Valentine's Day Romance Turning into Diamonds? Start Saving Now!

Love is in the air and thoughts of sweet embraces rattle around in your love struck brain far longer than you've ever thought possible. Say what?

This lady has done a number on you pal, and yet, you couldn't be happier than an old hound dog chasing his tail.

This girl has you wrapped around her pretty little finger, and guess what... her finger has been precisely the body part that has you interested.

Not only did Cupid shoot you in the ass with one of those funky specialty arrows, he put a battleship sized warning shot across your bow that you're about to make a substantial purchase in the very near future. If you were one of the hound dogs that always catches the fox, you are well prepared with 3 months salary saved up and ready to go. If not, you'll be raiding the quarter gumball machines at Wal Mart hoping for something shiny in a size six and a half.

So how do you save for an engagement ring? Especially when saving 3 months salary is such a difficult task to accomplish in this world of rising costs and advertisements screaming "BUY ME" at your every turn.

Simple! You have to save some dough and keep it locked away. But how?

Start by cutting out little things in your everyday life. Nothing serious, but if you cut out that "$4 mocha chocha cinnamon latte" every morning on your way to work, you'll put an extra $20 bucks in your pocket each week. That's $80 bucks a month and $960 bucks for the whole year.

Trust me, I have coffee drinking friends that spend more than $4 each day on coffee, and when they stopped splurging on excesses, student loans and car payments got paid off much faster.

Now that you see how cutting out one simple luxury item can add up to serious savings, let me show you a few more:

Car pooling: splitting the driving duties with 1 person will cut your gas budget in half.

Beer & pretzels night: a beer at a decent bar costs $3 if you're lucky. That 6 pack from the local bar just cost you $18 plus tips. Try watching the game at home instead of Hooters and save a few bucks.

Take your lunch to work: it's not as appetizing as the one pound hot pastrami sandwich from the legendary Carnegie Deli in New York, but if you're asking a woman to marry you, get ready to make more sacrifices than food.

Wait a minute! She still has to say YES, so lay off the sandwiches and suck in the beer gut fat boy!

Once you start uncovering new ways to save some dough, set up a safe place to invest, or if you have a longer time horizon, invest in a diversified stock portfolio. You don't have to keep a separate account for the ring, but remember that a substantial percentage of this money is going to buy your future better half a ring that she will wear her whole life (let's hope!).

At the very least, if she finds out that you have an engagement ring fund prior to asking her, she will definitely raise you into a higher caliber of men for some financial planning foresight.

As a final example, I'll leave you with the words of my (potential) better half: my guy has an engagement ring fund saved up and its a good thing, because momma wants a big rock!

Good luck Gentlemen!