Is there a good way to meet women here? (Seattle: living, cost)

[Phorizon]

I've lived in Seattle for two years now, and while I have accumulated a good group of friends my social circle has kind of reached a state of equilibrium-it isn't really expanding and all the ladies within it either have boyfriends (also within the group) or aren't my type. Meeting new people, particularly women, remains something of a challenge for me here.

My main problem is that following my normal routing of work/home followed by the occasional gathering never really exposes me to anyone I haven't met before. I feel like I have to go out of my way to do so, which isn't always the easiest thing for me. And what I have tried hasn't really been a great avenue of success.

I've tried meetups, but so far it's seemed the domain of other single guys and older women (I'm in my late 20s, for reference).

I've tried volunteering at a place or two, but people aren't really there to see you and it's difficult to try and socialize when i'm generally supposed to be doing something else.

I'm a bit at a loss for for what else I can really do or try be doing to just meet more women I could be interested in period, especially when the bar/club stuff A. Isn't really my scene, B. Not very great here in the first place and C. Kind of a terrible venue to meet women in anyways.

Any advice/ideas for folks living around here?

[CSD610]

The best way to meet any humans anywhere is to actually go out into the real world and see who you find that will attract and interest you. It does not really matter where you meet as long as you meet. Coffee shops, bakeries, small sandwich shops, an outdoor table on the water front, the food court in the mall, art museum, the locks and dams, zoo, a ferry ride,

[Jalhop]

How about clubs of the interest kind, like yoga, volleyball, etc.? The Parks dept. has a catalog of things like that. Maybe try some out that seem like they might attract the younger women. Yoga's got to be one, and you might be the only guy there.

[west seattle gal]

Expand your interests, try new things that you have always wanted to do, and get involved in the community. For example, hike with the Mountaineers, join a gym or karate studio, take a cooking or wine class (or pottery or UW Experiential courses or join a new language learning group), go to book readings, join a coed community sports team, get a dog and take walks around Green Lake and local dogparks, take yoga, etc... When you are sharing in an activity, there is already a basis for starting a conversation or forming a relationship.

[flyingsaucermom]

Maybe take a class at one of the higher ed institutions???

[Inkpoe]

Maybe you can ask the closest lady friend(s) if she has a friend she can set you up with.

[eskercurve]

Volunteer for a nonprofit or organization that involves people being people ... for instance, politics, city government, religious (I've noticed a LOT of hotties at evangelical outings, and noticed many are conservative minded ... just saying) or any myriad of organizations like that. Women have a political bend too, and have philosophical leanings.

Finally, it's all about the connections. You know friends. Great. They know friends, and their friends know friends, etc. Lay it out there - you're looking for girls. Tell them that you're interested in meeting more and if they know anyone at their work, or their other circles that are single and looking, hook you up!

There's no shame in that at all, and getting involved in organizations has the added benefit you can put that on your resume.

[RVD90277]

if you like to work out, go join team in training. it's like at least a 5:1 ratio of girls to guys.

if you want to go with the buckshot theory (high volume of dates hoping that 1 will hit), go join match.com or another internet dating site.

if you're religious, go to church.

[Hemlock140]

Odd as it may sound, I suggest hanging around at the Westlake Station in the bus tunnel. There are many single women there from 3:30-5:00. I'm married but chat daily with several that are waiting for eastside buses, and now on a first name basis. Across on the other side waiting for the buses going north toward Northgate or UW it's crawling with women.

[Blondebaerde]

Depends on your personality. Are you stronger in person, or clever in-writing for the first interaction?

If the latter, Match.com isn't bad. Never received a ton of responses that way, over the years: probably should have retained a professional profile-writer. Many women's profiles became very tiring after awhile, with the same themes over and over, ad nauseum ("Successful" "Taller" "Ready to make a commitment" "must love dogs" "travel" "my mom" "family". Sigh: could write most of their profiles myself). Thus, in return it's a good bet men's profiles are equally tedious for women. "Be different" is easier said than done.

I've met women who indicate many "meetups" are older guys hitting on younger women, freaking out the latter. Bet that's exhausting for them, too. I'm not into group-anything and wouldn't know much more about it.

I personally think women have the tougher go of all this: we (men) can at least make the attempt. Society still frowns a bit upon women of my era (Gen X) making the first attempt, though it is by no means uncommon either. Maybe Millennials have it easier there, if social norms are slowly changing.

With the proper sales-mentality, so to speak, ten failures resulting in one "close" is cause for celebration, not brooding over losses. It's a numbers game.

All the above said, for me personally OKCupid has been an absolute gold mine to meet American women. I do not know why, exactly, but it just is. These sites seem to morph over the years, so nothing is "forever": used to be Yahoo Personals (1990s), then Craig's List, then various other venues. All folded up or changed format (and clientele) enough to sink the whole thing like the Titanic.

Perhaps give it a whirl, see what happens. Cost = nothing, so all it takes to start is a few hours to write a thoughtful profile and answer a few questions (or a lot of questions: your choice), a number of good (screened by women first) photos, and a positive attitude.

If you like to travel and really want to step it up a notch on the "exotic" scale, RussianEuro is a relatively inexpensive way to meet former Soviet Union (FSU) women. 9/10 are scams, but there are ways to sniff them out quickly and meet those genuinely interested in meeting Western guys. I dated and lived with a FSU woman from Ukraine for 6 months (her residence was in Zurich). She was definitely interesting, with a different perspective. Something to think over, if you're into that: I'd recommend walking that road at least once in your life, for various reasons.