Showing someone you care does not have to cost a ton or take up a lot of your time. I’ve learned that it’s easy to make someone’s day and show them that you love them and care for them.

1. Ask them how their day was.

After you ask how their day was, make sure you hear them out. Just having someone listen to you after a stressful day and just knowing someone wants to hear you speak and hear about how you are feeling can make you feel a hundred times better. It’s so important to make sure you carve out time in your conversation for the other person to express their thoughts and emotions and the best way to get them to share something about themselves is to ask them about their day. Showing you care about someone’s day can include remembering when they are traveling and wishing them a happy and safe journey or wishing them good luck before tests or interviews.

2. Sharing recommendations.

Whenever you hear a song or read a book you think someone may like, make sure you share your recommendation with them. Everybody likes to know that someone out there is thinking about them and wanting them to smile because of their recommendation. My boyfriend is always sharing songs that remind him of me and he even made me a playlist to listen to during long drives when I get tired.

3. Tell them you’re thinking about them when you see an article or joke that reminds you of them.

I always tag my friends on Facebook when I see memes or articles that are funny and remind me of them (even to an extent where they get annoyed at me, but then forgive me because the meme is so funny). I want my friends to know that I miss them and am thinking about them and a quick two-second tag will make them excited to see a notification and happy to know you’re thinking about them.

4. Leave cute little notes or long heartfelt letters.

To this day, I love and cherish the letters my friend wrote to me throughout middle school and high school. I value her words celebrating our friendship so much and her expression of how much she valued our relationship meant so much to me. She would write to me during the happy times and during the rough times. My other friend would write me good luck notes and texts and just the fact that they care enough to send me a cute message made me feel warm and fuzzy inside!

5. Small surprise presents go a long way.

I can’t even begin to explain how big the smile was on my face when I found a bar of chocolate with a little note attached to it in my mailbox. Cute little gestures can definitely go a long way.

Showing someone that you care really makes a person feel special and those small gestures will go a long way in your relationship, more than you could ever realize.