Useful websites

Do you run your credit report every year? You should to make sure there is nothing incorrect on it and that you have not had identity theft. You can get a free report from all free agencies, and there is only one website that is recommended by the government to get all three. It is www.annualcreditreport.com You can of course go to each of the three agencies individually to get them, but this one website makes it a little bit easier.

Do you get all kinds of pre-approved credit cards in your mail, and are tired of all of that junk? Those pre-approvals also show up on your credit. You can put a stop to those inquiries on your credit and in effect put a stop to those offers in the mail by going to .... https://www.optoutprescreen.com

Hope that help someone!

Oprah today -- did you see it?

My friend was on Oprah today. She was on at the very beginning, her name is Trisha. She skyped in to the show. It was the Peter Walsh episode on de-cluttering. I was so excited, I got teary eyed!

More savings tip - the reward card

So one of my friends said they were going to try the cash method, however they normally used their credit card like a check card so that they get the rewards points. Here is a thought on that, if you are saving 10-15% by using cash then you are more than re-cooping the 1-3% that you get on rewards points. Even if you are only spending 3% less, which I guarantee will happen, then you are making up those rewards points... try it.

Something else I was pleased with and wanted to share. Bret and I have been eating at home much more often lately. We decided that we would go out to eat when there are good specials at restaurants, that often happens on Tuesday's for whatever reason. Sometimes they have kids eat free nights or might just have another kind of special. Logans has a two can dine for $13.99. It is a special menu, so you have to ask for it if it is not on your table. It has many of the popular menu items on it, including sirloin and you get two sides with your meal. They also have $2.99 kids meals. This is on Mondays AND Tuesdays. So the last time we went several weeks ago, they gave us one of those survey's attached to our check. I called and got a $3 off code. So we went back to Logans to use it on the 2 for night, and we each got a meal and the total, tip included, was $18. I thought that was a deal. From now on we are going to choose the places that we have coupons for.

We have also been eating our leftovers more often. Our refrigerator is normally full of left-overs, so when the weekend rolls around we have been eating left-overs for lunch each day. It also saves the stress, because I am out of meals to cook and we don't want to decide on were to go to eat.

I hope these savings tips help. It has certainly been helping us.

Cash

Kyndal and I went out tonight to get a bite to eat while Daddy was at the Men's Meeting. We walked up to order and was asked if we were paying with Cash..... well of course we always try to pay for things with cash. So apparently tonight if we didn't have cash we wouldn't have eaten there because their computer system is down. Hear this ...... Cash always works.

AND..... it Saves you Money


"When you pay cash, you can "feel" the money leaving you. This is not true with credit cards. Flipping a credit card up on a counter registers nothing emotionally. If you use credit cards instead of cash you will spend 12-18% more. This is money you could have saved." - Dave

We have used Dave Ramsey's principle on cash for several years now..... pay with cash and you will spend less. I do believe this. Bret also informed me this week that statistics are showing that people are even spending more when they have the "blink" cards were they don't even have to swipe but just wave them in front of the cc machine. Hum ... this savings might be worth some experimenting of your own :)

Financial Peace

Financial Peace starts on Wednesday night at our church. If you are interested you can still sign up this week, it will change your life. Childcare is provided.

Email from Bart Gordon

This letter confirms the info in my previous post. It was nice that I received a letter with an update that addressed my concern.

Dear Kristin,

Knowing your interest in the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), I wanted to update you on recent legislation.

We can all agree lead and phthalate limits must be mandatory in children's products. In principle, the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA) attempted to protect our children from these harmful chemicals. Unfortunately, in the process, an undue burden was placed on American small businesses and crafters.

You will be pleased to know the CPSC recently granted a one year stay of testing and certification requirements as directed by the CPSIA, creating a new deadline of February 10, 2010. The decision by the commission gives the staff more time to finalize four proposed rules which could relieve certain materials and products from lead testing and to issue more guidance on when testing is required and how it is to be conducted.

As always I welcome your opinion on this or any other issue. Please do not hesitate to contact me again if I may ever be of assistance.

Stay in touch,

BART GORDON
Member of Congress

Another update on testing requirements for Children's products

Well, I sent an email to my representative and apparently our petitions and letters worked. The CPSC put a one year stay on the testing requirements for certain products. This means that certain manufacturers and imports will not have to perform the required testing, but will have to meet the requirement. So hand-made goods made of yarn, wood, cotton and such can still be sold, yeah!

Here are the full details, if you want to read them:
http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml09/09115.html

I am a big supporter of small business and hand-made items that are made in the US. I love etsy and seeing people make all of these wonderful handmade items that I use for my daughter and my photography.

Yes, we need to keep our children safe from lead. But ridiculous laws that don't even consider the little old ladies who are knitting blankets for spare cash are just stupid. Okay, it's over for the time being, enough venting for now.