As Valentine’s Day draws near, the last thing on your mind right now would be thinking about financial ideas for the occasion. Your concerns would revolve around romantic dinners and expensive gifts for your loved one. You might be thinking about where to book a lovely getaway over a weekend so you can spend quality time with each other.
What you might fail to understand is that in all these, your finances would play a big part in whatever decision you make. The type of gift you can buy for your loved one would be limited by how much money you can save. That trip you are looking at would depend on the amount you have saved up leading up to Valentine’s Day.
According to Wallethub.com, Valentine’s Day ranks third in in holidays where consumers spend the most which are a little less than $20 billion per year. This is a lot of chocolates and flowers and even dinners happening during the month. If left unchecked, this can put your finances in the red. You need to make sure that your finances can keep up with your plans for Valentine’s day.
This is where sound financial ideas for the month comes into play. Money problems in marriages will and always exist even during the love month. As you try and look for ways to profess your love for your partner, it does not have to break the bank. You do not have to smash poor old piggy just to get some funds for a date.
Here are a few tips on things you can do for this occasion.
Manage expectations
This is an exercise that becomes a lot easier with time. This is because as you spend more time with your loved ones, you get to know them better. During the run-up to Valentine’s Day, try to drop some hints and see how they react. This can help you gauge what they are expecting to get or happen on Valentine’s Day.
Of course, you can always be upfront about it and cut straight to the chase. However, this could potentially ruin any element of surprise you are planning for the day. You do know that surprising your loved one in a good way is still a romantic gesture. Try to strike a balance between dropping hints and telling them upfront so you know your next steps.
Establish a tradition
As you try to come up with financial ideas for Valentine’s, why not go ahead and start a new tradition between the two of you. This is a good chance to look at an activity that you can sustain for years to come. If you both love camping then why not go out and do some stargazing together. If you love food then try to create a new dish that you share on Valentine’s day together? The idea is that you can use the occasion to start a new and exciting tradition with your loved one that you both love to do. You simply have to find that common thing that you love doing together and find a frugal way around it.
Dust off your wedding album
If you are feeling a little nostalgic then you can pull out your old wedding album and look at it together. You can do this activity during breakfast so you get a good start to your day or when you both get home from work. This can be coupled with great coffee in the morning or wine at night. It can be a great time reminiscing your wedding day and seeing faces of old friends in the photos.
Breakfast in bed is another one of the financial ideas for Valentine’s day
One of the most romantic gestures you can ever make for your partner is serving breakfast in bed. This is because you have to put in a lot of effort to put the meal together while he or she is still sleeping. You need to wake up way earlier than usual to prepare the food. Cook the meal and prepare coffee or juice in time for your loved one to have it for breakfast. This also becomes one of the great financial ideas because food can save you money. The idea is that if you have plans to go shopping then you better eat up. There is a big chance to overspend when you head out hungry.
Personalize your gift
We all have talents that we possess and this can help you with some financial ideas for Valentine’s Day. Are you a budding painter or good with a camera? Do you have a green thumb and good with plants and flowers? You might be good with wood works and can create one-of-a-kind furniture at home. You can all use these talents to good use.
Why not try to whip up a sumptuous meal for two right at home? This can save you tons of money from making reservations in fancy restaurants. If you are trying to shop for a gift, why not make one? Take a photo of your loved one, frame it and give to them. If they love to read books then create a reading corner at a good spot in the house. The possibilities are endless when you start looking at your own talent and hobbies to come up with a Valentine’s gift.
Check an item off of their list
If you are running low on cash for the occasion, you can always check an item off of their list as a gift. This is one of those great financial ideas because this would cost you little or nothing at all. You can cross of a household chore for your loved one such as vacuuming the house, doing the laundry or even cleaning up the garage. You might want to get the car washed and gassed up early in the morning before your loved one heads off to work. There are a few things you can do to help your partner have a better day at almost no cost.
Run your numbers when going out on a date
If you give in and decide that you both deserve a night out then go ahead and enjoy the day. You just need to be sure that you run the numbers on your date night including a sitter. Time.com shares that a babysitter’s rate is at an average of $15.71 per hour. That can change depending on several factors such as the number of kids, dinner, and fare to and from your house.
One thing you can do to save up on cost is to trade sitting duties with another family. You can offer to watch their kids and they can do the same for you when you have to go out. This would even be fun for your kids because they get to spend time with friends. This becomes one of those great financial ideas as you get to save up on having to pay a babysitter to watch the kids.
Help out a charity
There are a lot of ways to use extra funds in your budget and going out for some little rest and relaxation is surely one of them. However, one of the things you can do on Valentine’s Day is to help out a charity. It would be a great way to strengthen your love for each other. You get to share that with people that have less.
There are a lot of financial ideas that you can look into on Valentine’s Day. Do not be afraid that trying to save money would diminish your love for your partner. It just means that you value your partner to the point that you want to have a secure relationship with them.