For the love of money… or is just for love! Happy Valentines Day Everyone…
February 14th, 2008 by Your Financial Resource
Here are some statistics that I found quite interesting while researching what it costs to express your love in the United States. According to the National Retail Federation (NRF) 2006 Valentine’s Day Survey, it’s costing more to show your love. Apparently, the average American will spend over $100 on February 14. Call me cheap, but that just seems like a lot of wasted money to me on a fabricated holiday to apparently express your love to your loved ones.
The statistics show that men will spend (aged 45-54) nearly double what women spend on the holiday and will be purchasing less flowers and more jewelry. Guys… save your money and make dinner or clean the house and use the savings to get the both of you something that would be a real asset. Now, that’s romantic!
62% of consumers will purchase at least one greeting card for the holiday, with 47.1% buying candy and 42.1% enjoying an evening out with their sweetheart. Other popular gifts include flowers (32.9%), jewelry (14.6%) and gift cards/gift certificates (10.9%). Be creative people, write a note on some recyclable cardboard, paper or anything. Save the environment by not going to the store, using gas, wasting time looking at the card racks, standing in line with all the other last minute thinkers and spending your money on something that took down trees and used trucks to deliver it to your neighborhood pharmacy. Be thoughtful and creative, spend some time making your own representation of your love.
Valentine’s Day is the third most popular card-sending holiday behind Christmas and Father’s Day, according to the National Retail Federation.
More than 36 million heart-shaped boxes of chocolate will be sold for Valentine’s Day, according to the National Confectioner’s Association.
Below you will find a video clip from Channel 8 News where Pete the Planner makes some recommendations on how to be effective with your spending on this holiday. Most importantly these ideas can be used next week and next month as there will always be moments to show love for your loved ones and it does not have to be expensive.
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This entry was posted on Thursday, February 14th, 2008 at 8:16 pm and is filed under Environment, General, Spending. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
February 14th, 2008 at 10:18 pm
That was an interesting video and a very different perspective of looking at valentines day Shahin. I will take you up on your suggestion to make a greeting card of recycled cardboard paper. Just hope my wife will love it
On another note, with the current US economy, do you think people will be spending and traveling less on the holidays this year? Isn’t that going to be worse for our economy?
Happy valentines to you and your loved ones!