If you’re online you’ve probably already seen these various gift-giving lists:

Are gift certificates tacky and without thought?
Is it wrong to re-gift something used?
Must you eat fruitcake to be polite even if its really, truly disgusting?

We won’t do that to you here at Geezeo. Instead, we’ll be running down some gift ideas that fit into three basic criteria:

1 – Gifts that can fit into almost any budget (remember, you can set your holiday budget here!)
2 – Gifts that you can get without getting in your car (remember: we dislike parking lots)
3 – Gifts that will make even the coldest Scrooge on your list feel good, and you feel good for giving them.

Remember that! So this brings us to our first post: “Cute Social Studies Teacher Edition”.

Okay, remember those crushes you had on your teachers in school? (I adored my Italian professor…piccante!)

Well, lets not forget that a good majority of these hard-working folks operate on budgets smaller than the amount of cloth used in Italian swimwear. Micro-Speedos not your thing? Micro-budgets aren’t their thing, either. Don’t hate them, hate the system.

Enter the solution. DonorsChoose.org allows you to find your hometown school’s very specific needs. You can chip in and know that your money is going directly to good use. Donate in your name or someone else’s. Who on your list wouldn’t feel good to know they helped some young kid reach his or her potential?

Here’s a great video of the DonorsChooose.org founder. Did I mention he was a Social Studies teacher?

Donate here: http://www.donorschoose.org

Not sure which project to choose? Here’s a great starter list: http://www.donorschoose.org/donors/viewChallenge.html?id=17752

My roommate came home yesterday from classes and told me that her finance teacher told the class that instead of saving all of their money, they should live it up while they can. So my first thought was, maybe he was having a little bit of a mid-life crisis? But then again, part of what he said is true. You start to save money for retirement and the future once you get out of college…and put off all of these things that you want to do while your young just to save some money, but when you do get to retirement age/the future, you aren’t able to do some of these things anymore!

So that got me to thinking how important budgeting is. Nobody says that you have to put off everything you want to do, but the right way to do it is to at least budget so that you don’t end up in serious amounts of debt and completely unable to retire at all! I think people need to find the right medium that is right for them, because obviously everyone is different in their own way! This is why Geezeo is so great…it allows you to budget how you want to budget your things — not how others think you should budget!!

See, there are times where some of my friends spend money like crazy….and believe me, I love to spend money! But at the same time, I think I am more conservative and also like to save. There are times where I will splurge, and then times where I will save if I feel that the opportunity is just not something that I am all that interested in. I think its good to take a step back and stop listening to what everyone else is saying, and think how you want to spend your life.

There are some people that really don’t mind paying off loans…as long as they can live it up while they are in college! Having 2 jobs has really helped me out this semster. Not only do I really like my jobs, but it has taught me to (1) learn to balance my time better and (2) it has allowed me to spend money the way I want to spend it, while still saving some! This is the first time since I’ve been in college that I have had a job during the school year (and I’m now a senior at BU) but I’m finding that I really enjoy it. I like not having to worry about my money…I like being able to know that I will have money to spend on people this Christmas, but will still be able to make it on Spring break.

Setting goals and budgeting is a huge help! If you see your goals in front of you, rather than just thinking them in your head…it makes reaching these goals much easier and once you accomplish them it feels great! haha, so yes…what my roomates teacher said got me thinking all this…but it’s always up to you, live your life the way you want!

I found a great article about 5 simple ways that many people waste money while they are actually trying to save some money! Its funny that while people try so hard to save some money…they may be losing valuable money in the long run.

1.) The article explains that you need to know the difference between buying for “value” and just buying “cheap” items. There are certain cheap items that you can buy. Many generic brands such as CVS or Wal-Mart are okay for things such as toiletries or candy…things like that. But when you go big (washing machines, stoves, electronics) you should buy brand names. The reason they have these well-developed brand names is because they are trusted and many of them have developed their quality. Buying cheap products in these categories will have you spending more money in the long-run when something breaks down or fails on you.

2.) Impulse buying = bad bad bad! Seriously, we all think its a good thing when there are sales…but many times (with clothes for instance) you won’t even end up wearing the items you buy and eventually they stay in the back of your closet with the tags still on. I am a huge victim of this! I think I’m getting such a good deal…but eventually I would have been better getting the one thing I REALLY wanted, rather than 3 things that were on sale.

3.) Gas…seriously, don’t drive to the cheapest station you know unless it is on your way to where you are headed. It costs more to head out of your way to save a few cents than to just got to the next gas station. Another thing that coincides with this is finding parking spaces…unless it is bitterly cold or pouring rain, just park where you can. You waste a ton of gas just driving around the parking ot aimlessly hoping that someone in the front row will end up leaving!

4.) Going out of your way to find sales or discount stores…once again, unless stores like outlets and Costco are on your way somewhere, make sure you are actually not wasting the money you are saving in gas and time…otherwise there was really no point in you going to these places in the first place!

5.) Don’t buy in bulk just because it is there. Costco sells a lot of food in bulk…but if there is just one of you eating it, are you sure that you are going to finish it all before it goes stale…or better, before you get sick of it? Because otherwise you will just end up throwing i tall away…wasting more money than I’m sure you got to save.

I just thought this article put things into perspective. Many times you don’t realize what you are doing until the consequences come about. This may help some of you to avoid many of these simple mistakes to make! Here is the full article that you guys can check out for yourselves: 5 Ways You Waste Money While Trying to Save It

Well, let me clarify, the solution to anxiety is much like the solution to personal finance problems. I know a bit about anxiety having suffered from it since childhood. As such, I’ve been able to help a few of my friends and family members who have suffered from anxiety. The biggest step to solving anxiety is being able to identify that you have it. At that point, you can attack the problem with medication or therapy or both. I suffered with anxiety for a long time before I knew what it was, as did some of my friends. The problem with anxiety is that it shows up in the form of symptoms that often feel like major health related issues, like not being able to breathe, or the feeling of having a heart attack, etc… So, for someone who has no idea, a panic attack can be an extremely frightening event and it can have a very negative effect on ones life. Once the problem is identified however, the battle is halfway over.

The same can be said of personal finance. If you are in the red every month, or even just every couple of months, you may or may not have any idea what the problem is. Just like anxiety, understanding the problem is the first step to fixing it. One of the most basic functions of Geezeo is that it shows you how you are spending your money. Our personal experience, as well as what many of our users tell us is that seeing their monthly spending habits graphed and tagged often yield surprising results. For instance, you might learn that your frequent trips to the convenience store are costing you $90.00 a week. Or maybe you’ll find out that your trips to Dunkin Donuts are eating up one third of your monthly food budget.

Until you see these statistics laid out in front of you, it’s impossible to know how to attack your financial problems. However, once you understand where you’re spending your money, it’s much easier to stop the bleeding so to speak. Ironically, personal finance can often become a trigger for anxiety, so learning how to solve your financial problems can also go a long way to helping with your anxiety. Although, if you do have anxiety, I would recommend seeing a doctor in lieu of using Geezeo, unless of course your doctor refers you here!

Great Wallstrip Video today. Lindsay covers Fair Isaac Corporation (FIC). I wish personality was taken into consideration for my credit score. Video is wicked funny.

If you get a chance, pick up the December issue of Men’s Health we’re on page 96. It’s a cool edition “100 Best New Tech Toys for Men”. The same issue with “Flat-Belly Foods” and “Make Good Sex Great”.

Carmen Wong Ulrich, Author of the fantastic book Generation Debt has a great writeup on social finance sites like Geezeo including some other great social investment sites like Zecco and Covestor.

As I was out during Black Friday today…I was thinking to myself that there has got to be a way for me to save some money this holiday season since either the things I want to get people are really expensive, or I just have way too many people on my list!

Deals Online — My boyfriend is obsessive when it comes to finding deals. He will sit online for hours and search different results, different items, and figure out which one will work best for him. But in the end, he does find great deals! So, I’m not suggesting that you sit on the computer for hours, but if you have an item that you are thinking about purchasing somewhere, do a price comparison just to make sure you are buying it at great value!

Shop Early — This is probably one of the hardest things to do. You never know if people are going to change their minds about something, or buy it before Christmas comes. But if you can start to shop early (like today) you find some great deals and usually the item you want will still be in stock (or hopefully after the Black Friday craziness is over!).

Don’t Overspend — My friends and I love eachother…don’t get us wrong, but buying for every single one of your friends gets really expensive (even if you only spend $10 each). So my friends and I have started to do a Yankee Swap for Christmas. Not only does this save everyone a bunch of money but if everyone buys a gift for around $15 its also a really fun way to spend the night with some drinks, games, and Yankee Swap! haha, call my a loser but I love things like this — and when people want the present that you got, things can get really interesting, you never know what you are going to end up with!

Magazine Subscriptions — Around the holidays magazines always have deals for you to give magazine subscriptions to a friend. This is a great idea, I know one of my best friends buys just about every magazine there is out there…all from the shelf at CVS which means she really is overspending by a lot. I don’t know someone who doesn’t have at least one favorite magazine they like to pick up and read.

Use Cash — Seriously, if you think you have a problem with putting too much money on your credit card…then use cash! This is huge because using a credit card you can rack up a serious bill without even realizing on one crazy day of shopping. But when you use cash, you have to eventually run out! Using cash is just a great way to keep track of your money and make sure you aren’t spending more than you had budgeted for.

These are just a few of the ways people can save a ton of money around the holidays! We all know that shopping can put a serious dent in your budget and savings…so any way to save a little bit of cash works best!

Here it comes! So-called “Black Friday”. That’s the first Friday after Thanksgiving and traditionally the largest shopping day of the year.

So are you going to pile in the car and go get yourself some deals?

Nuh-uh. Not me. Keep me far away from the crazy crowds, thank you. There just aren’t deals good enough. I’ve become more of a “order online or go at off-hours” kind of shopper.

Which brings me to two seemingly unrelated topics: parking lots and mac computers. The first you’ll probably be searching for in vain. The second you’ll probably have on your holiday list, in some sort of Apple form (ipod, mini, laptop, or iMac, non-naughty listmakers?)

Salon posted an interesting article about…. parking lots. Specifically, that many parking lots are built to hold the huge traffic days like Black Friday. What are the economic and environmental costs of free parking? More interesting than you’d think. Makes me think twice now on the rare occasions I pay for parking.

And macs? You don’t have to look far to find Apple fanatics. While Geezeo here is an equal-opp tech shop, I’d say there are more hardcore Mac fans. And why not? Macs are awesome! But have you ever considered the economic trade-offs of buying a mac? Sure, they cost more at the onset. But: they hold their value longer, too. In this brilliant article the issue is solved once and for all… Macs are cheaper.

Which brings us to an interesting phenom happening right now. Yes, right now as we digest those big heavy holiday meals: the development of an economy where almost all goods are liquid and as a whole we move toward “auction culture”. An article and book review of “Future Shop” not to miss right here.

Happy Thanksgiving!
(Now, go set up a Geezeo account, check your budgets…its holiday shoppin’ time!)

This is a great blog! It talks about student loans and what to do after you graduate. The blog called “Student Loans: How to Pay Them Off and Build Wealth” explains that they two exceptions to bad debt are home mortgages and student loans. It gives you examples on the best time to pay off your loans depending on what your interest rates are, or whether you should put your money away and save. This blog will give you some great advice on what to do after graduation and when you’re in the real world…so check it out!

Today we rolled out a major release which includes some very cool new features and improvements to the site.

Taking center stage is the ability to set spending targets and measure your progress throughout the month aka “Budgets”. Personally I think budgeting is incredibly painful and something I’ve never been very good at. Too much of buy now pay later type of guy…but that’s another story. Nonetheless its important to know where your money goes and at the very least you should know if you’re spending to much (or too little) on something like “Dining Out”.

So…keeping our low tolerance for hard core budgeting (yawn) in mind we set out to create a “better way”. We knew that when we built our budgeting features we would have to do it right…do it simple, make it easy and fun. That’s the Geezeo way. That’s how we roll.

We think we nailed it

Some of the new features now give our users the ability to…

Set spending “Targets” using tags associated with your transactions. So lets say you currently spend an average of $300 per month on “dining out” but think you should really be spending about $200. Using Targets its easy to set a target that gives you a great “at a glance” look at your progress.

-Drill in to each spending target to see how your spending changes each month. Are you spending more on Gas or Less? Chances are you’re spending more on gas these days

-See how one spending target compares to your other expenses. Does it make sense that you spend more on “Coffee” then “Groceries”?

So check out the budgeting section of the site, set some targets and let us know what you think…we’ll be making a few tweaks to this feature over the next week or so.

Other noteworthy improvements to the site include

-A new home page! Yessss its shiny, it’s got big buttons and a really cool piggy bank. I think we found a mascot

-Invite your friends feature. So all you loyal Geezeo users out there will be able to share the love with your friends. Thanks in advance. Geezeo <3 Users

-New Live Chat. Meebo was cool but didn't quite satisfy our needs. We're now using Campfire from the boys at 37signals which will allow for group chat and better real time support.

-The Groups section of Geezeo now has categorization to make it easier for you to find the groups you might want to participate in. Chek em out!

A couple more features we have on the short term horizon…

-text/sms your Geezeo account to see how much money you have left for a specific target. About to buy a pair of shoes..see how much you have left in your “Clothing” budget
-Email and text alerts on account activity

So more good stuff on the way. Please keep the feedback coming and we’ll help you keep the “Geez” in your pocket!