A free concert festival is coming up for in Raleigh called Hopscotch.

The event will be called Hopscotch and will occur from September 9th-11th in multiple indoor music venues in Downtown Raleigh as well as a big “main stage” presence in City Plaza on Fayetteville Street. .

Over the past 5-10 years music festivals have become very widespread throughout the country, most of which are outside on some large vacant land. Hopscotch will be different. It will be urban and celebrate Raleigh as an emerging metropolis and a center of musical buzz. The shift towards Raleigh as the center of this buzz seems to be solidified by the Indy’s choice to hold the fest in downtown. That or the fact that Raleigh as a metropolis will bring in more attendants.

WHEN:  September 9 – 11th
WHERE: Downtown Raleigh, NC
COST: FREE
OFFICIAL LINK: HERE

The Kansas City Symphony is holding a free concert – Pops in the Park – on labor day weekend.

Here’s the details:

The Kansas City Symphony’s free Labor Day weekend concert at The Theatre in the Park at Shawnee Mission Park celebrates American music – from West Side Story and South Pacific to Star Trek and Superman! Bring your family and friends, plus blankets and lawn chairs.

The parking lot opens at 4:30 p.m.; gates open at 5 p.m. Instrument
Petting Zoo begins at 5:30 p.m., with support from Swiss Re.

WHEN: September 9th gates open at 5pm
WHERE: Shawnee Mission Park
COST: FREE
OFFICIAL LINK: HERE

The Peachtree Latino festival will be having it’s 10th anniversary this year at the Atlanta Underground.

The Entertainment lineup includes:

Aleks Syntek
Luz Rios
PeeWee

Here’s the details:

Festival Peachtree Latino in Atlanta, Georgia has been the biggest the largest family & multicultural event in the southeast since 2000.

WHEN: August 29th 12pm – 8pm
WHERE: Underground Atlanta
COST: FREE
OFFICIAL LINK: HERE

One of the most popular postings last year was the listings of all the free movies available around the country. We have found more of the free movies being put on by the National Geographic Society in Washington DC. Now since it’s being put on by National Geographic these won’t be films that you would usually see in major theaters but rather documentaries that are a little more insightful. If you’re into learning and documentaries then this could be a perfect weekend afternoon adventure (especially if it looks like it’s going to be a little rainy or overcast).

WHEN: Saturdays & Sundays in August at 11am  & 1pm
WHERE: National Geographic Live
1600 M Street, NW
Washington, DC 20036
COST: FREE
OFFICIAL LINK: HERE

If you’re looking for something to do with a date on the first day of August in Baltimore then why not take advantage of the FREE Ice Cream social being held at the Jewish Museum of Maryland

Here’s the details:

Join us for an afternoon of fun that includes free ice cream, musical entertainment, face painting, balloon twisting, raffles and just plain fun.
844 East Pratt Street
Phone: 410-837-1793
2:00-5:00 p.m.

WHEN: August 1st 2pm
WHERE: The Star Spangled Banner Flag House Courtyard
COST: FREE
OFFICIAL LINK: HERE

Have you noticed lately that some of the free online dating sites are now offering paid upgrades to show that you’re serious? Well I’m going to call a spade a spade, they’re calling it being a “featured” member. I read in an article or two that the creator of Plenty of Fish, Marcus, was getting upset that he was loosing out on money because he was offering his site for free but every other dating site had some kind of pay for play option. Also that he had one of the biggest user bases. So all the sudden out of nowhere there started to be these yellow dots appearing on people’s profiles.

What they said in the Forums

If you read in the forums, most of the people (actually women) who got this upgraded status in the beginning as “Featured” members, it was given to them for free.  Some didn’t even want it when they gave it to them.

Sometimes I wonder if paying for a free dating website makes you look a little more on the  desperate side then that I’m serious about getting an on-line date. It’s like the scarlet letter of online dating that you have to pay to stand out because you’re not getting enough contact already.

The first step of online dating is definitely a numbers game – whether you’re a guy or a girl.

If you’re a guy then it’s how many emails and or winks are you going to have to send out before you get contact back, and then out of those that contact you back how many can respond in a way where you want to actually meet in person to take them out on a date?

If you’re a girl – then it’s usually the opposite – it’s how many crappy / horney emails do you have to dig through before you find someone decent (and hot) enough  to respond back to, because let’s face it – Shakespeare could write you back but if the picture he posted looked like he’s in line to be on the next season of The Biggest Loser or something similarly scary – it’s going right into trash.

One website took a different approach

One website took note of this and built something totally different (see our writeup / review of herway.com)

Now there are plenty of good pay sites for online dating out there. As the old saying goes – you get what you pay for AND nothing in life is free.
(That’s why we’re not called the Free Dater, rather the Frugal Dater)

On that same note, there’s some pay sites that are just a pure waste of money, and all they do is seem to bleed your credit or debit card dry. Then right as your membership is about to expire or it’s time for renewal, that’s when you get a new match or email sent your way. Awful convenient (for them and their billing dept). If you don’t keep your subscription going then you just have to wonder if that’s the one you let get away.

If you’re looking for something specifically however, like someone with the same religious background for instance, then on of the specialty sites might be a better bet.

Also the median income of the paid subscriber base seems to be much higher then those of the free sites. (After all you don’t need any kind of income stream for a bill that’s zero per month)

The Bottom Line

The bottom line seems to be this – test out your profile skills on some of the free online dating sites if you’re just getting your toes wet (or if you’re needing to make the choice between going on dates or paying for the utilities).  We have a list of the truly free dating sites along with reviews available here.

Then if you feel you have a great profile pic and text to attract the right person and need a better pool of fish move to the right type of pay site, but don’t just upgrade on a free site to get more exposure.

Sometimes it’s the gifts that cost nothing (and come from the heart) that can mean a whole lot more when trying to build a relationship then something semi-expensive that you ran out and got at the last minute.

We found one of those things for you, a pet safety pack from the ASPCA. It’s mainly a sticker to place on your window, however it tells emergancy workers that there are more then just people to save in case of fire or natural disaster.

I’ve known plenty of women that I’ve dated whom their animals were their children, and by extending a token of love to them such as this one can pay big rewards later.

Here’s the official link to get the free kit

As with most of the free items we find I would expect 2-6 weeks for delivery.

~PLEASE VISIT OUR SPONSERS- HELP KEEP US FREE~

Nashville isn’t usually one of the cities that we usually report on here, but I ran across this deal and it was too good to pass up on.

$5 theater tickets to go see Alice in Wonderland a performance by the Street Theater Company in Nashville Tennessee.

This is a perfect first or second date for something that’s just a little different then you’re regular dinner and a movie, especially if you’re on a tight budget these days.

WHEN: July 16 – July 30 with performances Fridays at 7PM and Saturdays at 2PM.
WHERE: Dalewood United Methodist Church, 2300 Ridgecrest Drive, Nashville, TN 37216.
COST: $5 per ticket (it’s advized to purchase tickets in advanced here)
OFFICIAL LINK: HERE

~Please Help support the work we do in finding you these deals by supporting the sponsors that bring you the Frugal Dater~

A few months back somebody turned me on to a link for a new kind of online dating site that made the rest of them do kind of a 180 spin. It was called herway.com and as a guy you are not allowed to initiate the conversation. You simply place up your profile and wait for the women to contact and show interest in you.

Now I’ve done online dating for a long time, longer then I probably should admit and this totally reverses the way things happen these days where you have to take a shotgun approach to finding a date online.  Because women get so many messages (especially on the free dating sites) you can’t just write messages to the 1 or 2 ladies that catch your eye. If you do that and they don’t respond because your message gets lost in the other 50 pieces of mail they get per day then your confidence will be shot to nothing in no time. This site has the women take all the action and first steps on the men they find interesting.

As a guy you can’t even search through the profiles because as they put it… At HerWay the ladies do the searching.

I filled out the profile back in January I think and heard nothing from that site, and it wasn’t until June that I actually got notified that someone was interested in my profile. (Actually I forgot that I had even posted something on this site and just though it was going to be another dot.com bomb. )  They do give you little graphs as a man though about what your click through rate is and what your conversion rate is (mine was low low low, lol) and just so you have a baseline on how you’re doing they show you on the same graph Average Joe and how he’s doing

I will say that the 2 women that contacted me so far seem to be a higher quality of woman as far as education, income levels go.  Since I’ve yet to go out with anyone from this site I can only speak to what’s on their profiles.

We found a link to discounted AMC movie tickets in various cities (Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Philadelphia, WashingtonDC) that will allow you to purchase a regular AMC movie ticket for only four (4) dollars.

According to the details it’s good at any AMC®, Loews®, Cineplex Odeon, Magic Johnson, and Star theatres, excluding Canadian theatres.

If you want to see an IMAX or 3D movie there will most likely be a surcharge. however for a ticket that usually retails around $12 or more this was a deal that we had to share.

Get the official link here