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I tracked 47 free dates in Austin over 5 months and only 3 were actually free
My partner and I set out to prove you can have fun without spending money, so we logged every date night from March to July and wrote down the real cost. Turns out the "free" museum day still cost $18 in parking, the hike needed $22 in gas, and the picnic added $31 at the grocery store. Only 3 of the 47 nights came out to $0, and they were all walks around the neighborhood plus a movie from the library. I'm not saying cheap dates are a scam, but the small stuff adds up faster than people admit. What's the one hidden cost that keeps sneaking into your "free" hangouts?
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johnflores4d ago
Wait, I have to push back on one thing here. You said the hike cost $22 in gas, but that's not really the date's cost, that's just the cost of getting there, which you'd burn either way if you drove somewhere. Same deal with the parking on museum day. If you two would have gone out to eat or seen a movie instead, you're still paying to park or driving there. The real hidden cost people miss is the stuff you buy just because you're out, like a coffee on the walk or snacks at the trailhead. That $31 grocery run for the picnic is the one that actually counts as new spending. The gas and parking feel like date costs but they're really just life costs that show up no matter what you do that night. Not trying to nitpick your whole experiment, because the overall point about small stuff adding up is totally fair. I just see people lumping in gas like it only exists on date night, and that math makes free stuff look worse than it is.
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