10 Valentine's Day ideas for lovebirds on a budget

There are three things men cannot avoid: death, taxes and Valentine's Day.

Nor can we avoid their proven side effects of stress and the cold sweats.

At least in the case of Feb. 14, there is hope. To combat V-Day-induced anxiety, the National Retail Federation reports that men will spend an average of $168.74 on flowers, candy, jewelry and cards for their sweethearts. Overall, both genders in America will drop a hefty $17.6 billion on the holiday.

Many of us love-struck men are so committed to getting it right, we’ll even go into debt to finance our Valentine's Day purchases. Because nothing screams romance quite like saying, “I love you so much I'm willing to max out my Visa card in your honor."

But you don’t have to be Dr. Phil to know that she'd probably prefer a single rose and 100 uninterrupted minutes of your day. She doesn’t want to know you spent a lot of money — she’d rather know you spent a lot of time.

If you’d like to try celebrating Valentine's Day this week without busting the budget, consider one or more of these 10 ideas to make the day meaningful without requiring a bank loan.