Living the Frugal Life

According to the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act of 2003, consumers are allowed to request and obtain a free credit report once every twelve months from each of the three nationwide consumer credit reporting companies - Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion.

In cooperation with the Federal Trade Commission, the three major credit reporting agencies set up the website, annualcreditreport.com, to provide free access to annual credit reports.

Some states already offer a free annual credit report from each of the three agencies. Residents of Colorado, Maine, Massachusetts, Maryland, New Jersey and Vermont are entitled to one free series annually. Georgia residents are entitled to two free annual credit reports from each credit reporting agency. Colorado

AnnualCreditReport.com is the most trusted website to use for your annual credit report. You can purchase your credit score at the same website while you are requsting your annual credit report.

Even though I don’t have kids, all of our friends and family do. Whenever we go out to eat with anyone, I try to be considerate of the kids. I found this great website that you can search for restaurants in your area that offer “Kids Eat Free” specials.

MyKidsEatFree.com

Although I only found a couple of restaurants in my area, it gives me a couple of options to consider when eating out with friends with kids. If you know of any Kids Eat Free specials that aren’t listed, there is a contact form on the website so you can let them know.

If you are like most of us, you need to take a break from your work during the day. This is a collection of amusing websites that will help you get through the workday:

Engrish.com - A website of humorous English mistakes that appear in Japanese advertising and product design.

TodayMyBoss.com People write in and tell unbelievable stories about what their bosses have done. Usually makes me feel much better about my boss! Site hasn’t been updated since January 08, but you can still read the archives.

ICanHasCheezburger.com - LOLcats - funny pictures of cats with hilarious sayings. You don’t have to like cats to appreciate this website!

The “Blog” of “Unnecessary” Quotation marks - Once you start reading this blog, you will start noticing this common grammatical error everywhere!

PassiveAggressiveNotes.com - We’ve all seen them, now they are all posted in one hilarious website.

Let me know if there are any funny websites that you visit regularly. Enjoy!

Since I just posted the first frugal challenge about not going out to eat for a month, I thought I would post a tip that has helped me tremendously. The first time I did this, I thought it was the best thing ever. Now that I do it on a regular basis, there is no way I can go back.

It’s called once-a-month cooking. You take one day (Saturday for me) and spend a few hours cooking several meals (enough for the entire month) and then freezing them. I have two cookbooks that help me: Once-a-Month cooking and Dinner’s in the Freezer. Both are good books that tell you step-by-step what to cook, when to freeze, and serving day directions.

It is a commitment to spend most of a weekend day cooking, but it is worth it. Typically, I will plan out the meals and go to the grocery store on Friday. Then, bright and early on Saturday I will start cooking. It goes by incredibly fast, and when you are finished you are filled with a sense of accomplishment, especially knowing you won’t have to cook for some time.

My husband and I both work full time. When I come home from work, I will take something out of the freezer (or refrigerator depending on if the dish had to be thawed or not) and throw it in the oven, grill or on the stove. The dishes don’t always have to be casseroles, you can really make anything and freeze it. Hamburger patties, fajitas, wings, etc - there may be some of the ingredients that you wait until serving day to use.

I definitely recommend once-a-month cooking. As part of the frugal challenge of not going out to eat for a month, this will give you no excuses. You will always have a home-cooked meal waiting on you!

Announcing the first Living the Frugal Life Frugal Challenge!

When my husband and I first started thinking about saving money, we challenged ourselves in several ways. The first challenge was to avoid going out to eat for one month. It was definitely a challenge, but we did it! In my corporate job, I would go out to eat almost every work day. Lunch with friends, coworkers, etc. seemed to make sense to me. Then my husband and I have our favorite Mexican restaurant that we would eat at every week. We would also eat out several times on the weekend. So, let’s add up those expenses per week:

• Lunch during the week(est. $10 per meal, 3 times a week) = $30
• Favorite Mexican restaurant (est. $25) = $25
• Weekend restaurant trips (est. $25 per meal, 2 times) = $50

That is $105 a week just for eating out! Luckily, it’s just the two of us - no kids, yet. Still, that is over $400 a month. How crazy were we?

So, for one month we did not go out to eat. At my job, I occasionally have vendors that come in and take a group out to eat. Because of that, we were allowed to go out to eat if the meal was being paid for by someone else.

The challenge: For the next month, do not go out to eat. Cook at home, fix sandwiches, eat leftovers. Just think of all the money you can save! It typically takes about a month to make a habit, and this is a great habit to start.

Let me know how you do!

This blog was featured on the Finance Fiesta