So – it’s official. The recession is here. Really here. And like a spot the size of Mount Everest on your nose it’s obvious, big – and painful. We’re all starting to feel the effects – those Kurt Geiger shoes that you normally wouldn’t think twice about ‘treating’ yourself to on an idle Saturday afternoon of shopping is now considered to be a thoughtless waste of good money. I don’t know about you, but in the past month or two, if I so much as casually stroll into the house with a H&M bag I am scowled at by my male housemate because 1. I have ‘wasted’ my money on a new top that cost £8.99 (a bargain, if you ask me) and 2. I have selfishly paraded the plastic H&M carrier bag around town (which apparently is a threat to the rainforests of South America and the Ferrets in Runcorn, or something like that).

Now, I think it’s safe to say that men as a rule have tightened their belts a little more than us ladies. All the men I know certainly have, anyway. Why shop at Reiss when there’s the same T-shirt at George in Asda, ay? Well, you may scoff, but men’s attitude to spending has some serious repercussions for us single girls. Think about it. Two years ago a man would normally take a girl on a date to a posh restaurant. All three courses, wine, taxi home – and maybe even a bunch of flowers if he was the uber-romantic type. Right now, you’d be lucky to get an early-bird two-4-one special at your local Toby Carvery followed by a return journey on the number 59 bus.

Or would you? Am I being too skeptical? When it comes to wooing a lady, do the same dating rules still apply?

“I think guys are still spending like they would before, says Adam Acid, 24, an RAF Regiment Gunner from Nottingham, “but we all know you don’t have to spend a fortune to do something enjoyable anyway, crunch or no crunch. You can try too hard”.

“A lot of my friends have met their partners on Facebook or Match.com etc, so when they get to go out on a date, they already know each other,” says Brett White, a Tour Manager from London. “It’s more about the company these days, not some fancy date. I think it’s important to do something that allows your personality to shine through not the amount of credit you have available on your credit card.”

Aha. I stand corrected. Perhaps it’s not so much about the lack of funds than it is about guys learning to enjoy the company and concentrating on making more of an emotional impression than a 1980′s ‘look-how-much-money-I-have’ peacock-style display of wealth. Well, if that’s the case, then great – they’re catching on. So, it begs the question: if they’re not doing that, then what are they doing?

“Well I’m definitely more cautious,” says Nick Horsley, 27, an Entrepreneur from Derby, “these days, I like to impress with Jamie Oliver-type home cooking. Good wine is too expensive in bars and restaurants plus you can cut the costs and still have a ball – and obviously by cooking at home the bedroom is only next door!”

Nice. Well, at least we know some things never change, but does flashing less of the cash on a date signal the end of the ‘Put your money away love, this one’s on me’ era?

“Put it this way – I still see a lot more men come to the bar and pay for drinks than women, so not much has changed there,” says Jon Farmanfarmai, A Bar Manager from Stoke-on-Trent, “I don’t think that will ever change. Women are much more independent, but when it comes to dates, I still think the guy likes to pay – or at the very least go halves. It’s a sign of masculinity, being able to provide.”

So there you have it – for the single guys out there, the rule of paying does, to some extent, still stand. But in researching the subject I have unearthed a much more interesting point: men are realising that it’s not about taking your date to the best bar in town and parading their financial status to a potential love interest. The recession seems to be bringing back emotional values in men that were long forgotten.

True, men still want to show you that they can provide, however it seems that they desire more of a modern partnership, one where they are judged on the merit of their personalities rather than the size of their wallets.

The truth is, you have to find the good in every situation. Maybe the credit crunch has forced guys to re-evaluate what it really means to go on dates or have a girlfriend. Perhaps by having less money we are going back to the days when dates = romantic courtship, strolls in the park and cheeky hand-written love letters. What men have missed in years of excessive wealth is the whole point of dating – a chance to find your soulmate. It may be a tough time for our economy, but for the bachelor of finance, maybe there is hope.