Another way to protect your information is make sure that you only enter your personal information on secure websites. One way to tell if a website is secure is to check the beginning of the address. If it begins with http: you should not enter any personal or financial information because it is not a secure site. If it begins with https: it will send your information through an encrypted system so that no one else can view it. Another way to tell if you are on secure site is to look for a padlock in the lower right corner, when you click on this lock it should show you the security certificate. You should also remember to close your window completely if you will be away from your computer.

Avoid Public Computers

It is safest to use your own computer and internet when viewing your bank information or shopping online. Public computers could have a program that could capture and save all of your log in information. Many places that offer wireless internet access have lowered security; this is because they have to make it accessible to many different people. By lowering their security, they may be making it easier for someone to steal your information while surfing the web.

If you are thinking of hiring a financial advisor, it is a very wise idea to do a background check on every potential candidate. You want a financial advisor that has no suspicious background or criminal history. If you can, find out if they have a good track record of financial advising as well. After all, this person will be advising you on your financial affairs so you want them to be as trustworthy and honest as possible. Doing a background check on your current or potential financial advisor is really quite simple and only takes a small amount of time.

Use Online Resources

With the ever-growing need for assistance with financial affairs, there are now many websites that exist solely to provide you with information regarding any potential financial advisors. One site, known as AdvisorCheck, has a database containing information on over 1.5 million financial advisors. These advisors personally register with the website, which tells you they are completely disclosed and eager to be researched. This site allows you to perform background checks on financial advisors, giving you a full picture of any issues or complaints in the advisor’s past. These thorough background checks search many areas, and will report any issues found in these areas. Performing these background checks will give you a sense of security and should make choosing the right financial advisor a bit easier.

There are also various websites that are strictly in the business of background checks. These sites provide you with access to government records and quickly show you if a financial advisor has a criminal history. All you have to do is provide the name and any other information you may have pertaining to the advisor. For a fee, these sites will perform a thorough background check in a short amount of time. You may also be able to find sites that offer free background checks.

You can always use a search engine such as Google to pull up any information that may be out there regarding your financial advisor as well. Since the internet is the leading source for news and information, there is a good chance any negative or positive feedback surrounding your financial advisor will be easily be found. Also, check social networking sites such as Facebook and LinkedIn to see if your financial advisor is a member. If they are, you can often find out valuable information from their followers, or from their page itself.

Ask Around

As with many things, the best information and opinions can be found by simply asking around. You should ask your friends and family if they use a financial advisor and who it is. If they are happy with the service they are receiving, they will most likely be happy to refer you to the advisor. If they have any negative information regarding specific financial advisors, they will probably let you know that information as well. You can also try asking business people in your community who they have for a financial advisor. If these business people have certain financial advisors, chances are the advisors are satisfactory and worth looking into.

The bottom line is you should always do some sort of background check on anyone that provides you with personalized financial advice. Background checks do not take a large amount of time, and they provide you with very valuable information. After all, it is better to be safe than sorry.

When you were growing up, your parents probably told you to treat others the way you would like to be treated. This is good advice for all of us, although it can sometimes be hard to follow when our nice gestures seem to fall on an unappreciative general public. However, somewhere that these thoughtful behaviours can have a positive effect is in your financial life.

Instead, think about treating your finances in the way you would like to be treated, and you will find that they return the favour—they will be there for you when you need them, they’ll want to help you achieve your goals, and they’ll be there for you in your golden years. Start by thinking about how you like to be treated, and see how you can apply those behaviours to your finances in the following examples.

Your money likes company

Having space to be alone is always nice, but for the most part we are social creatures and like being able to share our experiences, our thoughts and our feelings with others. Therefore, consider that your money might like company too, so don’t leave it alone on its own.

Make sure you spend time with your finances, and remember to keep depositing more money, to keep your other money company, give it someone to talk to, and of course someone to grow with.

No one likes being ignored

There are few things as insulting or degrading as being ignored – not even warranting a glance or a nod so make sure you don’t ignore your finances. Make the time to monitor and manage your finances to make sure your savings and budgeting plans are on track, and that the accounts and investment options you are using are still the best fit. As you monitor your finances you may see a new opportunity, or find somewhere better to invest or save your money.

Feeling safe and warm

You know the peace of mind which comes with feeling safe and secure, so make sure that your money has that same security, by researching your investment options and financial institutions before making any decisions. The Global Financial Crisis has taught all of us that even the biggest banks can fall, and that stock market investments do carry a significant level of risk. Therefore, before you send your money out there on its own, make sure you research the deposit guarantees of your financial institution, and diversify your portfolios to minimise risk.

Rewards

When you work hard you like to see a good result, and this rewarding feeling for your finances can come in the form of interest. When you choose a high interest savings account for your money, look for a high ongoing interest rate, and bonus interest rates for a certain amount of deposits and no withdrawals. Your reward, and the reward for your finances, will be ongoing high interest income.

Avoid booty calls

Nothing good happens after 2 a.m. and just as you resent being called on in the middle of the night on a drunken impulse, so do your finances. Therefore, avoid splurging all of your cash when you have been drinking, or are out on the town, because you’ll not only regret the headache in the morning, but also the huge withdrawals you’ve made.

Don’t show off to your friends

You wouldn’t want to be treated like a trophy, to be trotted out at social events to prove your partner’s success, only to be forgotten once everyone has gone, so make sure you don’t go spending all of your money just to impress your friends. It can make you feel good to make large purchases or show off new acquisitions to friends who can’t afford them, but treating your money like this is not good for your relationship, and will lead to more frivolous impulse buys.

Celebrate with an occasional treat

While you don’t want to go to a five star restaurant to eat every night, it is nice to be treated once in a while as a reward for your hard work, or just to show appreciation. Therefore, it can be a good idea to take your money out every now and then and use it to buy yourself an affordable treat. This allows you to see results for your efforts and you will be encouraged to be more responsible. It can be hard to give up spending cold turkey, but when you treat yourself occasionally, you can continue to treat your finances well too.

Alban is passionate about personal finance. When he is not busy helping people to find the best home loan, he loves sharing his frugal ideas online.