Economic crisis courting

I was reading an email from Jedi and was reminded of something from when I was dating my wife back in 2001, and how things were like after we got married, right after the economic collapse.
Money was tight, not only because of the economic hell the country was going through, even if you HAD money, you couldn’t get to it because of the corralito, and the withdraw limit imposed.
This got me thinking on how things change when there’s little money, and how you use your imagination to keep dating, courting and keeping your loved one happy.
I’m not exactly Romeo, I’m as romantic as the Internal Revenue Service, but I do have a few tricks:

1) Women want someone that listens to them. Guys are a bit different but come on, we have to make an effort.
You’d be surprised by how many women would tell their friends “Oh, he’s a great listener”…
Careful, you can’t be calculating how much ammo you’ll be needing for the next shooting class, how much you’ll need to spend on it to complete the 600 rounds needed, given that you already had 200 to spare from the previous one, and at today’s prices… NO!
Concentrate a bit, you may think that her explanation of why her best friend was feeling sad the other day is not exactly something you want to pay much attention to, but sometimes they expect you to remember these things.
I know man, I know, it’s an effort but you have to try, its the only way to keep them happy.
Truth is they find most of the stuff we care about uninteresting too. Once after a small argument when my wife caught me mind drifting while she was talking I went to my closet and brought out two pistols. I asked her “Ok honey, maybe I wasn’t listening, but last week I told you about a gun I bought, now tell me, which one is the Beretta and which one is the Bersa, you even shot one of these yourself so, if you pay attention to me, you should know”
After trying to read the slides (I kept the other side visible to hide the brand names) she confessed: “Oh, come on, they are both black and look pretty much the same.”
Gotcha! Of course she doesn’t care why a 9mm is better than a 38 special, she may pretend to be listening, but they do the same thing guys do.
So, be a good listener. It’s free and women appreciate it. At least pretend to be one, at least until you get to know the other person, try learning those little things about her such as favorite flowers, music, style or clothes she likes, sports, etc, etc.
2)Women like expensive stuff, jewelry, watches, clothes, shoes purses, if you have the wallet for it it’s pretty easy to walk into a jewelry store and just buy something. 90% of the time, your loved one will be very pleased. Careful! Sometimes even though you spend a lot of money women usually prefer a certain type of jewelry, certain kind of metal color or stones, more hippie style or more classic precious metals. Take a look at what she wears and try to match the style. Also, apply point 1). I once dated a girl that like dolphins. I remembered that she mentioned that and bought her a gold chain and little gold dolphin pendant. She loved it, + bonus points for me. :)
3) Some flowers are more expensive than others, but they are generally cheap, and you don’t need 10 pounds worth of flowers, just a few that smell really well. Roses are generally more expensive, but do some research, maybe her favorite kind isn’t roses and they aren’t that expensive. If you don’t know, just go for the popular season flower, it’s usually not expensive and will still look very nice.
No need for a special occasion to buy your girl flowers. Women will appreciate the surprise. Others like bonbons but flowers are more typical.
4)After we got married we had little money, lived in an apartment and things were complicated, so we didn’t go out at all.
For a valentines day I got some fresh bread, cheese, cured meat, small bottle of champagne, some candles and a cloth sheet to sit on. We didn’t even have grass to sit on so we had our picnic on the top of the building. It was pretty romantic, and got me a fair number of bonus points :)
5) Then you have those little things, like small letters telling how much you love her, buying small inexpensive trinkets just because.
One thing I did once was write “I love you” in a pie I was baking. It’s one of those little things women really like.
6) You can always surprise your loved one with a 2 or 3 day surprise trip, according to time availability. Some weekend hotel packs are cheap, if not you can ask a friend or relative to loan you a summer house for a couple days, or at least rent it to you for a fair price.
Some home owners try to make a few extra bucks after the holyday season, so you might find a nice deal by making some phone calls.

There’s lots of other things, but this can give you a few ideas.

FerFAL