It is the month when love in all its form is celebrated by every couple. Valentine’s Week, starting from February 7 to February 14, brings lots of joy and happiness among people irrespective of the community they belong to. Especially around this time, couples try to make their loved ones feel special. They mark the week by exchanging gifts and spending quality time with each other – having dinner or going out on vacation to celebrate in each other’s company.

While thinking of so many things one must ideally plan out their budget of spending so that they do not fall short of money in future months. One should celebrate the festive month by having a practical approach.

Here are five important things which one should always keep in mind before spending money during Valentine’s week.

Avoid heavy use of credit card

Credit card is one of the best payment modes to buy gifts during the valentine week. It gives you a credit limit of almost 2 to 3 times of your salary. Although it is better to use a credit card for purchasing things, but make sure you do not cross the extreme limit of its usage because when it comes to paying credit card bills, you may end up paying heaving interest rates, if not paid on time. If you are willing to buy something expensive from your credit card and you are unable to stop yourself, then after buying convert your credit purchase into 3 to 6 month EMIs which will reduce the load of heavy expenses occurring in a month.

You may also watch:

Check the service charge in your bill

Already people are spending so much over dining at hotels and restaurants to celebrate this week. Be aware of the fact that hotels and restaurants have started following the practice of charging ‘service charge’ in your bill, in a range between 5%-20%, which you have to pay. But now, Consumer Protection Act 1986 has advised the restaurants that the service charges implied on the food bills are totally discretionary or free of charge and if you are dissatisfied with the services given by waiters, then you can easily get your service charge waived off from the bill.

Avail discount offers from sources

Before booking a hotel or a travel ticket, look for discount offers because many of the hotels and travel agencies have started giving discounts for the whole month. If you want to save more, try to plan later of this month because by that time you may get more discounts compared to the current week which is the peak time. Check various websites which are offering discount vouchers and discount coupons. The idea behind this is to save more and celebrate more. Do not spend money recklessly.

Make use of EMI option

EMI gives you the power to buy things for your dear ones which you otherwise would not be able to purchase because of the huge price tags. EMI makes people buy luxurious items without much effort, whose salaries are just insufficient to meet their demands.

Many of you, who are celebrating their valentine day for the first time, may want to give a quite expensive gift to their loved ones. It is suggested not to buy things on cash, rather make your payments through the digital mode using cards through which your payments can be converted into small EMI’s. Paying installments will reduce the heavy load of one-time expenses which you are going to make in the current month.

You may also watch:

Buy valuable items

Think before you spend your money on purchasing something for your loved ones. Do not spend a huge amount of money on buying things which would lose its value in future. Buy things which are a necessity. This approach will not only create an asset for yourself but also help you build your personal relationship. Keep things simple, buy something valuable which can actually become a priceless gift for your loved ones.

Plan your purchases before time

If you are planning to purchase something very expensive for your loved ones and you don’t have that much amount with you, then start planning early. Suppose you want to gift a beautiful dress worth Rs 5000 to your loved one. So instead of paying it at one go through your credit card and then paying interest on it, try to save Rs 1000 from the last five months before you actually want to purchase that gift. You can even increase the number of months and reduce your savings as per your need.