SAVING CENTSABLY: Show love from the heart - not the wallet
Recently I read an article that explained how the third Monday of January is termed "Blue Monday," partly because people are struggling through the winter and a lack of sunshine, and partly because that is the day the bills begin flooding in from all the Christmas charges and purchases that were made in December.
If you got a bill in late January for all those December purchases, February is the time to "pay the piper," so to speak.
The very last thing people need to do is fork over a ton of money for Valentine's Day when so many are in debt already from the last holiday that rolled around.
According to a February 2015 article by U.S. News & World Report, "The average person celebrating Feb. 14 will shell out $142.31, with $96.63 going to a spouse or significant other and the rest split among family members, friends, co-workers, pets, children's classmates or teachers or other recipients."
If you read that quote carefully, you will notice that the $142.31 average is per person -- let's just assume adults -- in the household. In a two-parent household, that's an average of $282 spent on buying Valentine's Day presents, gifts, treats and tokens of appreciation in the month of February.
This is just weeks after these same households received bills for the $882 per person average that was spent in December, based on phone surveys conducted in November 2015 by American Research Group.
Because we know that so many people charge these gifts -- failing to pay "cash on the barrel," it is not hard to imagine how this debt and constant focus on gift-giving and materialism can easily lead to depression and a feeling of hopelessness when it comes to getting out of debt.
If this is where you find yourself, I want to challenge you to think sensibly and say no to materialism and gifts this Valentine's Day.
I'm not sure at what point we, in America, began equating bigger gifts with greater love and appreciation. If we scoff at the saying, "It's the little things that count," and yet we struggle with how to pay our bills and we eye the mailbox warily as the minimum credit card payments mount, that seems pretty foolish.
While it might seem difficult at first -- most changes are -- I want to challenge you and your spouse or you and your children to talk about money and Valentine's Day and expose the myths about "more money, greater love."
I honestly believe that giving your family a legacy of financial accountability and a debt-free lifestyle is more important than a box of chocolates or a giant stuffed teddy bear. As you well know, the bills for those items remain unpaid and collect interest long after the teddy bear is given to charity and the chocolate has been eaten.
So how can you show someone you love them without breaking the bank? There are a million ways, but here are a few.
Men, leave work early, head home and thoroughly clean an area of the house for your wife. Take care of hanging up and folding all the laundry that's piled on the couch. Cook a special meal for Valentine's Day without going out to eat -- a big money saver there.
Ladies, clean that area of the closet where he piles his clothing and shoes. Help organize his workshop. Make a playlist in his iTunes with songs that are special to you both. Pick up the sticks in the yard so that the next time he needs to cut the grass, part of the work is already done.
These are all small gestures -- but that's what loving your spouse is all about. It's not big spending for a commercial holiday that shows great love, but small gestures compiled throughout the year. Happy Valentine's Day to you and yours!
Contact writer Rachael Mercer at savingcentsably@gmail.com.
This story was originally published February 9, 2016 at 9:47 PM with the headline "SAVING CENTSABLY: Show love from the heart - not the wallet ."