Watching Your Wallet: Showing love on a budget for Valentine's Day

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- Love on a budget is a common theme for this year's Valentine's Day gifting.

Even the iconic conversation hearts are leaning into the realities of the current economy.

Among the new sayings are "share login" and "split rent."

WalletHub's Valentine's Day spending survey shows two in five people say Valentine's Day activities aren't affordable this year, with the same amount of people saying they have a budget.

ABC PRICE TRACKER: See cost of gas, groceries, housing where you live

"Creating the budget is the easy part," says Chip Lupo with WalletHub. "Actually sticking to it, coming up with realistic dollar amounts with a threshold of how much you're willing to spend on dinner, how much you're willing to spend on gifts, very important to stick to that."

Lupo says there are also skeptical sweethearts.

"Eighty-two percent of Americans believe Valentine's Day is a trick to spend more money," he said. "That it's a holiday concocted by the Candy Chocolate Company. Yet, people are still spending money."

That same survey gives insight into the strain finances can place on a relationship.

"We did find one in four people believe that financial secrets are the worst money problem in a relationship," Lupo said. "Maybe not so much the amount -- just discovering maybe there's a hidden account that your better half doesn't know about."

They also found 55% of people believe budgeting together is the best way to avoid money problems in a household.

"Plan ahead because if you're waiting until today to book your V-Day dinner or plans, you're probably just better off getting a head start on next year because you're probably going to be out of luck," Lupo said.

There are plenty of affordable options you can still sign up for.

For news updates, follow Vanessa Vasconcelos on Facebook, X and Instagram.