|  A
big move to another part of the country can be hard enough, but
it can be made even harder if you fall out of contact with your
closest friends. Here are some tips to stay in touch.
We wish we were all great at keeping in touch with
our friends; the truth is usually that we find it hard to find
the time. This can be especially true after a big move, a time
when we need the support of our closest friends the most. A recent
Realty Times article expounded on the different ways in which
you can keep in contact with your friends from where you used
to call home. We’ll start by looking at the more expensive
and time-consuming methods and move on to the cheaper, easier
ways to keep the communication going.
Phone Calls
There is nothing quite as good as phone calls. Actually hearing
a person’s voice can be an extremely strong way to remain
in touch. The strength of this form of communication means it
often doesn’t have to be as frequent. The downside, of course,
is the cost. If you think this method is best for you, then it
is best to have a phone plan that includes long-distance calls,
or has plenty of free minutes. Another alternative is to use a
growing technology called Voice-Over-Internet-Protocol (VOIP),
which basically allows you to use the Internet to make local and
long distance phone calls. According to one of the largest VOIP
companies, Vonage, “more than 17.5 million people will be
using VOIP phone service by the year 2008.” To use Vonage’s
system, you “just plug our Analog Phone Adapter into your
high-speed Internet connection - either a cable modem or a DSL
line. Then hook up your existing touch-tone phone.”
US Postal Service
The good ol’ fashioned letter. It is very personal to send
someone a handwritten letter, and the cost is pretty cheap. The
biggest cost, however, is not monetary, but time. It is very time-consuming
to write a lengthy letter, but at only 37 cents a time, you can
easily just write a few short letters. Technically cheating, another
alternative is to type out a fairly generic letter, and then make
individual personalized touches depending on who you are sending
it to.
The Internet
Using e-mail is quite an easy, modern way to keep in contact with
people. To keep regular contact, it can be good to set aside some
time once a week to keep everyone informed of what is going on
in your life. The modified generic letter idea can more easily
come into play, and you can keep a lot of people up-to-date without
a lot of effort. The Internet can also be used for other things
to help keep in contact. E-cards are a great way to say hi. You
can send them for specific occasions, such as birthdays or St.
Patrick’s Day, or you can send them just to say hello. Many
Web sites offer free e-cards that you can send immediately, or
set up to send at a future date! Finally, there are a number of
programs out there that allow you to host a net-meeting. This
is where you and your friend both have a webcam set up to your
computer, and through a program such as MSN Messenger, you can
see each other and talk to each other. One note of caution, you
will both need high-speed Internet to get the most out of this
method of communication.
A lot of people become unhappy
when they move to another part of the country, and a big reason
for this is that keeping in contact with their old friends is
so difficult. Using one of the above methods, and setting some
time aside each week to do so will go a long way to keeping you
and your friends happy, and making your move successful.
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