Write A Letter (Part 7)

Thinking of you!

How nice to receive a note from someone you haven’t taken the time to keep in touch with.

Take the first step… go to your nearest dollar store, and pick up some “blank on the inside” note cards.  Then stop at the post office and get some fun postage stamps.  Finally, go home and open your address book and find the 8 or 12 relatives you haven’t spoken to in a while.

Just cuz…

Stay In (Games)

I spoke about staying in and avoiding the heavy hit to your wallet when it comes to taking the family out for a movie. Here’s another “staying in” idea that you may have already heard of.

Plan a “Game Night” for your family. Break out those old board games and have a Monopoly Marathon. Or give a go at Gin Rummy.

Turn on some fun tunes for background noise, and have a bunch of bowls of salty snacks for the players to enjoy.

Interact with your family without breaking the bank… just cuz.

Stay In (Movies)

Everything seems so expensive these days. Taking someone to the movies will set you back fifty bucks (if you get the popcorn and drinks) and if you have kids, well, you can pretty much forget family vacations if you’re going to movies more than once a month.

Instead of dropping all that cash at the box office, how about having a family movie night yourself?

Popcorn isn’t supposed to cost $5. I think the wholesale cost of popcorn is around $5 a silo. *grin*

Stop by the DVD store, or look through your library for one that you haven’t watched in a while. Then pick up a 99¢ bag of popcorn, grab some generic root beer and a gallon of vanilla ice cream, and make a popcorn and root beer float movie extravaganza in your home!

You’ll end up having a more relaxed time, you’ll save a bucket of money on movie tickets, and you’ll have a great family time… just cuz.

Call Your Cousin

Once again, the excuse is that we’re too busy. And for the most part this is true.

So get your date book out, I have a project for you.

Make a list of five relatives that you haven’t spoken to in a while. Schedule fifteen minutes to an hour for each relative over the next two months (that’s approximately an hour every two weeks) to call them and catch up on things. Depending on how long it’s been, you may need more than an hour!

Don’t make excuses about why you haven’t been in touch, rather be honest, and if the reason is that you haven’t made the time, then simply say, “I’m sorry, but I just haven’t taken the time to talk to you.”

It’s much more appreciated than giving a laundry list of all the tasks you perform that make them less important.

You’ll make them smile. You’ll make them laugh. You may even make them cry. But it’s a great way to connect with people that you haven’t connected with, so do it just cuz…