When I was anticipating my oldest daughter coming of babysitting age, I had dreams of spur-of-the-moment dates with CandyMan on weekday nights. It would be SO easy, and so cheap! No babysitter to schedule, pick up, drop off, and PAY. It would be heaven! We could go on two dates a week, go out to eat just for the fun of it. We planned with two of our friends who also have a teen. We could meet up on a Thursday to grab an ice cream after the kids went to bed.

A year into the reality of it, and we are not going out any more frequently than we used to. Now, I do use KitKat’s babysitting services often (too often, according to her). Next week, she becomes eligible to babysit for other families, and I’ll have to start competing for her time. Or scheduling again. Ugh. There are meetings, shopping trips, things I need to do without 5 kids tagging along. I have loved having a built-in babysitter.

And yet, I rarely get out to eat or go do something fun with CandyMan. For me, it’s all about time. It’s all about the fact that we started a business 16 months ago and have cut back on “fun.” And the fact that my husband works non stop, 7 days a week. Puts a damper on our social life. The juice box jungle widget on my sidebar has been teasing and taunting me this last week as it has flashed reminders of restaurant.com‘s great deals on eating out. Have you tried restaurant.com? I have, and was completely impressed! They regularly email me with fantastic offers. For my birthday, 3 of us we ate out at a really nice place for a grand total of $16. Incredible. If only I could convince my husband to take advantage of them more often.

According to a survey from Juice Box Jungle, 71% of moms say they don’t get out enough. What about you? Do you get out as much as you’d like? When you get out, what do you do? Eat at a restaurant with your spouse, get together with another couple for a double date, or hang out with friends? What would YOU do with unlimited, free babysitting like I have?

Join the discussion in my forum about eating out!

Disclosure: This is a sponsored post from Juice Box Jungle and Restaurant.com. I really, really love them, I really do. They didn’t tell me what to write. It was all the truth. All me.

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1. Mom’s Life-Line: Playdates and Babysitting Co-ops
2. At Least We’ve Got Our Health!
3. What’s for dinner?
4. What’s for dinner?