What is the monetary cost of swinging for you?

[northindycpl]

It seems Mr. Indy and I have been going out a lot more than usual and it is getting expensive.

Example:
(Saturday night)
Drinks $22.00
Dinner $85.00
Liquor/mixes/wine for club $68.00
Door Fees $50
Hotel room $125.00
Breakfast $22.00

Saturday evening cost us $342.00 not to mention the gas for the SUV that we drive was probably another $25.

That is what we spent last Saturday. We have gone out every Saturday in March and spent approximately the same amount. (give or take a hotel room)
We don't play everytime we go out, and we don't get a room every time we go out. But I have begun to see it really add up.

Mr. Indy and I had a thought about renting a 2 bedroom apartment for the year, and split it among our group. We could all sorta be the renters of it. We could share the expense, etc.. We have some very, very nice ones in great little buildings for about $400 per month, including basic utilities. What more would we need put food and I am sure I have enough furniture in my basement to fill it.

Has anyone ever thought of this, or tried this before? Has it worked? Is it a bad/good idea?

Should I just forget about it and chaulk it up to the cost of swinging?

[BiDrywallChick]

actually, we have done this before. We rented a small loft at the beach when we were in NC and split the rent with people that we knew would use the place. We did come out cheaper in the long run. For us it was a double bonus because as long as no one was already making use of it, we could also use it for more vanilla activities as well. Just be sure that it will be a financial bonus not burden in the long run.

[Vespertine]

Originally Posted by northindycpl

Saturday evening cost us $342.00 not to mention the gas for the SUV that we drive was probably another $25.

That is what we spent last Saturday. We have gone out every Saturday in March and spent approximately the same amount.

If you're spending about $350. each Saturday night, you might want to think of renting a $400. appartment regardless if anyone chips in or not. You'll be saving about $1100. a month by doing so.

[Mrs Spoomonkey]

The cost is why we like having a local club where our only expense is a 6 pack, and club fees. If we meet a couple or single, the club has rooms so no hotel. Also, we strive to make friends not just have one time hits so at that point we have our friends to our house for dinner, drinks and whatever happens

Our biggest expense I guess comes from the internet meetings since you have to meet for drinks and/or dinner and usually more than once but other than that we try to go the way I mentioned above to eliminate some of the bigger more costly lifestyle expenses.

If you have a group of trusted friends I don't see why the apartment idea wouldn't work. I would just suggest really thinking it through and try to cover all the "what if's" before jumping into it.

Mrs Spoomonkey

[Vespertine]

Originally Posted by Mrs Spoomonkey

Also, we strive to make friends not just have one time hits so at that point we have our friends to our house for dinner, drinks and whatever happens

That doesn't work out too well for those of us with young children at home.

I envy you, Spoomonkeys!

[BiDrywallChick]

Originally Posted by Vespertine

That doesn't work out too well for those of us with young children at home.

I envy you, Spoomonkeys!

lol yup yup! We dont bring people to the house for that very reason. We have only 1 couple that we would ever have at the house. That is because we have known each other for 9 years almost. The kids know them as aunt and uncle. I wish they lived closer... damn military

[DBL D]

Well our boat (see "Hole In The Water") costs us $350.00/mo., whether we use it or not. If we take it out and burn fuel it's more than that.

northindycpl: maybe you should atart entertaining in your car.

Maybe there's a swinging couple who'd like to become partners in ownership of a boat.

But then again...There would always the scheduling of the craft. Well, maybe we'll just have to "use" it more often. facelick

Male D

[JustAskJulie]

You'll still end up going out to dinner before the club - however, you may save on drinks beforehand and breakfast in the morning. You may want to think about cheaper dinner options too. But even just based on getting a room a couple of nights a month, if you split it with another couple or two it would be worth it... and it could be a lot of fun if you all got up and did breakfast togetehr at the apt on Sunday morning.

When I lived in MI, we had some friends we stayed with whenever we went to Detroit for a party or club (often the parties were at their place). We'd always stay there and all go out for breakfast saturday morning, but even if we'd stayed in, there was just always something fun about those Saturday morning brunches with a group of friends.

Basically, it could add a whole new level of fun to your weekends, and you would have it around for any other times you wanted to play if you prefer not to play at home.

But, really, if it's just about saving $$ I think that you could probably find other ways to cut your swinging budget.

Does your club hold bottles for you? (IE. can you leave your bottles of alchohol there for use the next time you go?), or do you basically have to buy fresh liquor every weekend (since most of us dont like carrying open containers around in our cars). I know some clubs do this and some don't.

[JnCC]

Originally Posted by northindycpl

It seems Mr. Indy and I have been going out a lot more than usual and it is getting expensive.

Example:
(Saturday night)
Drinks $22.00
Dinner $85.00
Liquor/mixes/wine for club $68.00
Door Fees $50
Hotel room $125.00
Breakfast $22.00

Saturday evening cost us $342.00 not to mention the gas for the SUV that we drive was probably another $25.

Well, drinks, dinner, and breakfast ($129) are all the cost of getting laid (if you're single) or taking your wife out for a night on the town (if you're married).

$125 for a hotel room seems kinda pricey. I typically pay a weekend rate between $60-80 and get some pretty decent rooms. Of course, the real answer is to attend clubs that will let you stay overnight.

As for liquor, if you're drinking up $68.00 worth of it in one evening, you don't need to pay for a hotel room or door fees. You're going to be spending most the evening wherever you happen to be when the booze hits you, most likely in the john...

[Botcpl]

It costs $ to have a good time.

Ms Botcpl and I can easily go through $ 80-100 for dinner & drinks for just the two of us.

Second homes, like boats, are only worth it if you use them. Out here, a one bedroom apartment would run about $850/mo or more. The nice things about boats is you can move your apartment around.

P

[northindycpl]

Originally Posted by JustAskJulie

Does your club hold bottles for you? (IE. can you leave your bottles of alchohol there for use the next time you go?), or do you basically have to buy fresh liquor every weekend (since most of us dont like carrying open containers around in our cars). I know some clubs do this and some don't.

I wish they did! Clubs around here to my knowledge will not. In addition, my father-in-law (lives with us full time) is a recovering alcoholic and I don't bring booze into our house any more.

We end up donating what we don't drink to other couples, or throw it out at the end of the night. Ususally we get a bottle of wine and vodka/tonic or gin/tonic. I guess we could drink cheaper?

If we had water anywhere nearby, the boat Idea is good one!

I will keep looking into it!

[TNT]

No matter what kind of hobby it is, it can get expensive.

Ted and I used to spend a LOT of money traveling 2+ hours to the closest club around, it always entailed getting a hotel room and the food, gas, club fees, etc...We now only make it to the club a few times a year and spend most of our out-time at the local socials. Even with the socials being close enough that no room is required, it still gets expensive.

Unless we are meeting someome for dinner before the social, we will usually eat at home, then the only expense we have is our drinks for the night and the entry fee, which makes our night out less than about 60 bucks...if we are planning on playing the cost of a hotel room is added into that.

The room cost is what gets us the most as with children still living at home, can't bring people here, not to mention we live approximately an hour from both of the towns that the socials are held in and not many people would want to drive an hour after a night of partying to the boonies for some play.

If we had a permanent room somewhere we would get to play a lot more than we do now and have looked into different options. Our latest idea has been a camper and we have looked into getting one and setting it up permanently at one of the local camp grounds. The cost of the camper payment per month and camp ground fees would be cheaper than the cost of a room two nights a month. We still have made no decisions, but then again we're in no big hurry to either.

If you get creative you can find ways to cut costs and still have a wonderful time.

Teresa

[JustAskJulie]

Ya know, I really want an RV and I think it could be the perfect answer to this....

[VegasLee]

An RV works perfect. We have a couple that is are good friends and they take their RV and travel all over the U.S. to swing clubs. If you get one Julie you can park it in my driveway.

Dinner $85 plus $22 in drinks plus another $68 for club drinks?

Laura and I go out to nice restraunts here in Vegas. Nice Mexican dinner with drinks, $28 total for the two of us. Nice prime rib dinner with drinks less then $40 for the two of us.

She drinks, I don't. We each have our place in all this. (I do the driving) Even what we take to the club costs about $20 for her and that lasts a few nights and she drinks nice rum.

[northindycpl]

Maybe I should buy cheaper wine? I have to say that it doesn't seem like we actually have that much booze, but when you look at what we spent, wow.

The $22 for the drinks before dinner was for my martini and a beer for the MR. Does that price seem too high to you guys?

I would love to do the RV thing. We have thought about renting one with another couple and traveling across the country going to clubs, and seeing the sites.

When the kids get older I guess.