Ask the Readers $200 Giveaway: How Do You Stay in Contact with Family and Friends Without Breaking the Bank?
Editor's Note: Congratulations to Lisa for winning a $100 Skype gift card and to Bri and Karrie who each won a $50 Visa gift card in this week's contest!
Staying connected to family and friends that live far away from you is important in maintaining your relationships with them. However, sometimes trying to keep in touch can be expensive! It is important to find frugal ways to stay connected so you don't have to spend an arm and a leg on communication costs.
How do you stay connected to family and friends without breaking the bank? Do you use any particular tools? What money-saving strategies have you found most useful when connecting with family and friends who live far away?
Tell us how you stay connected to family and friends without breaking the bank and we'll enter you in a drawing to win a $100 Skype Gift Card or one of two $50 Visa Gift Cards!
Win a $100 Skype gift card or one of two $50 Visa Gift Cards
We're doing three giveaways via Rafflecopter — here's how you can win!
Mandatory Entry:
- Post your answer in the comment section below, then enter the name and email address you used to post your comment into the Rafflecopter widget to confirm your entry. (Your email is kept private, other entrants will not be able to see it! We just use this information to confirm your entry.)
For an extra entry:
- You can tweet about our giveaway for an extra entry. After you tweet, use our Rafflecopter widget to confirm your entry:
If you're inspired to write a whole blog post OR you have a photo on flickr to share, please link to it in the comments or tweet it.
Giveaway Rules:
- Contest starts Tuesday March 18th, 2014 and ends Monday, March 24th, 2014 at 11:59 p.m. Pacific. Winners will be announced after March 24th, 2014 on the original post. Winners will also be contacted via email.
- You can enter all the drawings — once by leaving a comment and once by tweeting then confirming your entry through Rafflecopter.
- NO PURCHASE NECESSARY VOID WHERE PROHIBITED.
- Open only to permanent legal U.S. residents 18 years or older physically residing in the fifty (50) United States of America and the District of Columbia, excluding the state of Rhode Island.
- Prizes are delivered by Wise Bread. Wise Bread is the host and administrator of this contest.
- Additional terms and conditions apply. Click here for more details.
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Good Luck!
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Skype, google voice, and texts!
I currently use texting and email or FaceTime
I use email a lot to keep in touch with friends and family. Also, Google Voice is great for lots of free or low-cost calls. And of course, Skype and Google Hangouts are perfect for when you want to see someone and chat with them
I have extended family everywhere and one of the main ways we stay in contact is by facebook, oovo, texting and my kids can talk to their cousins with apple devices by face chat
I have extended family everywhere and one of the main ways we stay in contact is by facebook, oovo, texting and my kids can talk to their cousins with apple devices by face chat
We write letters and send pictures via mail.
We email often.
I use skype to talk to my cousin in Australia, or family that lives or travel overseas
I use skype to talk to my cousin in Australia, or family that lives or travel overseas
either by calling (all our family has verizon so it doesn't cost extra to talk a lot) or we use skype
I stay in touch with friends and family by using Facebook, Twitter, calling on my home phone (one set price bundled with cable; unlimited long distance); texting on my cell phone.
Last year I found a great cell phone service provider > Ting. You pay for only what you use. Since my husband and I do not use our cell phones that much I wanted to give it a try. Our monthly phone bill for both of us is in the $30-$35 range. I huge savings over the
$120 a month I was paying to Verizon for just my phone. I am making the same amount of calls and texts that I did with Verizon but by paying only for what I use (like I said I am not a heavy cell phone user) I am only paying about $15 a month!
Would love to be able to find a way to save on our cable bill. We have cable, internet and home phone bundled to save what we can but it is still almost $200 a month and we do not have any movie channels.
We use skype, facebook, and emails to keep our budget
We are using alot of video skype and the messaging with our son who is studying this semester in Florence Italy!
I use mostly Facebook to keep in touch.
we have been skyping with relatives from all over
I bought the ooma phone and do not pay long distance
call or use email
My primary method for keeping in touch is via cell with unlimited talk and text. I also use email.
I use google voice, it allows for free calling. I also use facetime/skype for free!
I stay in touch with my mother by writing her letters, she doesn't use a computer so no facebook or skype for her.
My brother is in Europe for a while and we use skype quite a bit. We also can text via apple devices. We also use facetime with other friends and family
Skype! I use it to chat with my friend who has moved to Japan for the next three years. It's a fantastic way to stay connected!
We have a bundle with our phone plan and get unlimited minutes. Even so, we still like to use Skype with my parents who are thousands of miles away so they can see their granddaughter more often.
Most of the time, we catch up and keep in touch with text and the phone - but there are times when we use Skype - great program
I use Facebook to keep up with my Family & Friends, it a great way to see updated pictures of my family. They all live across the country from me and it is has been about 8 years since I have been there.
We post news, pictures, and videos on FaceBook.
We have a family cell phone plan so we can stay in touch when we are not together. We have a lot of family who lives in different states so we use Skype all the time. It is so affordable and is the next best thing to being there.
FACEBOOK AND EMAIL THANK YOU
Texting, facebook and skype for us.
Google hangouts all the way.
I skype with my daughter in Canada. It makes me feel good that I can see her even though she is in another country
SKype, Facebook and Texts~!
We all use Facebook, we use it to catch up on the family who is located all over the US and we plan parties also
I have family all over the world. We use skype for face to face calls. My family also uses whatsapp, to send free text messages to each other.
We talk and text through unlimited calling plans
I use an unlimited prepaid cell phone plan and also e-mails to stay in touch with family and friends.I used to use skype but now due to my limited internet,I can no longer do so.
Unlimited calling plan.
I still like mailing out care packages.
I use Skype and facebook thank you so much for this chance.
I use Twitter, Google Hangouts, and Skype to keep in touch with friends and family.
we use google.com/voice for free long distance
We stay connected through emails and Facebook
use Skype for out side USA with facebook
text message and viper for inside USA
My family connects to each other online.
Skype!! Just the best
thank you so much
I use Skype Facebook twitter Whats up ,Google+ Yahoo
Thank you I use Skype
Thanks for the giveaway… we keep in touch with friends around the world via Skype & emails for the most part.
Frequent phone calls and I like to have my son paint things to mail them.
I Skype a lot with my family. They are in South America (including my dad) and the very first time he got to see his 1st. granddaughter was thanks to Skype! I used to buy international calling cards and oh boy! Those cards are very expensive and only to talk on the phone for an hour. I really like Skype because its free and I'm able to see then in a live video at no cost and unlimited time! Every day I spent at least an hr or two with my family members online! Its really nice. I also send txt messages to friends and I avoid using minutes on my phone to save a little bit more!
We use Skype, Facebook, email and cell phones to stay in touch. We have unlimited texting on our phones so we do text a lot.
Texts, e-mail, occasional phone calls. Haven't done Skype yet because when I call it's often in the morning before I've brushed my hair.
I have unlimited talk and text so I can call, text and do facetime with family members.
Mostly by phone (unlimited talking) and email.
Thanks for the contest.
Facebook, texting, and skype
Most of our family is fairly close by. For the rest, we use cell phones with unlimited minutes, texting, and email. Facebook helps with information for everyone at once.