Free Entertainment: Reading the Classics

"And now for my next number, I'd like to return to the classics." -Often Used Rap Sample of Unknown Origin¹

I was recently given an Amazon Kindle for my birthday, which was great because it was exactly what I wanted. I figured I'd use some of the store credit that I've gotten up to this point to buy a few books and start reading. While searching around, I found out that there is an expansive group of books that are downloadable free to your Kindle device because they are currently in the public domain. That's not all though, here's the best part: Even if you don't own a Kindle don't worry, you can read all the classics I mention and many more for free on your computer as well using Amazon's cloud reader, which is free to download. This is all excellent news, because that means I can use my Amazon gift balance for more important things like dress socks.

It's fairly complicated to figure out when a literary work will enter the public domain, but a general rule of thumb to use is 50–70 years after the author's death. You'd probably be surprised how many works are actually available for free. Here's a list of a few I've read:

• The Great Gatsby (Amazon seems to be charging for it now. Sadface.)
• The Jungle Book
• The Art of War
• The Three Musketeers
• The Jungle² (not for the faint of heart)
• Heart of Darkness³
• Treasure Island

and a few more I've put on my list but haven't gotten to yet:

• Alice in Wonderland
• Don Quixote
• The Importance of Being Earnest
• and many many many many more...

Another excellent place to find ebooks that you can read on your computer or download to an e-reader is Project Gutenberg which has over 42,000 ebooks. If you do check them out and find them useful, I highly encourage you to donate to sustain the project here. As an added plus, Project Gutenberg is a 501(c)(3) organization so your donation is tax deductible. Another free source of ebooks is the Nook store by Barnes and Noble which can be read on any Nook, most tablets/phones and computers.

One last thing, I would advise staying away from sites that offer free books but then request credit card information, sign you up for some subscription or ask you to provide lots of personal information, there are much safer (and cheaper) ways of getting ebooks. Happy reading!

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1. Unless you, dear reader, know the origin, in which case let me know in the comments because I spent 20 minutes searching for it on the internet instead of writing this post.
2. What's with old books and always starting with "The", same thing goes for classic rock bands. Like seriously.
3. Thank god that mondo-"The" list is over.

Review: Quizzle (Free Credit Score and Report Service)

Is it just me, or have people got far more interested in their credit scores as of late? Perhaps I was oblivious before, but I feel like we're being bombarded with information (and misinformation) on how important credit scores are nowadays. And maybe that just means they're getting their due. To affecting our interest rates on loans, abilities to open new lines of credit, getting a job and dating prospects, credit scores can have a pretty major impact on your finances...and uh...love life as well apparently. So, a natural question to ask would be: How do I get my credit score and report, preferably for free?

Before you stop reading this post and go to that website that heavily advertised free credit reports but actually charged $14.95 monthly fees, bear with me for a few more minutes. Optimally, we would want a service that does the following:

1. Provides a free credit score and report for free, which means no hidden fees down the road.
2. Updates us at regular intervals with our report and score that are given to us without having to lift a finger.
3. Does not prevent us from getting a free score or report immediately from a credit reporting company.

You probably guessed it by now, Quizzle can do all those things. Let's break them down:

1. Provides a free credit score and report for free.

After signing up, Quizzle will do a soft pull of your credit report. This means that the request for information will not have an effect on your credit score. In this report, you'll get a summary of your open credit accounts (e.g. credit cards, loans), credit inquiries you've made recently¹ and any public records. Although the layout of the report may not be in a way that you're used to, Quizzle assures you that all the information provided is everything that's include in your credit report.

The best part, this is all free! Unlike other sites that provide you a credit report without a fee initially and then enroll you in a program where they charge you to monitor your credit, Quizzle won't charge you ever to use their most basic package. In fact, they don't even ask for any credit card information from you.

2. Updates us at regular intervals with our report and score.
Every 6 months, Quizzle will do another soft pull on your credit report and update your information and e-mail you an update. Excellent for people who want to stay on top of their score and report but can't remember to check themselves.

3. Does not prevent us from getting a free score or report immediately from a credit reporting company.
You may have heard that each credit reporting agency is required to provide a free credit report every 12 months. Not only are these reports important for informational reasons, they are also frequently requested for by people renting apartments.

One of my initial concerns with Quizzle was that signing up for their service would mean I wouldn't be able to request Experian reports independently. However, a very customer service representative at Quizzle informed me that being signed up for the Quizzle service does not exclude me from receiving credit reports through Experian. Excellent!

Bonus: Tools to Improve your Credit Score.
In addition to Quizzle's free plan where you get a free report and score every sixth months, you can also sign up for their more premium packages, that contain tools such as a credit analysis, timeline, comparison, monitoring and $1 million of identity theft protection. These plans vary in cost, from $7-25 a month. I haven't signed up for any of these yet as I don't think I need them at this point in my life, but they could definitely be useful down the road, for example, helping me improve my credit before I buy my first house. Have you used any of Quizzle's premium plans? Leave your thoughts and experiences in the comments.

Overall
Quizzle's free plan is a great improvement on other methods of monitoring your credit report and score. It provides all the information for free without impacting your credit score and automatically updates your information every six months. Additionally, you don't have to worry about requesting your free score through Experian itself if you're signed up for Quizzle because you can do that through them as well whenever you want.

I've decided that my green thumbs are kind of tacky, but know if I were will still handing them out willy nilly, Quizzle would certainly get one!

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1. I think it displays credit inquiries you've made in the past two years but I'm not completely sure as it isn't specified on the site.