[Mz]

A major budget killer in my marriage was shopping for furniture/decor together. "Having a nice home" was one of the few things my spouse and I could agree on, so shopping for decor was one of the few ways I got any of his time and attention in something vaguely resembling a positive fashion. (He could only really give me his undivided attention if we were arguing about something. We spent way too much time fighting and this was a major factor in the marriage failing.) I didn't really need more furniture. I really needed some positive attention from him and just couldn't get it. Furniture shopping was the closest substitute I could get, so we did way too much of it, much to the detriment of our budget.

I think any relationship based on a "dating" model is at risk of equating relating with "having a good time" ...aka spending money. If you are doing this, consider finding another way to relate to your S.O. Cooking together, gardening together, just plain talking for hours, long walks and other forms of spending time together that don't revolve around spending money per se can do a lot for both your relationship and budget.

Edit: I will note I did the stay-at-home-mom thing for nearly two decades. Perhaps that detail will help clarify why I am making this remark.