Valentine's Day: Online Valentines
BOSTON (CBS) - It's almost Valentine's Day and many folks want a special Valentine in their lives. We are a very coupled society and many folks are turning to the internet for their social interactions. We get our books online why not a date?
According to some stats I found, there are over 54 million singles, and 49 million people have tried online dating. Not all of them single when they logged on.
This is big business. Over $2 Billion a year is spent looking for a date or a mate. This is just for the dating services, and then add in the actual costs of the date.
There are many (close as I can find over 2,500 sites) online dating sites. A few of the sites are free but most want your credit card number and will charge a monthly fee. I did not do research on the many Apps out there for dating or hookups.
If you Google "best dating sites" many folks want to give you their list of the best sites. The fine print also says that the sites that are shown may be buying advertising. So beware.
Wallet Hub, a personal financial site, had an article, 2016's best Dating Sites. In reading the article it had sites listed I had never heard of.
I would suggest using the larger, better known dating sites.
Zoosk.com - It says it has over 50 million subscribers worldwide. That's a lot of singles.
Match.com has been around for a while and I know several couples now married who met on this site. My son met his wife using this site. So I guess I have them to thank for my granddaughter!
eHarmony which does a lot of advertising and here again I know several couples who have married using the site.
Plenty of Fish claims to be the largest free dating site. And it's being free means there will be ads popping up.
Our Time is for folks over 50, mature serious daters as they described their members.
Then we have Spark Networks, www.spark.net, which is a group of targeted dating sites. They offer a site for Jewish singles, Silver singles, Black singles, Latter Day Saint singles and Christian singles and many more. Their ticker symbol is LOV for anyone interested in trivia.
Visahunter.com lists 23 dating sites.
I found more! Overweightdate.com for "large lovers and the men and women who love them". Here at least people can be honest about what they look like and who they are.
If you and your dog are inseparable try Datemypet.com where you post a picture of yourself and one of your pet. Maybe you will both find true love or at last someone to take long walks on the beach with.
If your type is Abby or McGee from NCIS then I found the place for you also. It's Geek 2 geek.
I also discovered Farmersonly.com you guessed it for farmers only. Not many listings for New England! First month is free!
Veggiedate.org is for you guessed it, vegans. It claims to be the premier vegetarian dating site in the world. Their members include vegans, lacto vegetarians, ovo vegetarians, pescatarians (fish and vegetable eaters), semi-vegetarian, those who are becoming vegetarian and macrobiotic eaters.
If you want to check someone out before dating begins you can go to mymatchchecker.com, which will do a background check for a fee.
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You can hear Dee Lee's expert financial advice on WBZ NewsRadio 1030 each weekday at 1:55 p.m., 3:55 p.m., and 7:55 p.m.
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