You know what time of year it is, right? Valentine’s Day is here! This is actually one of my very favorite times. And I have a few ideas for you, especially if you’re trying to pay off your debt. Because if you are tapping into anything from DaniJohnson.com, you know that you are supposed to be learning how to become financially responsible so that you can get yourself to financial independence and come out of the slavery and the headache and the sleepless nights that come from debt.
So I have such a great idea for you for tomorrow! I have several ideas, actually, that I believe will totally help you. And if tomorrow is a terrible day for you because you may be alone on Valentine’s day and all the talk of love in the air just makes you depressed…well, I’m your first Valentine! Happy Valentine’s Day! (I like to call it ‘I Love You Day!’)
This is a day to express love, honor, and adoration. And when you couple that with all of the messaging you get from us every day about becoming financially independent and being mindful of your spending (especially in times like now, when you have so many businesses trying to get you to spend money on bogus things), WOW! It’s going to be a great day!
Instead of another mug or candy or flowers or just stuff, I want to give you an idea of something you can do to express your love that will actually cost you nothing!
(And by the way, if you are single, do NOT discard this message! I have a couple ideas for you, too.)
One thing you can do is this: Rather than buying a gift, why don’t you do something that costs you nothing, but means so much more to the receiver? Something that will mean more than a dinner or flowers or another blouse or another item that will just end up in next year’s garage sale.
Grab a cup or an old tin (you probably have something sitting around the house that you can use) and some paper. If you have kids, you probably have some colored construction paper around the house somewhere. Go get it!
Write encouraging notes on the paper. Write things you love about the person. You could even write out a bunch of scriptures, if that’s something the person would appreciate. Then fold them up and put them in the cup. This is a great gift that someone can keep on their desk, bedroom, or anywhere else really.
Someone did this for me once, and I kept it on my desk for a really long time. It so blessed me. She wrote little encouraging notes, saying things like, "Today is going to be a great day!" and "Strength, beauty, and honor." and "Love God with all your heart." They were just little reminders for every day.
Here’s another thing you could do. Rather than buying a gift, you can give the greatest gift, which is of your time. These are gifts that I, personally, love. I watched my girlfriend Mona do this for her husband one year. It was so awesome! I’ve done it for several years for my family and other people.
Mona handmade her husband a card and put a coupon inside it. It was a coupon for helping him clean the garage. This was awesome because the garage was a major pet peeve for him. He is one of those organized people and he loves for everything to be in order. (If you have gone through our GEMS™ program, you understand that he is what we call an Emerald.) And Mona is his exact opposite. She’s very fun, and totally disorganized. (She’s what we call a Sapphire.) So you can imagine the communication issues these two have had in their marriage. But as she learned what is important to him and how she can best honor him and communicate with him, she realized this would be a gift that he would really love. And he LOVED it! It really showed him that she loved him.
You can do all kinds of coupons! It can be for cleaning the house or cooking dinner or washing the car. Think of things that really help reduce people’s stress. It’s free! You are giving your time to serve somebody else.
There’s another one that my girlfriend Jenn has done for Hans and me from time to time. In fact, we are redeeming one this weekend! For my birthday last year, she gave me a coupon for keeping the boys for the weekend so Hans and I can go away for a weekend alone. Isn’t that an awesome gift?! We can have a weekend together without stressing about the kids or the house.
Use your imagination and think creatively! What’s another way you can really bless someone without spending money?
Here’s another way you can show your love on Valentine’s Day, and it doesn’t matter if you are single, dating, or married! In fact, your whole family or office can do this.
Instead of spending money on the typical gifts of cards and candy and flowers, what if you became a Valentine for an orphan? Can you imagine starting a trend like that? Can you imagine the trend of saying NO to all of the marketing nonsense that is out there right now, and deciding instead to start a movement of expressing your love by providing for an orphan today? Think about how powerful that would be!
Nobody thinks about orphans in February! If anyone ever things about feeding someone who is homeless or hurting, it’s usually in December, or sometimes November for Thanksgiving. But never for Valentine’s Day, right? I say let’s join forces and start a new trend!
Let’s pull out of the market that is trying to get us to spend money on stuff we do not need! If you do have a budget for Valentine’s Day, or if you are single and you’re planning on buying flowers for yourself (like 15% of women do), let’s help an orphan feel your love!
Here’s one great project we’re working on right now, along with King’s Ransom Foundation. We need to get a roof on an orphanage in Belize that we have been building for the last couple of years. We are at the very end of this project, but we still have a little ways to go. We are putting a roof over a bunch of orphans’ heads, and providing food, shelter, safety, and education! We are helping their lives to get better, instead of buying things like flowers and candy. Look how that is expressing love!
Giving and serving go right along with love. Buying stuff that ends up in the trash? That doesn’t exactly say "love", now does it?
You can get ahold of King’s Ransom Foundation here. This is an amazing organization that is currently feeding thousands and thousands of children every single month. It is the only organization that I recommend and I am 100% behind. That is where our money goes because 100% of the money goes to the kids who are in need.
So I hope you found some really good tips today to help you make this Valentine’s Day special! Let’s go hog wild right now and send this to everyone you know. Share this on Facebook & Twitter, and make sure people are reading this! You can even print this out and pass it around your office today. Let your kids read it!
Let’s create a movement, and instead of blowing money on things that are silly and don’t really mean anything, let’s serve people with encouraging words or by giving of our time, and expressing our love for those who are in need.
I hope you have a really great day today! And until next time, God bless!
In great faith,
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