It's not many things we can do that take only 5 minutes of our time yet can help us sleep better at night like checking our credit score. We all know it's something we're supposed to do once a year.

We're supposed to make sure everything's as it should be so we can fix any errors now, as opposed to scrambling to fix them when we go to apply for that new loan. But how many of us actually do it?

Imagine the satisfaction you'll feel when you can lay in bed tonight and think, "Well, the garden still needs weeding, the pile of laundry is threatening to take up more square footage than the master bedroom, and I never got around to exercising today...but I checked my credit report and it all looks good! I'm so awesome!"

I just went online to CreditKarma.com, which is a site I recently heard about. I decided to time myself to see how long it took me to get my score, from start to finish. Including the time it took me to create a new account, it took all of 5 minutes. It gave me my TransUnion score, along with some others. I've also used Experian.com in the past to view my credit score. While the CreditKarma report was free, the Experian report cost $1 but gave me more information.

Whether you use the sites that I mention, or use another, please check your credit report right now so you can cross "check credit score" off your to-do list. I promise you'll sleep better tonight. I know I will!