One of the things that works to keep relationships
alive is spending quality time with each other. In this day of the
information age, it is becoming increasingly difficult to carve out the
necessary time to nurture our relationships. What with long work hours,
helping kids with their homework, transporting them around to their
extracurricular activities, getting dinner, cleaning up and going
through the bedtime routine, what time is left?

Unless
you orchestrate the time for your relationship, other less important
things will crowd in and take what precious little time you do have.
Pick a night that will be “date night” with your partner and make a
game out of being as creative as you can be. Try to see how many things
you can do without spending money.

To
get you started, I’ve come up with some suggestions to help you for the
next year. What follows are 13 ideas for how to spend creative time
together without spending money every week this autumn. Feel free to add or modify any of the
items on the list to suit your particular relationship and
circumstances.

Autumn

1. Go for a drive together.
2. Go window shopping.
3. Incorporate
   food into your love making—chocolate syrup, whipped cream, fondue,
   strawberries—anything you and your partner enjoy.
4. Call or write to someone you haven’t had contact with in a while.
5. Cook something together.
6. Spend
   an evening just talking with each other. Talk about the things you have
   done, plans you have for the future, important people in your lives or
   current events.
7. Take a bubble bath together.
8. Go to a free movie or museum.
9. Take a drive and find the potential in old houses and their properties.
10. Create an imaginary story together—either orally or in written form.
11. Take turns being each other’s genie in a bottle by fulfilling your partner’s every wish and fantasy.
12. Play in the fallen leaves.
13. Create an exciting scavenger hunt that ends in your bed.

Certainly you don’t have to follow my suggestions. Feel
free to add your own or to repeat your favorites as often as you’d
like.

The main point is not to see how
kinky you can get. The idea is to keep your relationship alive by
making time together a priority. It is important that you find things
to do as a couple that you can both enjoy. If you have vastly different
interests then you can enter this with the spirit of taking turns and
each agree to happily participate in the activity chosen by the one
whose turn it is that week.

As long as
you make a habit of making your relationship a priority and allocating
time each week for rejuvenation of the feelings that attracted you in
the first place, then you stand a good chance of staying together for
the long haul.

Please don’t let
insidious boredom enter into your relationship through the back door.
This is what frequently happens when we are busy placing other things
ahead of our time for each other. You know what I mean—the job, the
kids, our friend in crisis, etc. There will always be a competing
interest for the time you’ve set aside for each other.

Other
than natural disasters, threat of death or major crises, do not allow
your time together to be invaded by any outside forces. Make sure to
create opportunities for you to do things together without outside
influence. With more than 50% of today’s marriages ending in divorce,
make this small investment in the longevity of your relationship. You
have nothing to lose and everything to gain. What’s stopping you? Start
today.

If you try any of these suggestions or have creative suggestions to add to the list, please let me know.