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Psychology Of Money

Is Online Dating The New Night Out?

Allison Kade
Allison Kade
Posted on Jan 26, 2011

Everyone we know has at least tried online dating at some point, and we’ll admit that we’ve dabbled, too. The dating landscape has totally changed even in the past year or two ago. Whereas online dating used to be all about furtive confessions and trying not to seem lame, the game has changed.

Hip web 2.0 startups like HowAboutWe have gone a long way to remove the old taboos, and, let’s face it, the whole thing is kind of fun. Last year, we compared some of the most popular dating sites back-to-back to figure out which give the best bang for the buck. This time around, we want to know: How have our finances reacted to this movement online?

If Only We Could Filter The Bar By People Who Like Puppies And Fine Dining.

Although some of the best online dating sites charge fees, taking a more targeted approach means that we don’t need to lurk around bar scenes so much in order to make eye contact with someone we like. To settle the debate, we spoke with two readers, one who met her current significant other at a bar when she was out with her friends, and another who found hers through online dating. For privacy, we’ll call the first one Sara and the second one Emily.

Case Study: Sara And The Dive Bar.

Sara had been actively looking for someone to date for close to a year. She told us that, although she goes out with friends for fun, she was going to bars and clubs more often than usual to try to meet someone. Finally, she met someone she truly clicked with at friend’s birthday celebration at a local bar. In the meantime, she’d been going out about twice a week with friends. After a beer or two at trivia night and a cocktail or two over the weekend, she was spending close to $40 per week, or $160 per month—for about ten months.

Case Study: Emily And The Internet.

Emily, meanwhile, decided to try out online dating as an experiment. She signed up for just three months to try it out, at $23 per month. Since she was going out on a bunch of first dates that way, she didn’t feel so pressured to try to meet people at bars. Instead, she just went out about once a week with friends, purely for fun, generally spending about $20 per week for two drinks. “It was nice,” she says, “to feel like I was being proactive in getting what I wanted, without constantly having to scope out every scene or go out even when I was feeling tired.” In total, she was spending just over $100 per month for both online dating and going out with friends—and she met someone toward the end of her three-month stint.

Results: If You Really Want To Find Someone, Online Is Where It’s At.

Although spending over $20 per month in order to get dates may seem a little over the top, the internet can actually be the less expensive option if you’re serious about what you want. If you’re concerned about money, you can always try a free site like Ok Cupid, though we’ve heard more mixed results than for other sites like Match. Our current favorite is HowAboutWe, which lets you find people by the type of date they propose (ensuring from the get-go that your dates won’t be too lame). It also happens to be one of the cheaper ones—$12 per month if you sign up for 6 months at a time, or $18 per month if you sign up for 3 months.

Whichever site you choose, the fact that everyone is heading online means not only that the taboo has lifted, but also that there are plenty of interesting, normal people on those sites. In summary, we’re all for it.

Our next pressing question: In this modern era, who pays on a date? Keep your eyes out; this article will find its way to your inbox in the coming weeks.

A Special Deal For LearnVest Readers.

HowAboutWe is offering LV readers 50% off subscription services–just enter code “learnvest” at checkout.

Additionally, if you are already a Match.com user, HowAboutWe will offer you 3 months of service for free as an incentive to switch over.

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  • Online Dating Success Story

    Ok, I admit it: I met my boyfriend through eHarmony. We have been dating over a year and he is amazing. This is the best relationship I have ever been in, and we are constantly surprised by how well we match up on values, personality, etc. I was only on eHarmony for a couple months; he had tried Match.com as well but was unimpressed. nnI would second what you guys said in the first article, “Remember That You Get What You Pay For. If youu2019re really looking for a serious relationship, however, consider that those people who are paying for a service are perhaps more likely to be willing to establish a long-term monogamous relationship.”nnI am a big fan of online dating now, though I still think it’s ideal to meet through friends, a common interest, etc. The biggest thing I learned from it is that it’s just another way to meet people. One of my friends is hesitant to try it, and I can’t help but think, “You don’t want to say you bet your bf online, but you would happily say you met at a bar?!”

  • Eris

    If you’re spending $40/week, you’re averaging more than $160 per month. There are 52 weeks in the year, which means that you’re spending an average of $2,080 per year. Divide that by 12, and you get an average of $173. nnYour point still stands, but I think that if you’re going to teach people about money, you should be more precise.

    • http://twitter.com/amkade Allison Kade

      Hi Eris,nnPoint taken, though we decided that a back-of-the-envelope calculation was sufficient in this case, since excessive precision in terms of the numbers we present may provide the false impression of specificity (cue middle school lecture on significant figures). nnOf course, the more accurate average is $173, but who’s to say that Sara went out every single week, without fail (including the holidays, if we’re going for 52 weeks)? Who’s to say she spent precisely the same amount each time? Who’s to say that some weeks she didn’t go out once and other weeks she’d go out three times? The idea here is to gain a general sense of money spent and which avenue is more worthwhile, not to become mired in the specifics. nnI totally see where you’re coming from and I appreciate your attention to detail in this case. Nonetheless, in writing this article we were concerned that presenting a number that’s too “sharp” like $173 may provide readers with the false sense that, if they go the meeting-someone-at-a-bar route, they’ll end up spending $173 because this was somehow calculated precisely–we only want to provide a general sense so that we can compare the options. nnThanks for weighing in!nnBest,nAllisonnEditor @ LV

      • Cirocco7

        Allison, as the author of this article if *you’re* posing those same questions in the comments then it doesn’t say much about your article. You should have been prepared for such objections within the text of the original article and framed them in an engaging way. That’s your obligation as the writer.

    • Terifontes

      anal

  • http://onlinedatingranking.net Jerry Johnson

    is this a blog or a promo / ad? you need to put ftc disclaimers.

  • http://yangutu.com  Dating

    ​Even by the standards of the press releases that infiltrate Fork in the Road’s inbox, this one is fairly remarkable. It seems that the owners of the Just Salad chain have introduced an online dating service for people who claim to like their salads

  • http://yangutu.com  Dating

    ​Even by the standards of the press releases that infiltrate Fork in the Road’s inbox, this one is fairly remarkable. It seems that the owners of the Just Salad chain have introduced an online dating service for people who claim to like their salads