On Your Side: Valentine's Day inflation
A new report shows inflation rose in January more than expected, and up 6.4-percent from a year ago. Inflation has also struck Cupid, and couples will be spending more for a dozen roses and dinner for two on Valentine's Day.
This Valentine's Day is expected to be the most expensive on record, with Americans spending almost $26 billion on the holiday, according to the National Retail Federation.
According to research by Point2:
- The cost of one dozen roses is up nearly 4 percent.
- A box of chocolates is up nearly 8.5 percent.
- A romantic dinner is up more than 16 percent.
- And a bottle of perfume is up nearly 9 percent.
But some items have dropped in price:
- Diamonds are down nearly 10 percent.
- Buying a steak and grilling it at home will cost you less as well. A sirloin steak runs around $10 a pound, which is down 8 percent from last year.
Lending Tree found that the average person spends $187 on their Valentine. But that's down 10 percent from last year.
And men tend to spend two times more than women on Valentine's Day.
"Our report showed that about 27 percent of people said that they may end up taking on some credit card debt because of Valentine's Day," said Lending Tree Chief Credit Analyst Matt Schulz. "That's a really big number."
Lending Tree also found that about half of those who think they'll take on some debt this Valentine's Day said it would take them several months to pay it off.
And with credit card interest rates at an all-time high of about 20 percent, their debt can really linger.
