Friends are great for hanging out and mooching fries off of. Life is busy though, and even bums sometimes have trouble making time to keep in touch. You can't swipe your credit card for 'em, but friends are not free. We don’t mean you have to pay them to hang out (if you're currently doing so, please re-examine your social circle), we mean that you gotta put in some effort. Don't worry, it doesn't have to be hard or expensive. We've got you covered with tips to keep in touch whether your buddy is across the hall or halfway around the world.

Letters: We're so used to texting/twittering/updating, sometimes we forget about the beauty of old fashioned snail mail. Surprise someone with a genuine letter in their stack of bills and solicitations. Use some of those return address labels with the eagles that came in your last round of junk mail. If your buddy lives close, drop the letter off on your way somewhere. But, if that special someone is far away, turns out there is even a building called a post office equipped with stamps that has people who will deliver the letter for you. Imagine that. Too lazy to make a special trip to the post office? Good news: just about every grocery store sells stamps at the register. Buy some first class postage along with your milk.

Postcards: Think a letter sounds like a lot of work? Us too. So we are all about the postcard. Use those giant letters you worked so hard to learn in kindergarten. Scrawl a little "thinking of you" or "saw this and thought of you" (preferably with a funny picture on front) and sign your name. XOXO and you are in business.

Phone Date: Now this may sound silly, but the sound of your voice (and not just on your voicemail message) may be pleasant to someone else. If calling during those in-between moments is yielding a drawn out game of phone tag, schedule. That's right. Set a specific time that will work for you two (or three or four). If phone charges seem daunting, you can Skype for way less or even free. Downloading a new program too much work? Gmail and Yahoo Messenger both have built-in audio and video chat capabilities.

There's no replacement for face-time, but with a little effort (and less than a buck) you could make a friend feel pretty special. And that combo of minimal financial investment and super high return is the epitome of the RFB way. Write on, friends!