Don’t spend money proving you’re romantic on one day. Invest in building romance into life.

Going out to dinner for Valentine’s day is for amateurs. All those people who only go out once a year are out there, ruining it. The great thing about being self-employed, or a freelancer, is that we do things on your own time. We don’t shop at Costco on Saturday. And we don’t go out for romance with the hoi polloi.

That doesn’t mean you can completely ignore a holiday that gets as much hype as Valentine’s Day. But we can do this in our own way, too. Right?

Here are some ideas that will show your love on V-Day and every other day of the year.

Self-Love

Life is complicated. I get it. Let me assure you that I’m not assuming you are expressing love to anyone but yourself. In all of life, not just on airplanes, you have to secure your own oxygen before you can take care of those around you. When it comes to love, this is also true. Why not treat yourself to some self-love? On this front, you have a daunting number of options. Silly vegetable themed? Sure. Powerful? Heck yeah! Deluxe? Oh, yeah. Subtle? Uh huh. Massive? Yikes!

Erase the Distance

Maybe you and your love are not always in the same room? I spend lots of quality time hanging out with my daughter – who lives a long way from me – on the new Echo Show. I just say, “Alexa, drop in on my daughter.” And there she is, in her room, sassing me like she was right here in this room. The Echo Show is the Amazon Echo with a fancy screen. You can see your lists, call up recipe videos with a few words, and lots more. Invaluable. These are going cheap in the big Valentine’s Day sale at Amazon, along with all the Echo connected devices right now. This is a great time to get a new Alexa in your life.

Netflix and Chill?

Stay in, watch some sexy Vikings, cuddle on the couch. If this is your go-to date night, up your game with the Roku Ultra (on sale for $84). This high-end (fast streaming) Roku has headphones so — on the other nights of the year — you can silently watch whatever it is you like and your SO hates without causing friction.

Cleaner Sexy Time

Why don’t we, here in the U.S., have bidets in our bathrooms? They are awesome. Pleasant to use, ecological, sanitary. The rest of the world seems to have them. You don’t really need the entire bidet though. And you don’t need to spend a fortune on a fancy bidet toilet seat, either. You can add a cleansing stream of water to your private trip to the bathroom for less than $60 with the Brondell FSW-20 FreshSpa. You’ll never go back.