My favorite frugal V-Day:
-When I woke up to go to work, my partner had left flowers in my car
-After work, he had loaded a ton of love songs onto his ipod, lit the house full of candles, and made a very nice dinner for us.
It was all very romantic, very special, and very frugal.
My husband and I don't really celebrate Valentine's day. We think that every day should be a special day and that it's important to reach out to each other each day. If we were to celebrate, I think the best thing would be to enjoy a "do nothing" day together. No schedules, no phones/internet/etc, just a day together hanging out, talking, and enjoying the company.
Valentines Day to me isn't about giving gifts or cards to the people you love, it is about letting them know how you really, truly feel, straight from the heart. Often times I try to find the words to express myself, but often feel frustrated at myself for my feeling deep inside that I did not do so adequately. So my favorite frugal V-Day tip is to make a Compilation Music CD for my loved ones tailored to specifically let them know how I truly feel about them by selecting songs whose lyrics speak for me. I have quite an extensive music collection so I have an almost unlimited amount of songs to choose from and what is nice about giving this Frugal Valentines Day gift is that you are able to accomplish so much at one time! 1) You are giving that person a MOST UNIQUE gift that no one else has, 2) You are truly expressing through MUSIC how you truly feel about that person in the most relaxing, enjoyable and entertaining way that you can convey a message, 3) They are going to LOVE YOU for taking so much time out of your busy day to make this one of a kind gift for them, and lastly 4) It doesn't cost you a thing, but your time, heart and deep soul searching. I select the songs first and foremost based on the lyrics because this is a gift of expression, second is the rhythm and genre of the music, and third it has to be a musical artist I know the receiver can relate to and enjoys listening to. I hope this inspires someone out there to make this gift of music for their loved ones! Thank you for the opportunity to share my thoughts!
Thanks for your points -- all valid ones. These are many variables to financial health including investments, debt, cash, etc. and these factors all play a role in mortgage payoff; a crystal ball would be useful but as mentioned so is diversification. As far as holding time on a house, readers seem to say that people don't stay in their homes very long now but the media is starting to say that mobility may lessen rather than accelerate in this economy. As for me, I was in my first house, 1 year; second house, 6 months (2 relocations in a short time period); and third house, nearly 16 years and counting.
Best frugal gift on Valentine's day is a quiet day with my wife. I will pamper her with breakfast in bed and we will watch chick flicks all day and relax.
We have a tradition of writing poems to each other on special occasions. They can be funny, loving, meaningful, or silly, it really does not matter. The important thing is that they take time and they show how much you care. Added bonus: they cost nothing! Once you get into writing poetry (even if it terrible, every single time) it really does become fun. The longer you've been with your significant other, the easier it is because you have more memories to draw from.
After you've amassed a collection of poems over time, it becomes a great bonding activity to re-read them to see how your relationship has progressed.
Since we have children now, we make home made cards for each and we do some fun baking together!
I'll make the familys favourite meal(homemade pizza) and for a special gift, my hubby does dishes and kitchen cleanup!
Last year, my boyfriend and I decided to save money on valentines day, and had the best night of our lives. We went to walmart and picked up some blue construction paper, some of our favorite snacks (chips, cheese, crackers, popcorn, etc) and some small votive candles. We also picked up some of the cheapest, lowest thread count sheets they had (luckily they were having a sale - $2 each ($4 total). We went home and I started cutting out stars from the construction paper, and taped them to thread we had at home at different lengths. We hung the stars from the ceiling all over and used push pins to tack up the sheets. Using a small cd player we had at home, we put on some music, lit the candles around the tent on tables, and crawed in. We put a towel down under the food to keep the mess limited, and ate our favorite snacks all night long. It was really romantic to spend time together one on one, acting like little kids camping out in our living room and it probably cost us a total of $25. It was well spent!
The truth is we express to each other every day how much we love one another, so our best Valentine's tip is to ignore the hype and celebrate one another every day of the year!
The most expensive gifts are not what matters on Valentine's Day. It's showing your favourite person how much they mean to you. This is the day to do those things they are always wanting. It could be something as simple as going for a romantic walk, packing a picnic and going for a hike in the woods. It's about spending quality time with them and showing them how much you love them. Be creative and treat them like a queen or king!
For v day this year my husband has to work. So I plan on making his favorite strawberry pie and having our little babies help make cards. Then I am going to take it to his work while he is out on lunch and surprise him with it when he gets back.
I think my idea is pretty much like the majority. Valentines is a quiet romantic time you don't want to share with a noisy restaurant.
We usually splurge on some seafood. We spend a couple of hours preparing our meal. Then we spend a couple more savoring in five short courses.
salad, soup, appetizer such as shrimp, main course and then a yummy dessert that is easy to make usually chocolate. How can you beat that for romance.
Amen, amen, amen! Not many people discuss this. So glad you did. I know there truly are people who are in dire financial situations right now, but this article speaks to them as well. It's just like people who don't coupon shop because their excuse is that it's not worth it - or people who can't afford to buy a $3 double bundle of Sunday papers. They don't realize that those papers will way more than pay for themselves. We're all living and learning, right?
sounds like it did not ferment and all you did was boil water,,,, sweet water. you can taste it first, it should we like a flavourless wine. did the air trap bubble for days first? did it foam up? you can drink a cup or 2 and get a little buzz. what type of yeast did you use? did you boil the water first? it removes chlorine that way that would kill yeast.
I knocked 0.3% off my mortgage just by asking for it a few years ago. When my mortgage comes up for renewal next year I'll do the same, but this time I can say, "you did it for me once before".
To date, asking them to give me a better rate has saved around $2,000. Just goes to show that like you said, everything is negotiable. ;)
There are quite a few "facts" from this article that get under my skin, but I will address only the first for time's sake (and since I think other commenters also addressed them).
"antibiotic, hormone and pesticide free" = does not mean that these are absent from milk... well duh. I think most of us should know this. What Horizon means by this phrase is that they add NONE of this to their milk process. They refrain from the overuse of antibiotics, which are so overused that we are seeing many problems with antibiotic resistance. They also refrain from pumping their cows with hormones. We get hormones from so many other foods that I feel comfort in this fact. Now of course there are some hormones in the milk, after all it does come from a living being, but the fact that additional growing hormones are not added is a comfort to me. And finally the fact that they do not use pesticides does not refer to other milk manufacturers adding pesticides to their milk, of course not. This refers to feeding the cows feed that was not grown with the use of pesticides. This is again comforting to me since pesticides can be inadvertently consumed by cows and end up in their milk.
These are just a few of the ridiculous claims twisted by this article.
Where did this guy get his information from? I am thinking he just made it up for the a good media scare...
strawberries dipped in dark chocolate are a delicious,healthy treat for your valentine
My favorite frugal V-Day:
-When I woke up to go to work, my partner had left flowers in my car
-After work, he had loaded a ton of love songs onto his ipod, lit the house full of candles, and made a very nice dinner for us.
It was all very romantic, very special, and very frugal.
My Dad makes dinner for my mom and me. He buys us each a box of chocolate and some flowers.
My husband and I don't really celebrate Valentine's day. We think that every day should be a special day and that it's important to reach out to each other each day. If we were to celebrate, I think the best thing would be to enjoy a "do nothing" day together. No schedules, no phones/internet/etc, just a day together hanging out, talking, and enjoying the company.
Valentines Day to me isn't about giving gifts or cards to the people you love, it is about letting them know how you really, truly feel, straight from the heart. Often times I try to find the words to express myself, but often feel frustrated at myself for my feeling deep inside that I did not do so adequately. So my favorite frugal V-Day tip is to make a Compilation Music CD for my loved ones tailored to specifically let them know how I truly feel about them by selecting songs whose lyrics speak for me. I have quite an extensive music collection so I have an almost unlimited amount of songs to choose from and what is nice about giving this Frugal Valentines Day gift is that you are able to accomplish so much at one time! 1) You are giving that person a MOST UNIQUE gift that no one else has, 2) You are truly expressing through MUSIC how you truly feel about that person in the most relaxing, enjoyable and entertaining way that you can convey a message, 3) They are going to LOVE YOU for taking so much time out of your busy day to make this one of a kind gift for them, and lastly 4) It doesn't cost you a thing, but your time, heart and deep soul searching. I select the songs first and foremost based on the lyrics because this is a gift of expression, second is the rhythm and genre of the music, and third it has to be a musical artist I know the receiver can relate to and enjoys listening to. I hope this inspires someone out there to make this gift of music for their loved ones! Thank you for the opportunity to share my thoughts!
My frugal tip for cold MN weather on Vday: A walk around Lake Nokomis followed by your favorite way of helping each other warm back up.
Wow, so many people with wonderful Valentine's plans! My partner and I don't really celebrate it, so I guess that's my frugal tip.
Thanks for your points -- all valid ones. These are many variables to financial health including investments, debt, cash, etc. and these factors all play a role in mortgage payoff; a crystal ball would be useful but as mentioned so is diversification. As far as holding time on a house, readers seem to say that people don't stay in their homes very long now but the media is starting to say that mobility may lessen rather than accelerate in this economy. As for me, I was in my first house, 1 year; second house, 6 months (2 relocations in a short time period); and third house, nearly 16 years and counting.
Is it not the fault of big banks for creating all of this. They get bailed out why shouldn't I. Its my tax money anyway.
Best frugal gift on Valentine's day is a quiet day with my wife. I will pamper her with breakfast in bed and we will watch chick flicks all day and relax.
We have a tradition of writing poems to each other on special occasions. They can be funny, loving, meaningful, or silly, it really does not matter. The important thing is that they take time and they show how much you care. Added bonus: they cost nothing! Once you get into writing poetry (even if it terrible, every single time) it really does become fun. The longer you've been with your significant other, the easier it is because you have more memories to draw from.
After you've amassed a collection of poems over time, it becomes a great bonding activity to re-read them to see how your relationship has progressed.
It's a fun, frugal way to say "I love you!"
Since we have children now, we make home made cards for each and we do some fun baking together!
I'll make the familys favourite meal(homemade pizza) and for a special gift, my hubby does dishes and kitchen cleanup!
Last year, my boyfriend and I decided to save money on valentines day, and had the best night of our lives. We went to walmart and picked up some blue construction paper, some of our favorite snacks (chips, cheese, crackers, popcorn, etc) and some small votive candles. We also picked up some of the cheapest, lowest thread count sheets they had (luckily they were having a sale - $2 each ($4 total). We went home and I started cutting out stars from the construction paper, and taped them to thread we had at home at different lengths. We hung the stars from the ceiling all over and used push pins to tack up the sheets. Using a small cd player we had at home, we put on some music, lit the candles around the tent on tables, and crawed in. We put a towel down under the food to keep the mess limited, and ate our favorite snacks all night long. It was really romantic to spend time together one on one, acting like little kids camping out in our living room and it probably cost us a total of $25. It was well spent!
we review love notes from our courtship period
The truth is we express to each other every day how much we love one another, so our best Valentine's tip is to ignore the hype and celebrate one another every day of the year!
The most expensive gifts are not what matters on Valentine's Day. It's showing your favourite person how much they mean to you. This is the day to do those things they are always wanting. It could be something as simple as going for a romantic walk, packing a picnic and going for a hike in the woods. It's about spending quality time with them and showing them how much you love them. Be creative and treat them like a queen or king!
For v day this year my husband has to work. So I plan on making his favorite strawberry pie and having our little babies help make cards. Then I am going to take it to his work while he is out on lunch and surprise him with it when he gets back.
I think my idea is pretty much like the majority. Valentines is a quiet romantic time you don't want to share with a noisy restaurant.
We usually splurge on some seafood. We spend a couple of hours preparing our meal. Then we spend a couple more savoring in five short courses.
salad, soup, appetizer such as shrimp, main course and then a yummy dessert that is easy to make usually chocolate. How can you beat that for romance.
Amen, amen, amen! Not many people discuss this. So glad you did. I know there truly are people who are in dire financial situations right now, but this article speaks to them as well. It's just like people who don't coupon shop because their excuse is that it's not worth it - or people who can't afford to buy a $3 double bundle of Sunday papers. They don't realize that those papers will way more than pay for themselves. We're all living and learning, right?
sounds like it did not ferment and all you did was boil water,,,, sweet water. you can taste it first, it should we like a flavourless wine. did the air trap bubble for days first? did it foam up? you can drink a cup or 2 and get a little buzz. what type of yeast did you use? did you boil the water first? it removes chlorine that way that would kill yeast.
I knocked 0.3% off my mortgage just by asking for it a few years ago. When my mortgage comes up for renewal next year I'll do the same, but this time I can say, "you did it for me once before".
To date, asking them to give me a better rate has saved around $2,000. Just goes to show that like you said, everything is negotiable. ;)
We make our own cards with pictures of us from when we first met. It always brings back good memories.
There are quite a few "facts" from this article that get under my skin, but I will address only the first for time's sake (and since I think other commenters also addressed them).
"antibiotic, hormone and pesticide free" = does not mean that these are absent from milk... well duh. I think most of us should know this. What Horizon means by this phrase is that they add NONE of this to their milk process. They refrain from the overuse of antibiotics, which are so overused that we are seeing many problems with antibiotic resistance. They also refrain from pumping their cows with hormones. We get hormones from so many other foods that I feel comfort in this fact. Now of course there are some hormones in the milk, after all it does come from a living being, but the fact that additional growing hormones are not added is a comfort to me. And finally the fact that they do not use pesticides does not refer to other milk manufacturers adding pesticides to their milk, of course not. This refers to feeding the cows feed that was not grown with the use of pesticides. This is again comforting to me since pesticides can be inadvertently consumed by cows and end up in their milk.
These are just a few of the ridiculous claims twisted by this article.
Where did this guy get his information from? I am thinking he just made it up for the a good media scare...
A hand written love letter and a homemade sweet treat would be lovely and very, very romantic.
My husband and I send each other Valentine's Day eCards. It's a yearly tradition and we love it.