change of heart by josey4628, on Flickr

A few years ago, my wife and I decided to make a Valentine’s Day gift to one of our charities, and the size of the gift was whatever we spent on our Valentine’s Day date. Everyone’s psychological relationship with money is different, but in my own warped mind, this actually makes it easier to enjoy the splurge, knowing the more I say “yes” to at the restaurant, the more generous we’ve decided to be. And it’s also self-regulating; there are some restaurants I can’t afford, so there’s a sanity check on the check, even if we double it.

So maybe you’d like to consider this too (assuming you are celebrating Valentine’s Day, and assuming there are charities you would like to show some love to). Your church might have a benevolence fund for use in your community; maybe at-risk kids, or animals, or soldiers, or the arts are close to your heart; maybe it’s the favorite charity of a cherished relative. Whichever you choose, if you do double down on Valentine’s Day, I’d love to  hear about it in the comments.

And if you don’t happen to have a charity springing to mind, here are some of the causes I’ve given to recently (though not necessarily through this approach):

• ALS Association
• Athletes in Action
• Big Brothers Big Sisters
• CultureWorks
• FAARO Family Programs
• Project Sanctuary
• South America Mission

And have a happy Valentine’s Day!

—jhunterj