People always ask me and my husband why we don't just get a sitter and go out. The answer is simple. It's just too expensive.

Consider this- the average babysitter makes $15 an hour per kid. So, if we got a sitter for let's say five hours so that we had time to go to dinner and then catch a movie, we'd be looking at paying the sitter $75, paying around $40 for a meal, and another $36 to go to the movies, for a grand total of $151. Add in a second kid, and the babysitter would be getting paid $150, bringing our total out of pocket for a kid free dinner and movie to $226.

I love my husband, but neither of us even make $30 an hour which is what the date night cost per hour would be, so to pay out that much for five hours with him doesn't make a whole lot of financial sense. I'm not saying that spending time with your spouse isn't a great idea- I'm just saying tossing out that kind of money isn't for our family.

Several of the studios that produce movies are starting to understand that people aren't willing, or able to spend copious amounts of money to see their movies, and so they're thinking about giving people the chance to watch new movies at home two weeks or so after the movie has hit theater screens.

From what I've read, it sounds like it'll be pretty expensive to watch a movie at home- we're talking $30 to $50, but if you think about it this way- for two adults to go to the theater, the average cost is $36, so the prices aren't really that off.

The only downside to watching movies at home? No movie theater popcorn with extra butter.

[via Variety]

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