The sad reality of Valentine’s Day is that at the end of the day, we all hate the thought of being alone on a national holiday worshipping relationships of all sorts.

If you are in a relationship, you suffer the costs. White flags and three finger salutes to those who pay for dinner that day; at least your bank will have a nice time!

If you are single, your Valentine’s Day might look a little like this: Chinese food delivered, a movie rental and chocolate indulgence. At the end of the day, the only guarantee we have on Valentine’s Day is an emptier wallet. The morning after a full day of chocolate won’t feel very good, but at least your banks are cheering!

Thank you, Walmart, Target and Costco for a pocket fifty dollars less. I am glad I could be of service, but maybe don’t ruin my finances in the process?

Valentine’s Day is not the only commercialized holiday. Think about this: Christmas celebrates Jesus Christ’s birthday, right? Or does it? Actually, Jesus’ birthday is in early fall… around September. That’s awkward.

Valentine’s Day truly is a corporate scheme. The only happy people in America are the corporate machines and their well-oiled chief executive officers. Why value your significant other especially well on a single day of the year when you can every day? (Also, why are teddy bears so expensive everywhere besides Walmart?)

Appreciation notice: your significant other loves you and appreciates you, not just on Valentine’s Day. You can also love yourself every day of the year without feeling the incessant need to buy retail chocolate! If that is still insufficient, I love you.

Even though we continuously get conned by commercial businesses every year, we never really seem to learn. This year alone, the average person plans to spend approximately $160 on Valentine’s Day, with the businesses reaping $20.7 billion in profit. Don’t feel too bad! You are doing a good thing by making your significant other feel appreciated. There is nothing wrong with that, until you have to work a double-overtime shift to make the money back up.

On another note, personally, I prefer a joke or two to make up for the fact that Valentine’s Day is…literally tomorrow. For a good laugh:

The only thing that’s more broken than my heart is my wallet.

Maybe that one won’t make you feel better. Here:

There are plenty of fish in the sea, but you know what else there is? Trash. There’s a lot of trash in the sea.

The ultimate Valentine’s Day goal should be to love yourself. Actually, the ultimate Valentine’s Day is to disrupt corporate victory over holidays for their own gain. I’m not saying this is pure evil or anything full of disdain, I am just saying that maybe, just maybe, you could save another penny for a rainy day.

Anyway, no matter what happens this Valentine’s Day or wherever you end up, enjoy it. The holiday is about love, not about materialism. Be wary of the wallet.