we are just too tight on funds to have a fancy night and expensive gifts, so we decided to do something awesome for each other at home. I am planning his favorite dinner and a long massage. I don't what he's planning, but I know it involves turning off the cell phones and not answering the door. Sounds like a great Valentines day to me.
My boyfriend and I started this tradition our first V-day together and look forward to it every year. We bought 2 composition notebooks, his and hers. We hand write a love letter to each other in the notebook. It's a way of being able to look back on the growth of our love and relationship through the letters and only cost us the price of the notebooks.
Instead of buying those expensive bouquets, I think origami roses are absolutely beautiful, and not to mention cheap! And they never die! Not only are they easy to make, but a written love letter and a nice home cooked dinner from a husband/boyfriend (Yes, the males! The women need to rest!) is just absolutely wonderful and lovely. Also I found this one gesture extremely romantic: my boyfriend made 12 origami roses and wrote a short note about why he loved me in each rose.
This year, to show my appreciation for my girfriends insisting I not feel pressured by valentine's day, I have written a song for her, and I will make a candlelight dinner for her, and while she is eating, I will play the song on acoustic guitar. Or maybe after we are done eating, so she doesn't spit her food up because it's so terrible ha! The song, that is...or the food I guess. Fortunately I'm a good cook and a decent songwriter. I guess just utilize what you are creative with and your efforts will show your love more than some extravagant thing that requres NO effort, just cash
Instead of buying those expensive bouquets, I think origami roses are absolutely beautiful, and not to mention cheap! And they never die! Not only are they easy to make, but a written love letter and a nice home cooked dinner from a husband/boyfriend (Yes, the males! The women need to rest!) is just absolutely wonderful and lovely. Also I found this one gesture extremely romantic: my boyfriend made 12 origami roses and wrote a short note about why he loved me in each rose.
My wife swears up and down that Valentine's Day is the most disgusting holiday in our country. The way she puts it:
1. It's the one day of the year that deadbeats try to make up for a year's worth of neglect.
2. It's the one day of the year that the women of deadbeats point to while they stick with their deadbeat dudes.
3. It's the one day in which hopelessly romantic idiots make asses of themselves because all they know of romance is from the movies.
4. It's the one day of the year when truly romantic couples feel guilt-tripped into spending tons of money doing really romantic things... that ultimately end up failing because of the performance-pressure.
My take: It's the best day to cure your wife's cynicism. The real reason my wife hates Valentine's Day is because she's afraid of being disappointed. Railing against it is her way of insulating herself. But what would happen if I ignored it? Disappointment, that's what. Catch-22, anyone?
The whole point of romance is to express and receive the intimate expression of our love for one another, right? My solution is pretty basic:
1. I make sure that the weeks leading up to V-Day are better than average—otherwise the holiday romance just feels fake.
2. I don't do ANYTHING extraordinary or costly on V-Day. I keep it simple—hire a baby-sitter, cook dinner, give her a single red rose, take her for a walk, and get this: I talk with her.
Result: She feels loved, admired, and honored.
Sound too pragmatic? Yeah, right. "My husband is so pragmatic and calculated. He spends two weeks doing extra-romantic things, just so Valentine's Day doesn't seem fake and hollow. How coldly unromantic." Romance=time, effort, and fore-thought.
Why did I spend so much time writing this when all I want is a free iPod? I haven't the slightest idea. I hardly even answered the question.
I don't normally cook, my girlfriend usually does all the cooking while I sit and watch. So I'm going to surprise her by cooking a romantic meal and then watching one of her favorite girlie movies The Notebook which I have previously refused to watch.
I understand very well that you quited doing mystery shopping because of lousy salary. I still do some mysteryshopping but I am constantly telling people to ask for better compensations. 10 dollars is just not enough. Not at all. But I guess if 90 % is happy for 10 dollar they will never raise the compensations..
Great tips. It's amazing what can happen when you suggest you may cancel. Instead of being put through to the cancellations team you end up with the 'make them stay' team. If anyone has a phone contract you should always try this as soon as the contract expires and see what you can get.
That could be a good treat to share for a Birthday party! Have the guest of honor's favorite treat pimped out and make an outrageous party theme out of it. Crazy!
Cheers
Alex
fun and good taste starts here.....candy
After several Valentine's Day disasters at crowded, over priced restaurants we started a tradition of staying home. He loves to grill and I love to bake so we have a nice dinner after the children are in bed.
Share your love with the less fortunate. When you are in a position to think about celebrating Valentine's day, it means you have the good fortune of having someone to share the present. Make it special by volunteering together at a homeless shelter, reading to visually challenged, helping out at the local food bank. By being together and doing something for others, it will turn out to be a worthy (and frugal!) Valentine.
Mystery shopping reports - some are simple yes/no with only a few full sentence explanations. Higher end shops (restaurants especially) require great detail and they expect perfectly written reports-no grammar errors, no spelling errors....full sentences is a must. Sometimes a dinner shop can produce a report that takes 2-3 hours to type. It's not fun and games, it's work! Believe me!
Homemade things are always the frugal choice, but if you still want to go out, consider going for a Valentine breakfast or lunch (which are cheaper and less crowded--save time, too!). It's on Saturday this year, after all.
My favorite gifts are gifts from the heart. A great frugal gift is to make coupons for gifts like a massage, cuddle time, watching a "chick flick" with you, a home-cooked meal...whatever you think the person would love. It truly is a gift from the heart, because you're giving of your time.
Usually, I'll draw a bath and set candles all around the bathroom, along with her favorite music and drink. Then I take the kids out of the house, allowing my wife to relax and pamper herself without having a child knocking at the door every 2 seconds.
I'm going to call around and see if some of our local restaurants have any specials that weekend. We are not going out on the 14th but the 15th. We will be taking our daughters with us so no babysitting money needed. Just a nice easy family dinner. Thank you!
The problem with the self-help / get rich industry, is that they sell people on "secrets." Knowledge that has been supposedly suppressed by the mainstream to keep them from being rich. The secrets are irresistible to people, and often times not so secret once told.
we are just too tight on funds to have a fancy night and expensive gifts, so we decided to do something awesome for each other at home. I am planning his favorite dinner and a long massage. I don't what he's planning, but I know it involves turning off the cell phones and not answering the door. Sounds like a great Valentines day to me.
My boyfriend and I started this tradition our first V-day together and look forward to it every year. We bought 2 composition notebooks, his and hers. We hand write a love letter to each other in the notebook. It's a way of being able to look back on the growth of our love and relationship through the letters and only cost us the price of the notebooks.
Sorry about the double, post, I hadn't seen that my first one had been posted!
Instead of buying those expensive bouquets, I think origami roses are absolutely beautiful, and not to mention cheap! And they never die! Not only are they easy to make, but a written love letter and a nice home cooked dinner from a husband/boyfriend (Yes, the males! The women need to rest!) is just absolutely wonderful and lovely. Also I found this one gesture extremely romantic: my boyfriend made 12 origami roses and wrote a short note about why he loved me in each rose.
This year, to show my appreciation for my girfriends insisting I not feel pressured by valentine's day, I have written a song for her, and I will make a candlelight dinner for her, and while she is eating, I will play the song on acoustic guitar. Or maybe after we are done eating, so she doesn't spit her food up because it's so terrible ha! The song, that is...or the food I guess. Fortunately I'm a good cook and a decent songwriter. I guess just utilize what you are creative with and your efforts will show your love more than some extravagant thing that requres NO effort, just cash
I cook a special dinner for us, we rent a good movie and instead of cut flowers, he gets me a plant every year.
Instead of buying those expensive bouquets, I think origami roses are absolutely beautiful, and not to mention cheap! And they never die! Not only are they easy to make, but a written love letter and a nice home cooked dinner from a husband/boyfriend (Yes, the males! The women need to rest!) is just absolutely wonderful and lovely. Also I found this one gesture extremely romantic: my boyfriend made 12 origami roses and wrote a short note about why he loved me in each rose.
My wife swears up and down that Valentine's Day is the most disgusting holiday in our country. The way she puts it:
1. It's the one day of the year that deadbeats try to make up for a year's worth of neglect.
2. It's the one day of the year that the women of deadbeats point to while they stick with their deadbeat dudes.
3. It's the one day in which hopelessly romantic idiots make asses of themselves because all they know of romance is from the movies.
4. It's the one day of the year when truly romantic couples feel guilt-tripped into spending tons of money doing really romantic things... that ultimately end up failing because of the performance-pressure.
My take: It's the best day to cure your wife's cynicism. The real reason my wife hates Valentine's Day is because she's afraid of being disappointed. Railing against it is her way of insulating herself. But what would happen if I ignored it? Disappointment, that's what. Catch-22, anyone?
The whole point of romance is to express and receive the intimate expression of our love for one another, right? My solution is pretty basic:
1. I make sure that the weeks leading up to V-Day are better than average—otherwise the holiday romance just feels fake.
2. I don't do ANYTHING extraordinary or costly on V-Day. I keep it simple—hire a baby-sitter, cook dinner, give her a single red rose, take her for a walk, and get this: I talk with her.
Result: She feels loved, admired, and honored.
Sound too pragmatic? Yeah, right. "My husband is so pragmatic and calculated. He spends two weeks doing extra-romantic things, just so Valentine's Day doesn't seem fake and hollow. How coldly unromantic." Romance=time, effort, and fore-thought.
Why did I spend so much time writing this when all I want is a free iPod? I haven't the slightest idea. I hardly even answered the question.
make dinner for the lovely wife!
I don't normally cook, my girlfriend usually does all the cooking while I sit and watch. So I'm going to surprise her by cooking a romantic meal and then watching one of her favorite girlie movies The Notebook which I have previously refused to watch.
Thanks for your article.
I understand very well that you quited doing mystery shopping because of lousy salary. I still do some mysteryshopping but I am constantly telling people to ask for better compensations. 10 dollars is just not enough. Not at all. But I guess if 90 % is happy for 10 dollar they will never raise the compensations..
I started my Mystery Shopping blog few months ago. (Sorry, it´s in Finnish :-)
Great tips. It's amazing what can happen when you suggest you may cancel. Instead of being put through to the cancellations team you end up with the 'make them stay' team. If anyone has a phone contract you should always try this as soon as the contract expires and see what you can get.
That could be a good treat to share for a Birthday party! Have the guest of honor's favorite treat pimped out and make an outrageous party theme out of it. Crazy!
Cheers
Alex
fun and good taste starts here.....candy
After several Valentine's Day disasters at crowded, over priced restaurants we started a tradition of staying home. He loves to grill and I love to bake so we have a nice dinner after the children are in bed.
Share your love with the less fortunate. When you are in a position to think about celebrating Valentine's day, it means you have the good fortune of having someone to share the present. Make it special by volunteering together at a homeless shelter, reading to visually challenged, helping out at the local food bank. By being together and doing something for others, it will turn out to be a worthy (and frugal!) Valentine.
A romantic dinner and flowers will do the trick. Then a warm sensual massage at home to complete the trick. Magic complete.
Mystery shopping reports - some are simple yes/no with only a few full sentence explanations. Higher end shops (restaurants especially) require great detail and they expect perfectly written reports-no grammar errors, no spelling errors....full sentences is a must. Sometimes a dinner shop can produce a report that takes 2-3 hours to type. It's not fun and games, it's work! Believe me!
Homemade things are always the frugal choice, but if you still want to go out, consider going for a Valentine breakfast or lunch (which are cheaper and less crowded--save time, too!). It's on Saturday this year, after all.
My favorite gifts are gifts from the heart. A great frugal gift is to make coupons for gifts like a massage, cuddle time, watching a "chick flick" with you, a home-cooked meal...whatever you think the person would love. It truly is a gift from the heart, because you're giving of your time.
Usually, I'll draw a bath and set candles all around the bathroom, along with her favorite music and drink. Then I take the kids out of the house, allowing my wife to relax and pamper herself without having a child knocking at the door every 2 seconds.
I would use movie ticket or restaurant coupons the most! Please enter me in the drawing. Thanks!
I'm going to call around and see if some of our local restaurants have any specials that weekend. We are not going out on the 14th but the 15th. We will be taking our daughters with us so no babysitting money needed. Just a nice easy family dinner. Thank you!
A lot of the restaurants that offer 2-for-1 deals will also accomodate a single diner by offering 50% off. Just ask.
The problem with the self-help / get rich industry, is that they sell people on "secrets." Knowledge that has been supposedly suppressed by the mainstream to keep them from being rich. The secrets are irresistible to people, and often times not so secret once told.
Lose all your friends! Waste hours of time before you realize the only way to make money is selling motivational tapes!