Valentine’s Day on a budget?
You know when Valentine’s Day is REALLY tough? When you really, really like the person you are dating but you don’t have money to buy a gift that would “show” them. Thankfully, the right person won’t care that you are on a budget. They will care if you do or say nothing. It’s the zero effort and irrational anger towards the “made up commercial holiday” that won’t go over well.
The good news is that your serious love jones, coupled with a little attention to details can help you become a little creative. No money? NO problem! Here are a few of my favorite date ideas that are low-budget with a high romantic ROI:
Light the table and room with candles (tea lights are cheap!). Make a home cooked meal. Bonus points if it is their favorite food. Make a playlist of your favorite love songs (no booty music mixtapes!). Spend the evening feeding each other dessert while (insert your favorite non-sexual activity) watching sports, playing video games, reading a book, watching movie). End your night slow dancing cheek to cheek. *swoon*
Set up an indoor picnic. Lots of pillows. Lots of candles. Pick the sexiest, yummiest foods to munch on. Swap stories of childhood. Get to know one another better. Turn off your phones.
You know we live in one of the coolest cities, right? Atlanta has so many things to do that don’t cost much. A lot of great places are Marta accessible! Look up any specials or deals that are around the city. AJC’s fabulous Bargain Hunter has tips to save on those Valentine’s Day traditions too.
Whatever you decide to do, make it thoughtful and meaningful for the both of you. Oh, and if thought of doing something nice for the person you are dating bothers you in anyway, please let them go. Immediately. It’s the most loving gesture you could ever do for them.
Do you guys have any ideas on how to pull off Valentine’s Day on a budget?
What is the least amount of money you have ever spent on a date? What did you do?
Happy Wednesday!
By Wise Diva, Misadventures in Atlanta Dating Blog
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235 comments Add your comment
Bluzgirl
February 13th, 2013
12:57 pm
disco – That would be funny!!! Maybe I should go to a toy store and see if Nerf makes a bow and arrow and go around shooting people tomorrow…
MsAtl
February 13th, 2013
12:58 pm
Exiled- Wait a minute! Don’t they limit those cards to pharmacies?
Exiled
February 13th, 2013
1:02 pm
MsAtl..as long as it has a visa/mastercard sign on it, u can buy anything…it works just like any other credit/debit card…
I have used my card to buy lunch tho,sparingly, when im strapped for mula
Bluzgirl
February 13th, 2013
1:06 pm
Awww Dirty…you actually sound sweet!
MsAtl
February 13th, 2013
1:07 pm
You are a braver soul than I am. I have gotten letters asking me to justify my charges even though it was clearly a physician’s office or pharmacy. Not to mention, after seeing that whole issue with the state purchasing cards and the arrests, “I’m afeared”, lol.
Celisea
February 13th, 2013
1:07 pm
Dirty – It’s good to see Celisea getting the good, good, when she is happy it reflects in her words and attitude.
Um, okay. Imma take this as a compliment. I’m always happy. I don’t have a bad attitude. I’m just not mushy and fluffy. Not my style. Now, if/when I don’t take to kind to “stuff”, I get snappy. That’s just in that moment. Otherwise, it’s back to happy. Imma take it though as a compliement….I think
Hazel
February 13th, 2013
1:10 pm
@ exiled – yes. thai food is delicous. Cant go wrong with it, plus its not expensive. Def good when on a budget
Leggs
February 13th, 2013
1:11 pm
Dang, Mrs. Atl. You got “guilty” flowers, chocolate and jewelry. Some men are just plain emotionally compromised and greedy!
Exiled
February 13th, 2013
1:18 pm
MsAtl…does the state contribute on ur card…which is why they ask for justification i think.
This is my money i defer, pre-tax, for medical co-pays and such…i know i may be foul with IRS by spending on non meds but i dont make the purchases that material to warrant an investigation….$5 here, $6 there..infrequently.
If u spending tax payer dollars, then i understand the need to justify.
Celisea
February 13th, 2013
1:24 pm
Ummm, I fund my own FSA account and we can’t buy stuff other than prescriptions and copays and bills. No more over the counter and never have we been able to buy lunch
Now my sister bought my mom’s diapers when she was working, but I don’t see anything wrong with that. Shame on you MMeello!! You’re such a playa playa, but you’re buying lunch with you’re buying lunch with your Health Care Card?? SMH at you.
You know that’s a turn off right? To your self professed playa playa status….lololololol
Celisea
February 13th, 2013
1:25 pm
Let me get back to work….
BBL, maybe
MsAtl
February 13th, 2013
1:25 pm
Exiled- Heck naw! This money was coming out of my check and going into a healthcare expense account. The state does not contribute anything to it. I think it was merely the company that administered the card.
Leggs- Lol. I called them guilt gifts. I guess he did also, because after I left him, he asked me to give him back a tennis bracelet and said why would you want to keep something I gave you out of guilt. (insert wide-eyed look here).
Leggs
February 13th, 2013
1:30 pm
Ex ~ I’m surprised. I have one of those cards but can only use for medical reasons. Lunch would not be honored. E.g., I can buy adhesive bandages, but not the tape to secure the bandage. Go figure. It all has to be medicinal.
Exiled
February 13th, 2013
1:31 pm
I know Cel I play myself..u know my money is really spend wisely and if i can nible a tad on the IRS, then i will..lol
u know Martha stewart is a multi mill but went to jail for a couple of thousand $$$, it happens..
Right now, im broke and im thinking, when i take Queen to the vday rest, i wil coble the $40 balnce from thjis credit card and add the $50 from that card to make the bill complete..
Even when single, i used to never have enough for Vday..I would feed the girl and then i would eat a lesser meal….
Thats sacrifice!
Leggs
February 13th, 2013
1:32 pm
Ex ~ mine is funded by me, but only good for co-pays and prescriptions, and certain other items, but never food.
Celisea
February 13th, 2013
1:33 pm
MMeello – Boy stop…..lololol It’s all an act huh?
Exiled
February 13th, 2013
1:34 pm
Cel and Leggs and MsAtl..u ladies are balling then..
remeber the discussion about bootleg electricity..i feel thats what i do sometimes then :lol
u can buy anything with that card…if u can help it..
kimmie
February 13th, 2013
1:34 pm
I just came back from “Valentine” shopping!LOL! Got hubs 3 Heath(his favorite) and a 6-pack of Bud Black Crown(he’s been too cheap to try). Got the kids each a Dove cookies & cream bar. That’s it, I’m done!! Sent grandmama her valentine card the other day, so she probably has it by now.
Celisea
February 13th, 2013
1:35 pm
Who what that, that came on talking about spending $100 at Pappaudeaux’s being a lot of money and we told him Church’s Chicken wasn’t that far removed?? I can’t remember but Mmeello’s post of using his last $40 made me think of him…lol
Mmeello – What are you going to do the rest of the year? Wasn’t it you chastising “black folks” for eating out too much? What happened to your balance this early in the year? Unless it was for medical stuff, cause stuff happens, whether it’s January or August, you should still have a balance. Unless you’re eating out with it. I think you’re pulling the blog’s leg now…lol
kimmie
February 13th, 2013
1:37 pm
Even when single, i used to never have enough for Vday
Exiled – Heck, it’s too close to Christmas!LOL!!
Exiled
February 13th, 2013
1:39 pm
Cel..we rarely eat out..truthfully speaking.
We buy raw food and cook…
Eve now and then, yea we might go out to eat..but not frequently..
I am the guy who maxes my 401k contrib…i dont waste money.
Celisea
February 13th, 2013
1:42 pm
MMeello – Mmm hmmm, I knew you were kidding.
Okay, I’m out of here for here for now. Ned to grab lunch and clean a couple of things off my desk.
MsAtl
February 13th, 2013
1:43 pm
Come on Exiled! Haven’t us blog ladies taught you anything? Go to Restaurants.com and buy a certificate for the restaurant. I have paid $4.00 for a $50 certificate. That will bring that $90 meal down to $54.
Leggs
February 13th, 2013
1:43 pm
Ex ~ I wouldn’t necessarily say you have a bootleg card. Seems like you don’t have any restrictions placed on it. Guess that’s a good and a bad thing.
Leggs
February 13th, 2013
1:44 pm
We buy raw food and cook… – Who talks like that (lol). MMeelllo!
Into the Light
February 13th, 2013
1:51 pm
Afternoon, all.
I had to laugh at some of the Valentine memories y’all posted. I used to love making my valentine box when I was a kid. Shoot, I’d have that shoebox looking like Martha Stewart threw up on it, but you couldn’t tell me it wasn’t beautiful. Oh, and if you got one of those valentines with the sucker stuck through the card? Man, that was IT!!!
Tomorrow night, I’m going to relax and enjoy myself.
Exiled
February 13th, 2013
1:53 pm
I have paid $4.00 for a $50 certificate. That will bring that $90 meal down to $54.
MsAtl..see, i wldnt even know that unless i was focused on eating out….and then want to bring down my costs…
but thanks, i will see if that site is not already oversubscribed due to valentines.
@Leggs…im just a country boy,and stuck in my ways…grandmom grew everything we ate….heck most africans i know off dont have money to waste on fast food…they have Huge family responsibilities and wldnt waste money,overpaying on fast or restsrant food.
Exiled
February 13th, 2013
1:56 pm
Tomorrow night, I’m going to relax and enjoy myself.
ITL….what??…so u bought urself the vaseline,lube,batteries, straps,cuffs and BO black ding?
Willie Dynamite
February 13th, 2013
1:58 pm
Afternoon all,
V day was always low key for me. I didn’t wanna disappoint but never went overboard either. Nowadays Wifey is the one screaming about a made up holiday. We just have a nice dinner at home and I usually pick up a few things for her and the girls (they love chocolate).
On the flip side i did find when I was single that going out that night was usually pretty good to chat up the ladies, go figure.
Celisea
February 13th, 2013
2:01 pm
so u bought urself the vaseline,lube,batteries, straps,cuffs and BO black ding
LOLOLOLOLOL….foooo real. I hit refresh so I could read, eat, work and lurk and this is what I got. I am NOT kidding. I laughed out loud…still laughing. Dude you are relentless.
Celisea
February 13th, 2013
2:02 pm
I’m going back in the shadows and staying there….I think. That was funny though. Please, just stop it I say….whew buddy.
Bluzgirl
February 13th, 2013
2:15 pm
ITL – You are sooooo right…the cards with the suckers stuck through were the best ones! You could tell they came from a wealthier family! LOL
disco
February 13th, 2013
2:23 pm
bluz – re wealthier families: you couldn’t tell us nothing at Halloween time talking about we were going trick or treating in the “rich” neighborhoods. little did we know we would have been walking a long azz time to get to a rich neighborhood.
MsAtl
February 13th, 2013
2:28 pm
Disco- When I was a kid, the neighborhood number runner would throw a bucket of coins off the stoop for Halloween. We would be jingling for days and eating Now & Laters all day long and didn’t even have to buy the neighborhood old ladies cigarettes to get it.
DuShawn
February 13th, 2013
2:28 pm
When I was single, Valentine’s Day represented the resurfacing period. I would’ve gone missing right after Thanksgiving. February 15th is when you start going thru your call log. Call them up and say “Happy New Year girl! How were your holidays?”
Into the Light
February 13th, 2013
2:28 pm
LOL@Bluz. So true. I love those retro designs. I wonder if they still make them.
disco
February 13th, 2013
2:30 pm
ms atl – not that y’all was jingling. now that’s what’s up. girl you put me in the mind of when we’d stand there anxiously waiting for the grown folks to finish their sodas so we could cash in the bottle and get some candy. boy the corner store was the premiere destination of childhood.
dushawn – no offense but you been full of isht since way back. lol.
Into the Light
February 13th, 2013
2:37 pm
boy the corner store was the premiere destination of childhood.
I can remember forging notes to the bus driver saying it was okay for us to get off the bus at the corner store. We’d get a small Slush Puppy and a blow pop and think we had arrived. We were IT!!
Willie Dynamite
February 13th, 2013
2:43 pm
Du- Feb.15th was the first day of free agency.
disco
February 13th, 2013
2:43 pm
ITL – dang. y’all were forging notes to the bus driver? that’s deep. our only real hustle on the bus was passing a bus pass out the back window so someone else could get on with it.
DuShawn
February 13th, 2013
2:45 pm
Yeah disco. I didn’t get this trifling over night, it years of practice. I see yall talkin bout the corner store. What about the “candy lady house”….with the frozen cups.
Celisea
February 13th, 2013
2:50 pm
Nothing like Bubba’s for recycling bottles for .05 cents and the candy lady with the weird smelling house but a kitchen table full of goodies and “big ole nounlaters (now & laters)” and floor freezer with freezie cups. Red koolaid, that melted just enough to flip that bad boy over and suck from the bottom. It was always sweetest there. By the time the “red” was gone and there was pink ice left, it was time for another. Or, the big ole cookies for .05 cents.
Celisea
February 13th, 2013
2:53 pm
I remember walking around with a red wagon picking up bottles on the side of the road and in the dirt. We didn’t even rinse them off, just put them in the wagon until you got a dollar or close to a dollar. You could do “candy lady damage” with a dollar. It seems those were only Pepsi product bottles that got recycled. Then our “white” neighbors that only drank sweet tea or Pepsi. They would buy six packs by the load. We would ask for their bottles.
disco
February 13th, 2013
2:55 pm
D – I can’t pass judgment. I was the chick whose birthday fell on the 17th of whatever month it was about to be. lol. we had a candy lady across the street but she didn’t go into full effect until the little old lady who ran the corner store got sick. that’s when the candy lady blew up. she was making mad bank.
C – we got a dime for pop bottles.
Leggs
February 13th, 2013
2:55 pm
disco ~ that was the only rule I broke on the bus, passing bus pass through window. I was scared of my mother so forging notes, changing grades is something I never thought about.
Celisea
February 13th, 2013
2:57 pm
.10 cents? Really? I must have moved on to getting an allowance or something or I thought I wsa too grown to pick up bottles, because I don’t remember ever getting .10 cents for them. I feel cheated.
Celisea
February 13th, 2013
2:58 pm
I rode Marta, better not pass nothing out the window….lololol
Leggs
February 13th, 2013
2:59 pm
On one corner was the candy store and the other corner was the french fry man. Got a bag of french fries in greasy brown paper bag. Those were the days.
Celisea
February 13th, 2013
2:59 pm
I remember feeling all space aged and stuff when they talked about building the first Marta Train Station. I was feeling all apocolypsy and stuff….lololol What a silly girl I was. Like “dang, trains running through the city and underground!!! I’m laughing as I type this.
disco
February 13th, 2013
3:01 pm
C – most of us were walkers at school. the occasional kid had a bus pass that was good for the city bus. the kids with the bus pass would get on first and head to the back. the after school rush was usually busy enough to keep the driver from noticing 10 kids got on with one pass. lol.
at one point counterfeit bus passes were a hustle. you could buy one for like $10 and ride until you got caught with it. of course they were school passes so you could only ride Monday-Friday.