If you follow Gaucho on Twitter, then you  know we’ve become the best place to find updates on deals and ways to save. Judging by our rapidly growing follower numbers, we’re not alone in thinking this.

Now we’re asking you to take just a second of your time to help us out.

Please, vote for @GauchoSave to win a Shorty Award!!!

How: Can You Spare a Tweet?

It only takes a tweet. There are two ways to vote for us:

1. Visit the Shorty Awards and give us a tweet. Now, there’s no ‘Savings’ category, so please use the hashtag #savings when you vote.

2. If you’re like us, you’re Twitteraddicts and already have your favorite Twitter app open and ready for tweeting. Just copy and paste this and you’re ready to rock. Tweet. Whatever. You get what I mean.

And be sure to give your reason. (If you don’t enter a reason, your vote won’t count and we’ll be sad.)

Why: Help us Grow

We work hard to provide you with the best savings information around. Given the current tough financial environment, our new Gaucho friends have responded with some amazing messages of positive appreciation for what Gaucho is working to do.

We’re humbled and thankful for the great response. But as a crowdsourced endeavor, Gaucho is only as good as its members. We’re just a tiny startup and winning this award would help us to gain more media coverage and members, which means more deals — and more ways to save — for you.

So whaddaya say? Just one lil tweet? We’ll be your best friend forever. Promise.

About: The Shorties

This year marks the second annual Shorty Awards.

The Shorty Awards honor the best people and organizations on Twitter. These unique awards are for the Twitter community, by the Twitter community. Online voting is public and democratic, culminating in an awards ceremony that recognizes the winners in 27 official categories as well as those in brand new crowd-sourced ones.

Thanks!

We hope you take a second to vote. We really appreciate all the great support our Gauchos have given us.

(And yes, we really will be your bff.)

Did you put off getting a gift for that niece, nephew, or other smallish humanoid?

During a time when school art programs are having drastic cutbacks due to the economic climate, why not support the arts by buying the gift of music for a child?

Not convincing enough, huh. Okay. How about this one — torment your family and friends by buying their kids musical instruments!

Really, most kids love music and learning to play music teaches many lessons aside from those concerning notes and rhythms. Kids can learn about the creative process, working together to blend sounds and harmonies, and doing your part in a group endeavor.

Here are a couple of great gifts for the future musicians and miniature music lovers out there. Or, jump to the end for more general last minute gifts.

The Roll Up Drum Kit

Hammacher Schlemmer has a fantastic replacement for a full drum kit. This roll up kit can be stored away much easier than the real thing and connects via USB to a Windows PC. It also boasts a variety of sounds, rhythm patterns, and drum loops that you can customize.

At $59.95, it’s a better deal than a real drum kit, too. This 3-piece Junior Kit is $179.99 new.

I guess there’s no replacing the real thing, though.

Electric Guitar Packages

A Fender is a classic guitar that is great to learn on and will set any kid on their way to rocking it. This Starcaster package in Midnight Blue is $199.00 at Amazon and includes everything you need to get strumming — the guitar, an amp,  strings, picks, a strap, a 10′ cable, a tuner, a gigbag, guitar stand, and an instructional DVD. Or, get the Candy Apple Red for 186.64 (and free shipping).

This is a tough deal to beat for a starter package. Many guitar shops sell this guitar alone for the same price.

The Wood Block

Keep is simple. Nothing is more basic than banging a block of wood with a mallet. Let them develop metronome-like precision before moving to more advanced matters. At $7.77, this Hohner wood block is quite a bargain.

Harmonica

Speaking of Hohner, a harmonica (or pocket harp, as some like to call it) is another low-cost, low-ear damage musical gift. With prices ranging from $5 and up, it’s affordable. It’s potentially tolerable to listen to, since all the notes are set to a specific key. (The key of C would be the standard to place to start a harmonica collection/practice.)

iSpin

For $99.95, you can make those teenage dreams of DJ fame come true. Or, at least, make them possible. The iSpin lets you spin and mix songs on 2 different iPods, without needing a computer. Hook it up to an multimedia speaker, or headphones with a 3.5mm jack.

Last Minute Gifts for Kids: Non-Music

If you’re looking for gifts for those kiddos but aren’t feeling the music thing, here are a few great spots to check out. Hit them up now, because today is the last guaranteed day for Christmas delivery.

Happy deal hunting on those last minute gifts! Just remember, it will all be over soon!

This holiday season, it’s important to remember that Christmas is not just about receiving. More importantly it’s about giving, and giving doesn’t constitute gifts to just family and friends.

It can be an extremely rewarding experience to give to someone in need who doesn’t ask for the latest gadget from Apple, but just a chance to go to school, get clean water or have a positive outlook for the future. Isn’t that enough to give you a warm feeling inside?

Why Selfless Gifts?

Because it’s so easy to take for granted the simpler things in life. Christmas is a great time to reflect on all of your own blessings and give what you can to the less fortunate. These gifts are presents of peace, hope, and sustenance for someone in need. In some cases, your gift can mean the difference between life and death.

You can make a difference in the lives of the less fortunate this Christmas. Ideally, you would volunteer at a local charity or cause in your area, but if you are looking for charities that offer something a little different, pull your family together and consider one of these great causes.

1. Adopt A Penguin—

Oceana.org allows you to choose among six cool creatures in  their Adopt-A-Creature programme,  including octopuses, polar bears and even sharks! These animals feel the strain of climate change more than most animals as their habitats are being lost and food supplies decline. Oceana applies your gift to causes such as reducing overfishing and habitat destruction for these animals.

Minimum Donation: $35.00

2. Help Prevent Malaria

MalariaNoMore.org is a great organization for facilitating the fight against malaria through the donation of bed nets. Malaria kills more than 300 children every day and over  1 million each year. Today 40% of the world’s population is still at risk, but these numbers can dramatically change with your simple gift of a lifesaving bed net.

Minimum Donation: $10.00

3. Adopt A Coral Reef

The Nature Conservancy has a great adoption program for rainforests and coral reefs. Choose from forests in Brazil, Africa, Papua New Guinea and more. This is a wonderful gift that’ll get your family passionate about the state of the environment, and the adoption package you receive will serve as a great reminder of this cause.

Minimum Donation: $50.00

4. Gifts That Keep Giving

Heifer International is renown for awesome international donation options. Choose from their gift catalog which includes llamas, honeybees, baskets and even trees. The gifts provide transportation, food from their produce such as milk and honey, and provide a means of income from the sales of their produce. You can even donate to one of Heifer’s international projects in countries like Rwanda and Nepal where donations are used to stop such problems as poverty and illiteracy.

Minimum Donation: $10.00

5. Grant A Wish

The Make-A-Wish Foundation has helped lots of children and persons suffering from illnesses to realize their wishes. There are lots of options to donate; for example you can donate your time to your local Make-A-Wish chapter, you can donate airline miles which you just may not be using, and even fun shopping sprees.

Minimum Donation: $0.00

6. Unwrap With Oxfam—

Oxfam Unwrapped is one of the best places to find lots of options for selfless gifts. Choose a cause that’s close to your heart and see what they have in store. You can give schoolbooks, seeds, HIV education and more. Empower women and children from around the world with your gift – thus empowering yourself.

Minimum Donation: $12.00

7. Defenders of Wildlife

Defenders of Wildlife is the oldest science-based, results-oriented conservation group in the U.S. It is devoted to saving endangered species. There are a multitude of adoptable animals and animal inspired gifts. Profits go towards supporting and sustaining disappearing wildlife populations.

Minimum Donation: $5.00

(Bonus) 8. 350

We tried to keep this list to 7 sources of selfless gifts, but the list simply isn’t complete without mentioning 350.

Scientists say that 350 parts per million CO2 in the atmosphere is the upper level of the safe limit for humanity. Right now, we’re at 387ppm. 350 is a fairly young organization that has rocketed to international involvement as they provide a focus-able, and still achievable, goal. What can you do to help? Sign up and support the cause by buying someone a 350.org t-shirt, some stickers, buttons, etc.

Minimum Donation: $1.49

Yay! Late last night we released what we’re calling Gaucho version GR1.1.

This fix resolves many of the issues that have been affecting user experience.

For the time being, our product search comparison engine has also been removed. This is to assure the stability of the Gaucho site as a whole. Meanwhile, our awesome dev team is revving up the search engine to make it even faster and more accurate. We’re doing a lot all at once and appreciate your help and patience.

Find all the Deals You Need

While product search is on hold, that doesn’t mean the saving has stopped. Hardly. Rather, with all the great holiday deals out there, the GSS is still the best place to find, filter, and share those deals. Just take a quick look. It’s bound to save you money on holiday gift-givigang.

Keep it Coming

As we continue to fix bugs and other known issues, your feedback is well-received and super valuable. If you encounter any issues or have any suggestions, please let us know. We may not be able to respond to every suggestion we get, but please know we look at all of them and hope all our new Gauchos will continue to share their thoughts, as they see fit.

Thanks again for your help and patience.

For Black Friday, Gaucho is going full steam ahead. Here’s the deal: all deals, all day long. You don’t have go searching for deals.

Welcome to the Savings Oasis

We connect you with the best savings information around.

To prove it, we’re having a Black Friday Twitter-a-thon. At 12:01 AM on Friday the 27 — aka Black Friday — we will begin tweeting the hottest deals we can find all day, all night. That’s right, 24 hrs of savings.

So, before you head out to the mall or click that confirm payment button, take a look at our #BlackFriday Twitter stream to find the best deals, discounts, and savings tips of the day.

You can follow Gaucho on Twitter or Facebook.

Going out shopping?

Great. Follow us on Twitter, turn on the SMS alerts from our Twitter account, and we’ll follow you around while you shop and deliver updates on deals right to your pocket or purse.

ReTweet to Win

Retweet just one of our messages anytime on Black Friday and you’ll be entered to win a $10 Starbucks or iTunes Gift Card. We’re giving away 5 iTunes cards and 5 Starbucks cards. Each time you retweet a deal, that counts as one entry. Retweet (and up your odds of winning) as much as you like.

Have a Great Thanksgiving!

Yes. It’s true.

Okay, it was proven by me. Yesterday. And, when I say, “Proven to Save You Money,” I really mean, “Proven to Save Me Money.” And since I’m the Gaucho Content Wrangler, you might think I’m biased. If that’s what you think, then you’re right. But it’s still true.

Let me tell you what happened.

I was watching Sunday football, which spurred me to remember that it was the last day to use the Stamp I posted for 40% off Lucky Brand Jeans. I’m sorry to say that this discount has obviously ended.

Lucky Brand jeans happen to fit me best. I’m almost always wearing their jeans or shorts. Well, according to my fiancée, I’m always wearing the same pair. I thought buying another might help the cause, but it probably won’t.

Anyway, I found a good pair on sale and was all set to check out my purchase when I thought, “Ohhh, I should see if the GSS has any additional promo codes I can use.”

Sure enough, ninomaravilla had posted one for Free Shipping on Lucky Brand purchases over $75 with the code “9WEARNOW” — which is good until the end of the year. (Holiday gifts?? Hrmm…)

So I added an item to my cart and that’s the exciting story of how I saved $7 on shipping and got 40% off a pair of Lucky Brand jeans.

Now, if you were paying attention to dmadray’s Stick to Your Lists post from Saturday, you might say, “Oh, Doug, you didn’t save anything, really. You’re a fool. You just fell for their game.”

To which I would respond, “Yes. But, I got a pair of Lucky Brand jeans and a cool long-sleeve t-shirt (with eagles on it!) for $84, which is 15 bucks less than the regular retail price of the jeans themselves.”

Now, if you have any sense you might respond by saying, “But that’s exactly what they want you to think! You spent that much on a pair of jeans and a long-sleeve t-shirt?” Again, I will say yes. In my opinion, it’s worth it for a pair of comfortable, quality jeans that stand up to the beating I give them.

More importantly, I did it for science. I did it to prove the efficacy of Gaucho utilization, QEG (Quod Erat Gauchosomething).

You will be able to find this study in a bunch of really important science journals sometime really soon.

Hi. We’re Gaucho.

Some of you may remember us from our last life, when we were focused on helping students to find cheap textbooks.

Well, now Gaucho is all grown-up.

You will still be able to find cheap books, if that’s what you want. But, the new site is all about savings — and sharing savings. On everything and anything. In these times, dimes aren’t going as far as they once did, so we’ve come up with a combination of tools to help stretch them. We’ve also brought the social side of shopping online to create a real-time, savings inspired community.

Beta Release

As of today, we’re releasing the new, improved Gaucho into beta testing. We hope early adopters and people looking for ways to save money will sign up for a sneak peek. And, as we work to improve Gaucho for our public launch, we’d love to hear your feedback.

Wade into the Savings Stream

Not everything is fully functional yet — and there’s much more to come — so please pardon our cyber dust. However, you can explore (and contribute to!) the main feature of the site. We call it the Gaucho Savings Stream (GSS).

The GSS is an easy-to-use, real-time feed filled with ways for you to find and share updates on the latest sales, deals, offers for free shipping, coupon codes, and more. You can also sell your own stuff, or simply share savings tips. You can also subscribe to the GSS to get the deals delivered right to your RSS reader.

Bonus Prize

As a beta tester, you get the chance to win an iPod touch. This is our way of saying thanks to our beta users, and when Gaucho goes fully public, we’ll randomly select one lucky beta tester as the winner.

Sign Up

Sound good? You can get started by visiting the Gaucho home page to request an invite.

Don’t be disappointed if you don’t get an invite right away. We’re rolling this out in phases and demand has been high. You should receive your invite within a few days. That will still leave you with plenty of time to use Gaucho and save on holiday gifts.