‘Til debt do us part: Valentine’s Day bills lay heavy on wallets

The love between you and your partner may not extend towards your wallet.

Valentine’s Day can come with big expectations and big expenses that dig into people’s budgets.

Cassidy Fedoruk, a post-secondary student at the University of Regina, is meeting up with her boyfriend for a Valentine’s celebration later in the week.

“Probably we are going to Wendy’s or something like that,” she said. “Something cheap and fast.”

She has noticed prices to dine out, even in cheaper fast food locations, have gone up.

Lianne Tregobov, owner of Camelot Introductions, has been a professional matchmaker for 30 years. With her years of experience, her recommendation for the first date is never to go out for dinner, drinks or coffee.

“That is an interrogation, or a potential interrogation, that terrifies the most confident person,” said Tregobov.

Her advice is to pursue a physical activity instead like bowling or mini golf. Those ideas are often cheaper than a meal out, and can get rid of some of those first-date jitters.

“You have a distraction where you can let your hair down (and) you can laugh,” said Tregobov. “If you get a gutter ball, you can make fun of that as opposed to having this stale, sterile, tense meeting.”

According to a special report from BMO’s Real Financial Progress Index, spending is a source of conflict for 32 per cent of couples.

While Fedoruk said flowers are fine, food is the way to her heart.

“I personally am not a flower person, because you get them and they die in a week,” she said with a laugh. “I’m more of a chocolate person. You buy me chocolate and I’m happy.”

Fraudsters, romance scams taking a bite out your wallet

Tofunmi Oseni has downloaded a dating app before, but stopped short of actually using it.

“It’s kind of scary out there, you know?” Oseni said.

Tregobov has had many clients whose hearts and wallets have hurt by scammers.

“Online dating has replaced the human connection,” she said. “Online dating is often a whole a bunch of pretenders, and people who don’t have your best interest at heart.”

In 2021, the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre reported 1,249 complaints of romance scams with losses upwards of $50 million.

Romance scams accounted for the second-highest total of fraud losses in 2021 behind investment fraud.

Tregobov said she has spent much of her time unwinding bad habits caused by online dating.

“I am not a fan of any kind of app because it extinguishes the need for communication,” she said. “You can’t have a ‘textationship.’ We want people having a relationship.”

Afia Ahmad has never used a dating app and has no plans to download one anytime soon.

“I just don’t want to see people that I know on it,” Ahmad said with a laugh.