Hello senior moustachians,
I'm currently wondering about a moustachian topic, and would love to read your experiences and thoughts.
So I moved to a new city some months ago. My current situation is a moustachian dream. I can bike to work, it is totally acceptable to bring your lunch and the rent is much cheaper than in my old city. Plus, the city is big enough for a nice cultural life, has a stunning old town and many more advantages.
I've been on the quest of finding new friends here over the last months, and have done pretty well *yay* there is also one girl whom I feel I could connect with very well, and we've been meeting several times for girls' night out. Now she suggested we have a double date and go to a restaurant with her husband and my boyfriend. The problem: she suggested to go to a nice steak restaurant, that will cost at least 25€ per person. I love steak and I love restaurants, but it just bothers me that we could easily meet at home, I could make the same meal and it would cost maybe 30€ for the 4 of us (steak, baked potato, sour cream, salad, bottle of wine). I decided to go this one time and to just enjoy it, but I'm thinking about how I could change that in the future.
In my old city, I gradually persuaded my friends to cook at home and to sports together for free, go for a walk, for a free museum and so on. But it took some time and it was easier because my old city was so expensive.
As I don't know what their motivation here is to visit restaurants so frequently as this girl and her husband apparently do. But I don't want to build a friendship around spending huge amounts at restaurants or bars and we all can cook well.
So what would you do? Just plain tell her I'm saving money to invest or to buy a house and therefore decided restaurants are for special occasions only? Suggest an alternative every time a restaurant visit is the plan? Go to the restaurants and just order soup every time?
I really like to build a friendship, but need a plan not to let it ruin my finances.
Any ideas?