Serena at Queercents wrote a great blog about a meal that is on a lot of peoples minds lately.  Thanksgiving!

But how can you stretch your dollar to be able to stay on budget with your meal?  Serena gives us some ideas with some budget friendly dishes that are sure to please!

• Mac N Cheese
• Green Bean Casserole
• Mashed Potatoes and Gravy
• Sweet Potatoes

Check them out!  They sound just as yummy as they most likely taste!

Another thing to think about is your budget after Thanksgiving.  You may break your budget a bit trying to prepare for the BIG meal.  So maybe you can make up for it a bit by trying to stay under budget the following week (or the week before - nothing wrong with planning ahead).  Clever dude gives 3 great tips for anytime of the year, but it may be especially good to do around these major holidays.

Also check out Pecuniarities post about Amazon and their great Subscribe & Save plan.  It’s a great way to save some time and money.

(Photo Courtesy of : danitort/morguefile.com)

Getting organized is the essential first step to getting ahead financially. An organized system for your financial records will help you stay focused and on top of your bills throughout the year. Tracking spending and finding documents will be a snap. Here’s what you need to get started:

1.  A Filing Cabinet or File Box

If you don’t already have a metal filing system a plastic file box, available at all discount stores, is a great alternative. You need to have one place to keep your current-year files. If you are lucky enough to own an existing file cabinet, designate one drawer for the current year.

2.  File Folders

Create a file folder for every bill or statement you receive monthly. These files should live in the File Box or the drawer in the File Cabinet designated for the current year. Designate a file folder for everything you get in the mail on a regular basis: phone bill, utility bills, bank statements, credit card statement, subscriptions, paycheck stubs, etc. Here’s where you can have fun. Pick some bright colors and coordinate your files. Use labels and funky fonts. When paperwork arrives each month (and bills are paid) it now has a place to live that’s not a garbage bag shoved in a corner. 

3.  Sturdy Expanding File

In addition to the file folders that were described above, designate a plastic expanding file envelope for “Permanent” files, things that are updated less frequently than monthly. In this sturdier folder keep paperwork that does not change or update itself yearly. Think: health documents, auto titles, apartment lease or mortgage. These should be kept in the back of the same “yearly” file box (or drawer) for easy access when you need to find a copy of that lease you signed two or three or years ago.

4.  Plain Expanding Files

At the end of each year, usually after you file your taxes, take all the prior year files out of the box or drawer and file them away in a plain cardboard expanding file – clearly marked with the year they represent. This self-contained folder can now go into longer-term storage, even if it’s the back of a closet or under the bed.

5.  Small Check File

Save your receipts! A small, plastic file, often used for coupons, is perfect for saving receipts. Designate each section for every plastic card you use: ATM card(s), credit cards, store cards, etc. You can also designate a section for cash purchases. Every month when your statements arrive, take out the receipts and match them (“reconcile”) to the statements. Match debit card receipts to bank statements, credit card/ store card receipts to their statements. This should be done every month. You’d be surprised how often banks and credit card companies make mistakes.

The five items above will get you a great start towards organizing your finances. This is the basic groundwork that will help you better manage your financial life.

I’ve heard that many Americans are one paycheck away from serious financial trouble. That’s pretty scary, so I decided to check out the goals page to see who’s building an emergency fund.

I discovered lots of users with this goal, but only a handful following through. Maybe some of you are just forgetting to use the tools to track your progress. If not, it might be time to visit the confessional.

An emergency fund is critical for peace of mind. When the unavoidable happens it helps if money worries don’t have to cloud your judgment. Then you can calmly decide the best way to deal with a crisis.

Here are three things to remember when trying to grow your cash cushion:

1) Pay yourself first.
This is the best way to start saving and lots of us don’t do it because we’re stuck in ‘Wait Until’ mode.

The problem with this approach is that the right moment never arrives. There will always be something that requires our cash and attention. The only way to develop a ‘pay yourself first’ habit is to make the leap and start. Now.

2) Be proactive with the little things.
Procrastination and impulsive behavior create avoidable emergencies that suck energy and resources. Prevent surprise expenses by taking good care of your health, home, and car. Don’t sabotage your efforts with actions that ultimately work against your goals.

3) Prayer is not a substitute for planning.
Bad things happen to good people all the time. Nobody gets to avoid accidents, disasters, or general misfortune. Why not be prepared? Then you can focus your prayers on those less fortunate. Like people who don’t use Geezeo.

An emergency cash cushion is an important step on the path to financial well-being. So don’t give up, your peace of mind is worth the effort. Congratulations to Sunny who is 56% of the way to building his emergency fund!

Natural born spenders might be unclear about emergency vs. non-emergency needs. Check out the group My Wallet Is Bulimic for a checklist.

I was looking out my front door this morning, watching a bird perch inside the the top corner of my porch. At first, I passed it off as nothing since it flew away. However, I saw the same bird on the ground looking for something. I assumed it was food. However, the bird picked up some dried grass, flew back to the same spot, and carefully placed it, just to fly away again (to get some more I presume). When the bird flew away tho, it’s efforts seemed pointless since it kicked the blades of grass just enough for the wind to take them away.

Well, did the bird give up? No. The bird kept bringing back blades of grass, small twigs, anything that would be suitable for the nest it was making. Eventually, the nest settled into place and began to form.

You might wonder at this point what exactly this has to do with your finances? Good question. Use a little bit of imagination, and think about when you are trying to build a “nest” of savings. Every once in a while, a “gust of wind” may come along and blow some of it away, something that could quite possibly be out of your control. But should you give up trying to add to that savings, wondering if another “gust” will just take it all away? Of course not. Eventually, the pieces will fall into place and stick. Your actions will become habit, and you will be able to fulfill your goals of paying down debt, and building a substantial savings.

For instance, we recently came up with a master plan to solve our debt issues and build a decent “nest” of savings. We thought it was going to work just great. That is, until a “gust of wind” came along, and blew that plan out the window. Due to work slowing down, and the inability for the company to “afford him”, my husband lost his job this past week. While I could sit here and be upset and/or depressed about the situation, we decided to make the best with what we have. Our end goal is to still pay off debt and build a savings - that won’t change. What will change is the path we are going to take to get there.

Let Geezeo help you see where your finances are, create a budget to be able to live within your means, as well at set some goals to save for your “nest”.

(Photo Courtesy of: Niuet / Stock.xchng.hu)

Many things can speed up or slow down your quest for financial success. It may be a long ride, so a road map (or financial plan) is a key travel companion.

When you begin to create this “road map”, you will need to make some tough decisions when it comes to your time, energy and money. Sometimes, there can be a conflict . For instance, you may end up needing to work over time at work. Unfortunately, that means that amount will be be taken away from quality time that you will get to spend with your family.

The trick to making a successful financial plan is balancing the people in your life with all of the things you need to take care of and do. This way, each area is supporting the others. If you have a success in one area, this often promotes success in another.

What are some of the benefits of having a financial plan in place?

A financial plan will:

~help you learn how finances work in your life.
~help you make good decisions regarding your life.
~show you where your money is going.
~help you find ways to save money for specific items/goals.
~helps you figure out if you can live within your means, or if you need to find a way to create more income.
~helps you find a way to cut your spending - by a little, or a lot!
~provides methods for keeping good records of spending.
~creates a way to measure your progress.

With all this in mind, it makes sense to take the time to make a financial plan, just as it does to plan your trip with a road map and potential attractions along the way. Join one of our groups, and explore the many “financial attractions” that are available in today’s market. Go ahead and start setting yourself some goals. Who knows, financial success could be just over the next hill.

“However, the problem with this is that they are forming the habit of not saving and that habit is very difficult to undo.”

Do you think YOUR money matters? No? Well, sadly, if you don’t care for your finances, your finances may not care for you. Now… or later in life. Lack of controlling your finances puts you one step further away from financial security. Those who have the best chance of financial security are those who frequently (and unfortunately!) spend little time caring for their finances: women and young adults.

So it’s my pleasure to introduce Galia Gichon, a financial planner and owner of Down to Earth Finance. Galia frequently works with women and young adults. I sat down to ask her a few questions about what it means to be young (and/or female) when it comes to knowing, managing, and changing your financial situation.

Galia, your site and services really focus on the financial needs of women. Why? How would you say women differ from men when it comes to financial planning, particularly in the earliest years of their careers?

Even though it is a stereotype, most women do not focus on their personal finances. They achieve so much success professionally, yet most do not take responsibility for their own money: learning about it and taking control of it. Many women do not focus on their personal financial needs until they get married, reach a landmark age (i.e. 35) or have a child. Until then, they don’t really focus on creating solid financial habits. Women do have different financial needs than men because many take an average of 11 years off from working to care for their children or parents and are not adding to their retirement savings at this time. However, they still live an average of 7 years longer than men and therefore need more money for retirement. Plus, when they are contributing to their retirement account, they are still earning less than men (about 22%), therefore, their total savings will be less. Given that they will need more (because of their longer life span), women should focus on planning for their retirement.

What are some common mistakes you see young adults making with their money (male or female)? Generally speaking, how can these mistakes be avoided or solved?

Generally, younger adults do not seeing saving money as a priority. Whether it is in for a simple emergency savings account or towards their 401k or IRA for retirement. They think they can start doing it later. However, the problem with this is that they are forming the habit of not saving and that habit is very difficult to undo. As soon as they start earning any type of money, they should set an automatic savings account. They should start with a small amount so they do not really feel it. They should also sign up for their 401k at work - again with a small amount. Once they start receiving the statements of how much they saved without thinking about it, they will feel excited to save more and in different areas as well.

How important is attitude when it comes to managing your money? How can attitudes hurt or hinder your financial future?

Changing your attitude about your money is concrete to seeing positive changes in your personal finances. Most of the people I work with are able to take charge of their money but the hard part is getting them to realize that they can do it. As a result, many people do not take responsibility for understanding their investments, paying off their debt or even figuring out how much to save for retirement because they do not think they know how to do it or they do not know where to start. By changing your financial habits, especially by adding a positive money conversation in their life on a regular basis (at least once a week), reading the business section of their newspaper, or opening every envelope that comes in the mail, they will start to see positive changes in their financial future. The more they put it off and do not deal with it, thereby, continuting the negative attitude of their money, the harder it will become to deal with it and see their money grow.

Say a client comes to you and says, “I know my problem: I constantly spend too much and am drowning in debt”. Or maybe she’s got another chronic problem that influences her money management. Bottom line, your client needs to change a behavior. How do you recommend clients make long-lasting changes to their behaviors when it comes to managing money?

If a client wants to change their money behavior, I always suggest start by doing one thing different. Just one. It could be reciting a daily Money Affirmation such as “I take the time to manage my money” or “I am known and respected for my financial accomplishmentsâ€? as found in My Money Matters. Or it could be completing a five minute task of paying your bills online every week, finding five places to plug in your budget or using all your flexible spending dollars at work. There are over 100 tips like these at “My Money Mattersâ€? that can just nudge you towards taking charge of your finances. Once you have increased your confidence and are ready to see monumental changes, you can tackle your budget, learn about mutual funds and plan your retirement with gusto. The key is to slowly build the financial habits so it becomes part of your weekly schedule.

Thanks, Galia! Don’t be left behind. Take charge of your finances today by using tools like Galia’s My Money Matters kit in conjunction with tracking your finances for free here at Geezeo!

It boggles my mind sometimes that there are people out there who don’t have any idea what their credit scores are. I suppose if you know you’ve paid your bills on time your entire life, it’s safe to assume you have nothing to worry about. Or is it?

The fact is, unless you pull your credit reports and scores you can’t be sure they contain the right information, let alone be sure someone else’s information isn’t included by mistake. But what is a FICO® score and why is it important to know yours?

“The FICO score predicts the likelihood that you or I or whoever is being scored will become seriously late in repaying any of our creditors over the next two years,� explains Craig Watts, a spokesperson at Fair Isaac Corporation, the company that developed FICO scoring.

Here’s a graph showing where Americans fall within the FICO score range.

Contrary to what you might first think, Fair Isaac does not actually provide credit scores. “We don’t provide scores at all, interestingly enough. We’re an applied math company, so we create the formula,� says Watt. “That formula is installed in the operating systems of each of the three credit bureaus. The bureau collects information it knows about you into a credit report, runs that information through our formula to produce a score.�

Whether you’re applying for a store credit card, a car loan or trying to refinance your mortgage, the organization you’re applying to will likely obtain your credit score to help make their decision to approve your application or determine an interest rate.

This is just the reason why it’s important to periodically check your score. Without knowing it, you could be selling yourself short to lenders by not knowing the information they’re using to evaluate you.

What makes it even more confusing is that there isn’t one single score for each person. Fair Isaac’s FICO formula can be used to evaluate your credit history as reported from any of the three credit bureaus—Experian, Equifax and TransUnion. You’ll never know which ones a lender will use, so it’s a good idea to monitor all of them.

“If you’re planning any kind of significant loan in the near future, you want to check your credit report and FICO score at each of the three national credit bureaus at least six months before you apply for that loan,� Watts advises. That will “give you the greatest chance to correct any errors and to influence that score positively before you walk in the lenders office and lay down that application.�

But before you run out and close all your credit card accounts, you should know what factors have the greatest impact on your score.

“The most important thing on the credit report for the FICO score is how you’re repaid your bills in the past—have you been late, have you been on time. If you have been on time, then you get positive strokes for that. If you’ve been late, then you get negative strokes,� says Watts.

Obviously, this is a change that takes time to achieve and will cause a slower improvement in your score. Below is a chart showing the top FICO score influencers and their weight. As you can see, on-time payments take up the largest portion. However, the amount you owe in relation to the amount of credit you have is high as well. This is an area where you may be able to affect a quicker change.

Watt says there are basically three good ways to work on improving your credit score:

1. Make sure you are never late in making payments. This includes bills like cell phones, utilities, parking tickets and even library fines that could be reported on your credit report for non-payment.
2. Pay down high balances on revolving credit. Lenders view you as a lower default risk if you’re not using all of your open credit.
3. Be resistant to new lines of credit. It may be tempting to save 10% at the register when a salesperson offers you credit, but evaluate the offer to see if it’s truly worth it for you in the long run.

For those who’ve never taken a look at their credit reports or scores, it can seem like a daunting task to begin to correct errors or improve your credit outlook. But Fair Isaac’s myFICO.com site is a great resource for consumers who want to educate themselves.

The company offers several products through its web site that can give you varying degrees of information.

For $15.95, you can order a FICO Standard report, which will give you your score and credit report from a single credit bureau (you choose which one) and shows you the factors that are positively and negatively affecting your score.

If you’re interested in your scores and reports from all three bureaus, then you can order the FICO Deluxe product for $47.85.

But perhaps the most interesting scoring product they offer is Score Watch, which lets you continuously monitor your Equifax score for $8.95 per month.

I recently purchased a house and had some loose ends to tie up on my credit report. I purchased Score Watchâ„¢ to get an idea of how my score would be affected as the changes were updated on my credit report. Being the credit nerd that I am, I love to see how my score fluctuates with different actions.

And for me it’s a good motivator to stay the course to rebuilding my credit profile. Each time my score changes, I’m notified via email and can log into my account to see exactly what caused the change.

Watts agrees that access to such credit information has a positive impact on scoring. “As people get plugged into what lenders really pay attention to, then they are better equipped to focus on those kinds of priorities or behaviors in the future, which leads to an improvement in their credit ratings,� he says.