Frugal Valentine's Day Tip #1: Time is free

Valentine's Day is six days from now. Since I'm booless in 2010, I get to keep all my cash in my pocket. But for those of you with obligations, this week's posts are for lovers, particularly lovers on a budget.

I asked my Twitter followers (follow me at www.twitter.com/k_dot_re) over the weekend for their best frugal Valentine's Day suggestions, so I'm going to post at least one a day between now and Friday, with a roundup on Friday.

Here's the first one, from @adriennewrites:

The best vdays gift is time.Flowers at work are nice, but a walk together or free ice skating is better. all women want, really, is time. Not sex always, but time. Not sure what men want for Valentines Day.

So pay attention fellas. If the wallet is slim, just plan to spend a day, or a weekend together. Gather up some movies (you don't even have to pay to rent them. If your local library's like mine, you can get the latest, sappy chic flicks for nothing), and lay a blanket on the floor. Or take her suggestion and go ice skating, which should be easy since half the country is frozen this week anyway. If you can't ice skate, don't trip: if you've got a good one who appreciates you spending the time, she'll pick you up and dust you off. Or take you to the hospital if you break something.

(If you fall and she does neither, she's no good and you should be happy you didn't spend anything on the date to begin with.)

That said, @adriennewrites does have a caveat for her frugal suggestion:

I'll never turn down dinner at a fab restaurant where i get to wear a freakum dress.

Fair enough, so long as you realize that that statement answers your question about what men want for Valentine's Day: we want what comes after the fab dinner when you're wearing the freakum dress.