Dating can be a frenetic and wearing experience. There's pressure to do well, make the right impression, be funny and interesting. And often it all has to happen straightaway because, if you don't click on the first date, there probably won't be a second one. Instead, it's on to the next opportunity to try to find someone with that instant chemistry.
Over thirty dating can be a whole lot better experience than this. Because people are older, they're more mature and know how it works. They've often had more dates than they wish to remember and know that some work out well and others are absolute disasters. So they're prepared to be patient, to see what comes out in a longer timescale.
If you are a single woman you might be on the look out for a man over thirty and wondering if there are any left who haven't already been married or who don't have children and loads of baggage. The fact is that if there are single women aged over 30 out there, then there must be men of the same age. It is just finding them which might be the hard part.
If a man has reached his 30's and has not yet settled down you might be wondering if this is a good thing. Yes it could indicate that they have some sort of serious flaw, that they have lived with their Mum until very recently or that they have been hidden away in prison for some deed they did in their teens.
It would quite rightly be expected that being free and single would mean that you spend less money than someone with a partner or a family would. Surely if you have reached your thirties and are without a significant other you would be in a better financial situation, right? Well, unfortunately it doesn't seem to be the case.
A study carried out by uSwitch.com in August 2010 has discovered that over the course of a lifetime being single costs £250,000 more than being part of a couple. Uswitch also found that over the next ten years there are likely to be 9.5 million single people in the UK, all living in single person households. Living alone can cost £5,000 more per year than living with another person due to having to pay for rent, food and bills from one income.
Certain ages are seen as milestones in our lives and people view them either with anticipation or dread. Forty is generally seen as the onset of middle age while fifty and sixty are on the path to retirement and old age. After that, you're probably just relieved to be still around to see the next milestone.
Getting to thirty is often seen as the end of the youthful years, a time to be more mature and responsible. It's an age that women in particular often don't look forward to with any relish. It's the time when crow's feet and wrinkles start to show themselves, when the first grey hairs start to appear, when parts of the body begin to sag imperceptibly and everything starts to go south.