Contacting Home On A Budget
Contacting Home On A Budget
When you are at college and you are far away from home, you often want to get in contact with your parents. But phone calls can be expensive. Here are some ways that you can contact home and not pay a lot of money.
1. Write a letter
One of the least expensive ways to get in touch with your parents is by writing them a letter. They will love getting a written letter from you and it’s much cheaper than calling them on the telephone. It will let you to get your thoughts out on paper and let them know how your semester is going.
2. Email
With the invention of the Internet, another really inexpensive way to get in touch with someone is through email. Email is nice because it’s instantaneous and it doesn’t cost anything since a lot of dormitories have Internet now.
3. Instant message programs
If both you and your parents use instant messaging programs, you can talk on the Internet using them. There is MSN, AIM, yahoo messenger, and Googletalk. They are also free to use and they will get your messages in real time if they are online.
4. Telephone
The telephone should be your last resort when it comes to contacting home, because it’s the most expensive. When you call your parents on the telephone, you should call during the hours when its the cheapest. You can use a cell phone that has free night and weekends, and then you don’t have to worry about the amount of minutes that you are using. Cell phones are the best type of phone to use if you are going to call home because they have the best calling plans. If you don’t have a cell phone, you can buy phone cards so that you don’t have to worry about how much the phone call will cost.
It’s hard to be away from parents and families when you are at college. There are plenty of ways to get in touch with them and some of them are less expensive than others. But one thing is for certain – they are going to love hearing from you. They are missing you just as much as you are missing them and they will look forward to hearing from you, even if you are asking for money or calling because you are lonely.
Sit down and figure out what are the best ways for you to contact home on a budget.
eduiq @ July 26, 2008