It began as a simple invitation to a murder mystery dinner with my sister. As both of us have partners who aren’t always available to go with us on outings, we were often left lamenting that we never had a date to go with us. What is a functionally single person to do? It isn’t much fun to go to such events by yourself, when everyone else is paired up. Who do you talk to? Whose hand to you grab to dance with? In this case, it was a murder mystery dinner hosted by Mount Hope. We both wanted to go, but who to go with? It’s so hard to go out places by yourself! The one looked at the other and slyly said “well, you have a sister.” To which the other replied, “So it’s a date?” Thus was born sister dates. The intent of them became trying new things and finding interesting events to experience. Usually they happen once a month, sometimes more, sometimes less and rarely do we do the same thing twice. Almost all of them were within a two or three hour drive from our home and under $100 for two.
One day in reflecting and cataloging our sister dates, I realized that I had without really trying been ticking off my internal bucket list. It wasn’t a list I had written down necessarily or would have called a bucket list at the time. It was that I was finally doing the things I had wanted to do since I was young. What was surprising was that I was doing them right in my own backyard and for surprisingly not a whole lot of money. When thinking about adventures and things I wanted to do or experience, I always had this conception that they could only be achieved with tons of money and by travel. Instead, I was ticking them off in an afternoon, less than a few hours from home and with only a little money in my pocket.
I have been thinking about starting this blog for a while mostly to combat the constant stream of influencers and advertisers trying to sell us the same lie I had believed. The truth is, their perfect Instagram life is false. The places they go aren’t these pristine isolated places of relaxation and enjoyment. They are often overcrowded and stressful. The exclusive experiences that can only be found in those far flung places, are actually not all that exclusive and can often be found right where you live. This blog is to categorize my own bucket list adventures and to help you discover your own. Hopefully, we can begin to live life fully and richly.
Budget Bliss: Bucket List 