Hi there, Mrs. 1500 today, asking how big you celebrate Valentine’s Day. But first, let’s reveal the winners of our Shortest Book in the World Contest.
Erin from Red Debted Stepchild was our official judge, and I will let her take it away.
Okay, you guys, those were some seriously hilarious “shortest books ever written”! But I have chosen my two favorites.
#1. Retire Before Dad with “Furniture Shopping” by Red Debted Stepchild. This, my friend, is pandering. Fortunately, I am easily bought, so you get a gift card for being a dirty brown noser!
#2. Refinerr with “How to Win Friends and Influence People” by Adolf Hitler & Gwenyth Paltrow. I choked on my coffee when I read this one. Hilarious! You have won one gift card and one new blog reader! (I already read you RBD, so don’t feel left out!)
Congratulations to the winners! To the losers, we can still be friends. Best friends.
Thank you for all the great submissions! Now, let’s recap how you did over January with the reader challenge of no drinking.
Alicia from Financial Diffraction, Amanda from Passionately Simple Life, Kemkem from Next Bite of Life, Erin from Red Debted Stepchild, and theFIREstarter all joined me in not totally completing the January challenge. That’s ok, we will ROCK the February challenge. Or not. Illness has hit the 1500 household, and so far I have logged 0 hours of working out. And it is the 10th day of the challenge. Probably not going to make it, but can’t wait to get back to the gym!
And now for this week’s question, how big do you celebrate Valentine’s day? I have worked in many different places, mostly for smaller companies. I did work for a larger company, and the amount of flowers that were delivered to the various people working there was astonishing, as though the only way to prove you were loved was by receiving an enormous bouquet from your significant other.
Perhaps stemming from NEVER having a boyfriend on Valentine’s Day in High School, I have not really ever celebrated it. Flower prices are dramatically increased, restaurant wait times are ridiculous, and I need more opportunities to ingest extra calories like I need an extra head! I do like the day after chocolate sales, though…
So, how big do you celebrate Valentine’s Day?
We aren’t doing anything. Some years we go out to dinner, some years we don’t. Either way, I couldn’t care less about V-Day. Weirdly enough, I was more concerned with it when I was single…
Erin @ Red Debted Stepchild recently posted…Minimalism: My Shit Doesn’t Own Me
I was, too! Especially when I was younger.
This year, we are going to the movies. I actually haven’t gone to see a movie in the theater in a very long time. For the most part, I think they are a way overpriced way to see movies as opposed to waiting a few months and watching them on Netflix. But, it’s amazing the effect this has. Now, going out to see a movie feels like a special occasion and I think will be novel and fun! By cutting back on my movie theater-going, not only have I saved money over the course of months and years, but I have actually GAINED the ability to go to a movie and have it be a special event as opposed to a mundane activity, as it used to be for me.
Dave @ The New York Budget recently posted…8 Free Finance and Productivity Tools
Nice! We, too have movies as a special occasion. We mostly see children’s movies, and only go on $5 day. But still, $5 times 4 of us, plus popcorn. CLosing in on $30 just for a family date…
We really don’t do much of anything for Valentine’s Day.
I think this year we’ll get some Thai takeout and call that our celebration!
Brad @ RichmondSavers.com recently posted…Using British Airways Avios Points for Amazing Reward Values
Thai sounds good. I am picking up Mr. 1500’s mom at the airport, and there is this amazing Thai place just outside the Denver airport, if anyone wants a recommendation…
We do the same thing every year. Get amazing seafood, great wine and cook at home. Crab legs are my favorite, but we haven’t found them here, so calamari more than likely as l love it so. I hate flowers, love chocolate but don’t need those calories!!!
Kemkem recently posted…Financial Advice for my twenties self: looking back
Crab legs are great! But I would hate to ruin them, so I only get them when we go out. I like traditions that are unique to each family. This sounds like a nice night!
We’ve generally gone small to medium on V’s day and will be doing the same this year. A nice meal in and a bottle of wine with your loved one, what more so you need really?
theFIREstarter recently posted…The Fresh Prince of Bel-Fire
Sounds great to me. We are having family in this year, so I am making a big meal, and taking it over to their hotel, where we will dine in the free breakfast area.
I’ve never been a huge fan of Valentine’s Day – I guess I don’t see the point of it? Haha. Sometimes we will go out to dinner, but I’d much rather just make a nice meal at home.
Michelle recently posted…Reasons You’re Still In Debt
The older I get, the less commercialized holidays mean to me. My Valentine celebrations happen throughout the year when my husband surprises me with a bouquet of flowers, leaves me a note, or has the coffee brewed and the house softly lit before he awakens me in the morning.
We have a nice (usually homemade) dinner and wine in, then I take advantage of the after valentine’s day sales to stock up on candy and valentines for next year…
Mom @ Three is Plenty recently posted…Detailed Financial Picture – February 2014
We usually don’t celebrate much. A fancier than normal dinner at home. We went out to eat one year and regretted it, so we never EVER go out on V-Day. Sometimes, however, we will try to have a “date night” a few days before/after.
Not sure yet what we’ll do this year.
thegoblinchief recently posted…Soul Mates
Valentine’s day is a lot like our anniversary celebration-wise. If we remember to say “Happy Valentine’s Day”, that’s a win. =). But we are going out of town this weekend, so Happy President’s Day! And hooray for 3-day weekends!
Mrs PoP @ Planting Our Pennies recently posted…Our Revised Energy Hedge
Our Church is hosting a Valentine’s dinner so we will eat there. We don’t buy gifts, just another day! 🙂
Stephanie@Mrs.Debtfighter recently posted…Propane Price Pain
We keep it small, mostly just to avoid the crowds! Also, my wife makes me promise not to buy her flowers for V-Day, since they are double (at least) the price they would normally be (though don’t worry, I try to make it up to her by buying some for her lots of other times!)
Jon @ Our Fine Adventure recently posted…Book Review: Blue Zones
Last year, the guy I was seeing left the country for a month, so I scheduled to have my wisdom teeth taken out on Valentine’s Day!
This year, since I just moved in with my boyfriend, we won’t be doing anything too big. I asked him to get/make/find me a card – that’s it. He can interpret this in any way he wants, which is part of the fun. We talked about redeeming a gift card to go out for dinner, but we may do that the day after Valentine’s Day instead.
Amanda recently posted…January Money Recap
We don’t really do much. We have a mini “happy proposal-anniversary” the week before, rather than Valentine’s Day. We don’t really do all those “anniversary” things, but we do for that. Which reminds me, I need to take my ring in to get checked for the warranty.
I’m so glad that Refinerrr was posted there… I just clicked over to her blog and I’m giggling like crazy…
We’ve got nothing planned, but I got him a small gift and I hope we’ll get to have some awesome monster-killing co-op Diablo 3 time 🙂
We don’t really do anything – I usually make some sort of card, and if I’m lucky I get a cookie cake! My parents used to always buy me a cookie cake for Valentine’s Day and it sure made life as a dorky middle schooler (complete with accelerated class schedule, being in orchestra, glasses, braces.. literally, we’re talkin’ the whole nine yards here) surprisingly exciting around February 14th 😀 I told my husband about how they used to do that for me, and last year I got a cute little heart shaped cookie for Valentine’s Day. It was perfect (and delicious).
Kali @ CommonSenseMillennial recently posted…I’m Not Having Kids (and That’s Okay)
Back when we were dating, we used to go out, but now I just want to relax. Don’t want to overpay for bad service. So staying at home.
SavvyFinancialLatina recently posted…Knowing Your Car Insurance Options When You Travel
We usually do a nice dinner out with a bottle of wine and a movie at home afterwards. Mrs. DB40 doesn’t like cut flowers so I lucked out!
We actually already celebrated this past weekend. Both of us know that we don’t really care about that day so we decided that we should go out for pizza and a pitcher of beer. It was a really nice time.
My wife suggested that we don’t buy each other cards, to which I replied great! Jokingly I asked if we should make some instead… Her response, “maybe we should just buy them” LOL.
BJ recently posted…New Stock Purchase
Thanks for choosing my shortest book in the world. Red Debted wrote a hilarious piece about her preference for take-out food vs. buying furniture which inspired that comment. As for Valentine’s Day, my wife and I decided cards were enough, if we can find the time to by them for each other. And we’ll attempt to go out to eat with the 2 kids on a day other than the 14th. I’ll probably throw in some flowers and a surprise if I can think of one.
-RBD
Retire Before Dad recently posted…Strive to Wake Up and Do Nothing (with Your Finances)
When I was a single parent all of the commercialism of holidays really stressed me out, so I would just spend a few dollars on some cute napkins a bit of candy and then my daughter and I would have a “fancy” candlelight dinner. “Fancy” meaning chicken Alfredo with heart shaped noodles 🙂 she loved it and we had lots of fond memories that didn’t cost a lot. Now I am married and have 3 kids at home, we have upgraded to fondue for everyone, but it’s at home with dollar store napkins and candles. Everybody loves it and I still don’t spend too much. As a side note last year my husband bought my flowers that were dead a few days later so this year I told him just to give me $25 so I can invest in another Lending Club note. That will make a perfect gift 🙂
We’re excited to go out for dinner at a somewhat fancy dinner. We budgeted for it and both picked the place. We’ve never been there before so we hope it’ll be good!
Michelle @fitisthenewpoor recently posted…The New Business Chronicles: The Idea
We haven’t done much in the past few years, just don’t like to spend the money. But I am excited about this year. One of our favorite local restaurants is doing a nice V Day dinner and we figured “What the heck?”. It’s been a while since we’ve been out to dinner so the babysitter is booked and we’re looking forward to a nice couples night.
Green Money Stream recently posted…My Personal Experience Peddling Mutual Funds
Thanks for the fun contest!
My parents always treated it like a holiday for anyone you loved, even family, so we just call each other to let them know we were thinking about them. Best gift of all!
Don’t know what to do to your partner on valentine’s day? I’ve got 101 romantic ideas! =) http://adf.ly/dXef0
We are going to dinner (nothing fancy, just our favorite spot) and exchanging cards. We don’t really go big on Valentine’s Day. We like to show our love and appreciation for each other throughout the year and so Valentine’s Day is just another day for us.
Don @ How You Can Find Love recently posted…20 Amazing Quotes About Love Infographic