You’ve decided it’s time to make the leap. You’ve dealt with all of your personal fears, and you’re ready to put yourself out there. It’s time that you get the joy and happiness that everyone else in the world seems to find so easily.
What are we talking about? We’re talking about dating.
The first and arguably toughest step in the dating process is convincing yourself to take that first step. On paper, it looks like the easiest leap, but in practice, it can take a lot to get your feet to slide forward and get started. What a lot of singles run into, though, is that when they’re finally ready to give it a whirl, they have no idea how to find other singles in their area.
Do you go to a bar? Do you get online? Do you just put a sign in your front yard and hope they all come running? We hear putting a milkshake in your front yard can have profound results, but we haven’t gotten the opportunity to test that theory out yet.
In all actuality, it can be a real challenge and let down when you’re ready to start dating again, but you aren’t sure where and how to find quality singles and matches in your area. Lucky for you, we feel your pain.
To help you out on your journey, we’ve put together a guide to finding quality singles in your area. Yes, we’re going to be a little partial to online dating (since that’s our industry), but we will still make sure to cover all of your options for you.
Online Dating
What?!! We are leading off with online dating?!! Come on now. Don’t act like you’re surprised. Yes, we are partial to our industry but rightfully so. In its early days, online dating was no good. It was weird, socially unacceptable, and only attracted the strangest of the strange. Today, though, things have changed. Online dating has come a long way in its 20+ years of existence.
It’s no longer socially unacceptable and most certainly does not attract only the weird singles from your area. Online dating now caters to busy people and those who are tired of the bar scene or other traditional methods of finding singles. The sites are loaded with quality matches and exciting singles who just don’t have the time to make it out and look for love.
A big perk with online dating is that you can meet tons of different people without ever having to set foot outside of your house. You don’t have to get all dolled up, you don’t have to find a babysitter, you don’t have to find someone to come walk the dog, and you don’t have to wake up in the morning with a hangover. That is, of course, if you don’t like to online date with a bottle of wine like we do.
Honestly, if you’re looking to find singles in your area that match your specific wants and needs and you want to do it in the lowest stress and easiest environment, then you have to try online dating. If you’re ready to get started, we highly recommend checking out our list of the best dating apps or our in-depth online dating site reviews. That way, you can ensure that you’re going somewhere with quality singles at a place you can trust.
The Bar Scene
Outside of online dating, you always have the most classic option of hitting up the bar scene. While some people do have success finding love in a bar, the reviews are mixed. First, if you’re looking for quality, you may struggle to find it at the bar. Does that mean it’s not there? No, it just means that it’s going to be hidden somewhere in between the drunks and those looking for a one night stand.
If you’re just looking to hook up with other singles (and we don’t mean just meet up), the bar scene could be a good spot for you. But, if you’re looking for something a little more meaningful, you might want to check out some of the other options on the table. We don’t have anything against bars, in fact, our staff loves to frequent them when we aren’t chained to our desks.
If you’re set on giving the bar scene a go and are looking for quality singles, we recommend that you choose your bars and when you go wisely. During the week, you’ll only want to hit up happy hours. Anyone that’s out on a Tuesday night getting hammered is probably not going to be the highest of quality match for you (unless it’s a special occasion or you live in a strange city like Miami or Las Vegas.
If it’s the weekend or a holiday evening, we recommend checking out a bar that’s going to have the type of people you’d be interested in dating. If you aren’t into hipsters, don’t go to a hipster bar. If you’re looking for maturity, avoid the smelly college bar. If you want someone down to earth, don’t hit the uppity sophisticated bar.
One good time to find singles at the bar is during holidays and special events. These days will bring out a lot of people who are not frequent bar attendees. These will be people from all walks of life who are going to be different than your typical bar crowd. Again, there is nothing wrong with the typical bar crowd, but we’re assuming if you’re here that you’re not having that much luck with the typical bar crowd. These fresh faces might be just what you need to get things sparked.
Not only that, it becomes a lot easier to talk to people at special events. If it’s a big sports game, you can always talk about the game. If it’s St. Patrick’s Day, you can talk about the green they are or are not wearing. Special events and holidays make the bar scene quite a bit easier on the approach.
While there may be genuinely good singles at all of these different bars, it’s always a challenge to seek them out. Once you spot someone you’re interested in, you have to figure out if they’re single and then you have to figure out if they’re looking and THEN you have to figure out if they’re interested in you. There are a lot of steps, but it’s been the classic method for so long that it’s hard to knock that it does work sometimes. It’s just more successful depending on what you’re looking for out of a match.
Getting Involved
If there is a place to meet singles in your area that is above the bar scene but below online dating, it would be getting involved. What do we mean by getting involved? We mean getting out there and doing things where other singles might be.
One of the best examples of this is volunteering. You’re going to find a lot of potential quality matches at a volunteer function. And even if you don’t, you’ll be doing good for the community, and you’ll be developing a quality that other singles will probably find attractive. If you’ve ever told a potential match about your volunteer experience, you’ve seen what we mean. Their eyes light up as they realize there is more to you than they might have thought.
Adult sports leagues are another great place to get involved and find potential suitors. The great thing about these is that first of all they are fun, but they also make interacting extremely easy. Even if you aren’t great at sports, most adult sports teams are relaxed and are just set up for people to have fun. This doesn’t have to be just basketball or softball. Many cities have adult kickball and other fun sports that normally are reserved for kids.
Trust us. When you mix beer, kickball, and adults, you have a recipe for a lot of fun and a great way to meet potential singles that live in your area.
If you’re religious, church events are a fantastic way to get involved and find like-minded individuals that you could potentially date. If there is anything we know about church events, too, is that as soon as someone finds out you’re a nice girl or guy and are single, they will be trying to set you up with everyone under the sun. Who would have thought church came with free matchmakers?
If you happen to be Christian, we have some reviews of some awesome online Christian dating sites that you might want to check out. The page also has some great general tips on Christian dating that could help you in your search. If you are of a different religious persuasion, we have tons of online dating sites sorted by category that might appeal to you and your faith.
Yes, yes…we know this is not the online dating section, but we can’t help sharing the resources we’ve put together for you. All we care about is that you find the love that you’re looking for and that you deserve.
Utilize Your Friends
The last place we have that we think you should be looking for singles in your area is not actually a place; it’s people. Your friends are going to be your best wingmen and wingwomen and will always be one of the best places to help you find love.
Why? Well, they usually know you the best. They know what you like and what you don’t like, and they know what type of person you’d work well with and which would be WW3. Are they always right? No, but they do always have your best interests at heart.
What we recommend you do is let your friends know that you’re looking. Don’t beg them to find you someone, but let them know you would be open to someone they might have in mind or come across. Remember, if they suggest someone and you blow that person off, you might never get suggestions from them again. This doesn’t mean you have to go out with everyone your friends suggest, but you should at least keep an open mind and be willing to give things a chance unless they’re terrible.
The Final Takeaway
Finding singles in your area is easy. Finding quality singles in your area becomes a challenge. Hopefully, we’ve given you some tips and tricks that will help you find what it is that you’re looking for. Remember, it’s a marathon and not a sprint. There’s no reason that you have to try and find the love of your life in the next five minutes. Take your time, and let the process happen.
If you want our final recommendation, we would say to check out some online dating sites. Click one of the links below and find a site that you think you might like. You don’t have to join. Almost every site we review and recommend has a free trial we’ve secured for you. This means you can look at all of your matches and see if there is anything you like before you even consider becoming