• Friday, March 29, 2024
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BusinessDay

How to spend wisely this Valentine’s Day

Love and Valentine’s Day

Valentine’s Day is marked on the 14th day of February every year as one of the most popular celebrations in the world. It is generally known as lovers’ day, a day when people in romantic relationships spend time together, mostly on outdoor activities, and buy gifts for each other, as an expression of love.

The exact origin of this celebration isn’t known, as there are a number of stories surrounding its origin. One thing that all of these stories have in common is that the celebration is done in remembrance of recognition of a man known as St. Valentine. The most popular of these stories suggests that St. Valentine was imprisoned and beheaded by the emperor of Rome, Emperor Claudius II, when he continued to perform marriages for young lovers, in defiance of Claudius’ order that prevented young men from getting married. The emperor believed that young, unmarried soldiers made better soldiers than the married ones.

While the Valentine’s Day celebration is an enjoyable one, it often comes with a lot of expenses. This is because lovers have to buy gifts for each other and sometimes plan very expensive trips. Also, while Valentine’s Day is a holiday of love for most people, it is an opportunity to capitalize on consumer spending and increase sales for businesses.

According to the American National Retail Federation, consumers are expected to spend about $20.7 billion during this year’s Valentine’s Day celebration. Hence, there is a need for people to learn how to cut costs, while still being able to give their lovers an awesome Valentine Day’s experience.

Here are a few ways that you can have the best Valentine’s Day celebration on a slim budget

Have a budget

The first way to save cost during the Valentine’s Day celebration is to have a budget. Most people spend money without first planning how to spend it. Without a plan on how money will be spent, everything would seem desirable. It is easier to overcome the urge to spend on unnecessary desires when there’s a specific amount of funds allocated to a project. Therefore, before you go throwing money around on Valentine’s Day, as a means of impressing your spouse or partner, draft a budget, and take out the money that you intend to spend, based on your budget. Whatever is not included in your budget should be ignored.

Purchase discounted sales

One of the benefits of the Valentine’s Day celebration is that it offers a lot of discounted sales, especially online. During this period, business owners understand that many people are looking for where and how to spend money. Therefore, they give discounts as means of making more sales. Getting discounted sales on gift items or romantic treats would help you to save money that can be used for other purposes. So, before making any purchase on an event or item, do some research and check for the best prices. You can even find businesses that offer gifts and surprise dates as a single package.

Read also:   Valentine beckons on couples at Radisson Blu Ikeja

Celebrate at home

Most of the costs of the Valentine’s Day celebration come from hangouts. You are more likely to spend beyond your intended budget when you spend time with your spouse or partner, outside your house. So, instead of going to an expensive restaurant to have dinner, you can make and share a meal at home. Instead of going to the cinema, you can see a movie at home, and exchange gifts later. Remember that the celebration is more about spending quality time with your spouse, than about where you chose to spend that time. You can make a list of the activities that you and your spouse love to do at home, in order to make the moment more fun.

Know what your partner wants

Understanding what your partner wants, especially viz-a-viz their love language, is one great way to save yourself from a lot of troubles. It’s a great thing to expend a lot of resources in order to get a classy gift or plan a glamorous event for your spouse, but it’s more important to do the things that will make them feel loved. Ironically, what your partner may want, may not cost you so much money. It is going to be heartbreaking to find out that the spouse who you bought a two thousand dollar dress for, just wants you to spend a few hours of deep conversations with her. It will be disappointing to realize that the spouse who you bought a five hundred dollar wrist watch for just wants passionate sex as a Valentine’s Day gift.

The key thing is communication. Even if you intend to make the Valentine’s Day gift a surprise, you can ask them what they want in the middle of a conversation, in a manner that they won’t suspect your intention.