Costs of a New Love

Madame X from My Open Wallet posted a great, reflective post about the Costs of a New Relationship.

I am totally with her on this post. The cost of a long-distance significant other is pretty daunting.

– Phone calls: Use Skype as much as you can, it’ll be worth the investment especially if you buy a cheap webcam or have iSight installed on your newer MacBooks, but beware, it behaves strangely on Macs.

– Travel: This is a huge chunk. I try and do my visits booking ahead of time so that way I really know how much it all costs, but then you get these odd days where you’re like: OOOO! I can travel up there TONIGHT instead of tomorrow afternoon… But then you realize the cost of the one-way ticket is almost the cost of the round trip, and you have to weigh the pros of cons (and whether or not you can afford it), of travelling up earlier so you can have an additional night with your lover, or sucking it up and waiting about 15 hours.

Guess which one *I* picked? ๐Ÿ˜›

– Dinners: This one, I’ve saved a bit on, because we actually stay in most of the time and cuddle, which I really, really love. We also cook more together at home, and watch TV, so that’s always nice. We don’t do the bar scene, or the restaurant scene because we’d rather spend time together in the kitchen, making a meal instead of waiting in a restaurant.

– Outings: I’m not really a fan of going out for the sake of going out, and he isn’t either. So our “outings” are going to run errands like buying toiletries, picking up electronics, checking out new bedsheets, etc. I’m all right with that because we get to go out… but we spend the money on things he actually needs instead of going out for the sake of going out.

Also, taking walks in the park is quite nice, but is a bit frosty for that right now.

– Presents: Ugh, I just posted about this, with the unexpected Valentine’s day cost, and now apparently I’m going to be f*cked with getting my monthly this weekend. Great. ๐Ÿ™‚ Stupid body. ๐Ÿ˜›

Can anyone think of anything else?

Long distance relationships are DEFINITELY more expensive.

But hopefully it won’t stay too long as a long distance relationship and things will work out for the best.

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About the Author

Just a girl trying to find a balance between being a Shopaholic and a Saver. I cleared $60,000 in 18 months earning $65,000 gross/year. Now I am self-employed, and you can read more about my story here, or visit my other blog: The Everyday Minimalist.