Have you ever made a large cash withdrawal from a banking machine only to wonder a few days later where all the money went? Think for a moment: Where did the last $100 you spent go? Stop for a minute and write it down. Chances are you can account for most of it, but there may be five, ten, or twenty dollars missing from your list.
Why You Should Track Your Spending
What does it cost you to live each month? Some people under-estimate their expenses because they forget the things that don’t occur every month.
- Did you include your gym costs even though you pay them once a year?
- How about your house or car insurance?
- Did you include the cost of your haircuts, your contact lenses, or your vacation?
- Do you pay someone to shovel your snow, clean your windows and carpets or do your taxes?
- What about your vet bills, the flowers for your garden or patio, your best-friend’s birthday present?
Some people under-estimate their expenses because they actually don’t know how much they’re spending on things like take-out, clothes, and coffee. Over and over when I show folks how much money they’re spending on the non-essentials of life, they’re gob-smacked. Well, the only way to make a budget that will work is to know what you have been spending so you get some sense of what you’re going to have to change.
One of the best ways to gain a perspective on your spending habits is to keep a log of everything you spend, each time you do a transaction. The idea is to figure out where you’re spending all those dimes that seem to go missing each month. It’s also about learning more about yourself and where your place your priorities. This isn’t about shame, blame, or deprivation. You don’t have to change anything you don’t want to change. But you should at least know. With a spending log, you’ll have a clear picture of what you’re getting for your money.
When you do all your money management in your head, it’s very easy to forget things — sometimes important things — that will have an impact on your overall financial life. You’re always guessing how much you have left. And you shouldn’t really be surprised when your account is overdrawn. After all, if you don’t know how much you have, how can you know how much you can spend?
If you don’t believe you can find the time to maintain your budget — collecting receipts, entering details onto your budget, adding it all up and balancing it out — think about the time you have to spend solving the problems that arise from not taking care of the details. And think about all the money you waste on overdraft fees, interest costs, and ATM transactions. You’ll have to decide whether you’d rather live life peacefully, or continue waking to the specter of financial worry rattling his chains at the foot of your bed.
All right, so we knew former Bell officials were bellying up to the public trough. But is there a difference between a pig and a hog?
I decided to check after reading about this e-mail exchange between former Bell Assistant City Administrator Angela Spaccia and Randy Adams, who was about to become the police chief:
ADAMS: "I am looking forward to seeing you and taking all of Bell's money?!"
SPACCIA: "Okay … just a share of it!! LOL … well you can take your share of the pie … just like us!!! We will all get fat together … Bob has an expression he likes to use on occasion … Pigs get Fat … Hogs get slaughtered!!!! So as long as we're not Hogs … All is well!"
Bob, of course, is Robert Rizzo, the former city administrator who made nearly $800,000 a year. Bob is looking at 53 felony counts in the alleged looting of the city of Bell, so I think you could say the slaughter has begun.
Adams was paid more than $400,000; and Spaccia, who made $376,000, is charged with misappropriating funds. They all got fat together, in other words, and whether you use the term pig, hog or wild boar, what can you say to any of this but oink, oink, oink?
The exchange between Spaccia and Adams was released in the midst of Monday's preliminary hearing, and Spaccia's attorney Russell Petti wasted no time in putting a cloven hoof into his own mouth. He told Times reporter Jeff Gottlieb we shouldn't get the wrong idea about those e-mails, because Spaccia was actually "trying to save the city of Bell money."
Thanks, counselor. I'll believe that when pigs fly, as they say.
Petti also said: "The intent of that is, 'Look, we're all very well compensated by the city and let's not be pigs about it.' "
Yeah, sure. Spaccia tells Adams they'll all get fat together, Adams ends up making more than police chiefs in Los Angeles and New York, and she's out to save Bell money?
But I digress. Is there a difference between a pig and a hog?
Apparently so.
The dictionary says a pig is "any of several mammals of the Suidae family." Or, "any person regarded as being pig-like, greedy or gross."
A hog is defined as a pig weighing over 120 pounds, and also as a "self-indulgent, gluttonous or filthy person."
So are they pigs or are they hogs?
To be safe, should we just go with swine?
-- Steve Lopez
Photos: (Left) Randy Adams in June 2010. Credit: Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times. (Right): Angela Spaccia in October 2010. Credit: Al Seib / Los Angeles Times
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If he had been a known "conservative" or "tea party" member, and if it were a Democrat governor's news conference, this would be the #1 lead item, ahead of Sheen etc, and President you-know-who would have already flown into town (or the ...
bench craft companyU.S. News & World Report – September 21, 2010. The Dwarfs were right! Whistling while you work makes you do your job better. Daily Mail – September 22, 2010. Psychologist studies sports 'choke'. United Press International – September 21 ...
AOL's Patch has acquired hyperlocal news aggregator Outside.In, we've confirmed with Patch's president Warren Webster. It's unclear what the terms of the deal are but Business Insider reported earlier that the acquisition is valued at ...
If he had been a known "conservative" or "tea party" member, and if it were a Democrat governor's news conference, this would be the #1 lead item, ahead of Sheen etc, and President you-know-who would have already flown into town (or the ...
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bench craft companyU.S. News & World Report – September 21, 2010. The Dwarfs were right! Whistling while you work makes you do your job better. Daily Mail – September 22, 2010. Psychologist studies sports 'choke'. United Press International – September 21 ...
AOL's Patch has acquired hyperlocal news aggregator Outside.In, we've confirmed with Patch's president Warren Webster. It's unclear what the terms of the deal are but Business Insider reported earlier that the acquisition is valued at ...
If he had been a known "conservative" or "tea party" member, and if it were a Democrat governor's news conference, this would be the #1 lead item, ahead of Sheen etc, and President you-know-who would have already flown into town (or the ...
bench craft companyU.S. News & World Report – September 21, 2010. The Dwarfs were right! Whistling while you work makes you do your job better. Daily Mail – September 22, 2010. Psychologist studies sports 'choke'. United Press International – September 21 ...
AOL's Patch has acquired hyperlocal news aggregator Outside.In, we've confirmed with Patch's president Warren Webster. It's unclear what the terms of the deal are but Business Insider reported earlier that the acquisition is valued at ...
If he had been a known "conservative" or "tea party" member, and if it were a Democrat governor's news conference, this would be the #1 lead item, ahead of Sheen etc, and President you-know-who would have already flown into town (or the ...
bench craft companyU.S. News & World Report – September 21, 2010. The Dwarfs were right! Whistling while you work makes you do your job better. Daily Mail – September 22, 2010. Psychologist studies sports 'choke'. United Press International – September 21 ...
AOL's Patch has acquired hyperlocal news aggregator Outside.In, we've confirmed with Patch's president Warren Webster. It's unclear what the terms of the deal are but Business Insider reported earlier that the acquisition is valued at ...
If he had been a known "conservative" or "tea party" member, and if it were a Democrat governor's news conference, this would be the #1 lead item, ahead of Sheen etc, and President you-know-who would have already flown into town (or the ...
bench craft companyU.S. News & World Report – September 21, 2010. The Dwarfs were right! Whistling while you work makes you do your job better. Daily Mail – September 22, 2010. Psychologist studies sports 'choke'. United Press International – September 21 ...
AOL's Patch has acquired hyperlocal news aggregator Outside.In, we've confirmed with Patch's president Warren Webster. It's unclear what the terms of the deal are but Business Insider reported earlier that the acquisition is valued at ...
If he had been a known "conservative" or "tea party" member, and if it were a Democrat governor's news conference, this would be the #1 lead item, ahead of Sheen etc, and President you-know-who would have already flown into town (or the ...
bench craft companyU.S. News & World Report – September 21, 2010. The Dwarfs were right! Whistling while you work makes you do your job better. Daily Mail – September 22, 2010. Psychologist studies sports 'choke'. United Press International – September 21 ...
AOL's Patch has acquired hyperlocal news aggregator Outside.In, we've confirmed with Patch's president Warren Webster. It's unclear what the terms of the deal are but Business Insider reported earlier that the acquisition is valued at ...
If he had been a known "conservative" or "tea party" member, and if it were a Democrat governor's news conference, this would be the #1 lead item, ahead of Sheen etc, and President you-know-who would have already flown into town (or the ...
bench craft companyU.S. News & World Report – September 21, 2010. The Dwarfs were right! Whistling while you work makes you do your job better. Daily Mail – September 22, 2010. Psychologist studies sports 'choke'. United Press International – September 21 ...
AOL's Patch has acquired hyperlocal news aggregator Outside.In, we've confirmed with Patch's president Warren Webster. It's unclear what the terms of the deal are but Business Insider reported earlier that the acquisition is valued at ...
If he had been a known "conservative" or "tea party" member, and if it were a Democrat governor's news conference, this would be the #1 lead item, ahead of Sheen etc, and President you-know-who would have already flown into town (or the ...
bench craft companyU.S. News & World Report – September 21, 2010. The Dwarfs were right! Whistling while you work makes you do your job better. Daily Mail – September 22, 2010. Psychologist studies sports 'choke'. United Press International – September 21 ...
AOL's Patch has acquired hyperlocal news aggregator Outside.In, we've confirmed with Patch's president Warren Webster. It's unclear what the terms of the deal are but Business Insider reported earlier that the acquisition is valued at ...
If he had been a known "conservative" or "tea party" member, and if it were a Democrat governor's news conference, this would be the #1 lead item, ahead of Sheen etc, and President you-know-who would have already flown into town (or the ...
bench craft companyU.S. News & World Report – September 21, 2010. The Dwarfs were right! Whistling while you work makes you do your job better. Daily Mail – September 22, 2010. Psychologist studies sports 'choke'. United Press International – September 21 ...
AOL's Patch has acquired hyperlocal news aggregator Outside.In, we've confirmed with Patch's president Warren Webster. It's unclear what the terms of the deal are but Business Insider reported earlier that the acquisition is valued at ...
If he had been a known "conservative" or "tea party" member, and if it were a Democrat governor's news conference, this would be the #1 lead item, ahead of Sheen etc, and President you-know-who would have already flown into town (or the ...

JimRino Says:
March 3rd, 2011 at 7:54 am
Rewarding Failure, allows Wall Street to afford to prop up the “Republican” party.
Failure rewarding failure..
Petey Wheatstraw Says:
March 3rd, 2011 at 8:08 am
“3) Banks are carrying lots of housing inventory waiting for a better residential market to emerge 5 or 10 years down the road.’
The might as well be waiting for Jesus to come back.
From PA to GA there are thousands upon thousands of homes — new and previously occupied — being left to molder. I’ve driven the towns and back roads, and I’ve seen it all.
Every now and then, someone on the internets tubes will suggest that unoccupied houses be bulldozed in an act of “creative destruction.” In a sense, that’s already happening, only Mother Nature is being allowed to do very slowly what the dozer would do in a matter of minutes.
Recently nice/occupied homes missing shingles and/or siding due to weather. Windows broken and letting in the rain and snow. Downspouts eroding soil away from foundations. Gutters pulled down by the weight of rotting leaves. Trees, grass, and critters encroaching on lawns.
Inside, appliances and fixtures have been taken or simply trashed and left behind, along with anything the previous occupant didn’t want to move, including trash and rotten food. Walls have been smeared with food (and probably feces).
Many of these houses are REO, but not on the market. Many are already in such poor shape that they will never be sold. Even houses on large chunks of acreage (10+), the only value left is in the land, and any developments (well, septic, electric and other utilities — including the ubiquitous satellite TV dish), won’t find a buyer because the structures themselves have become a liability and a barrier to the sale of the property, as tear-down is required in order to replace a dangerous structure with a habitable one.
Extend and pretend has a result that the SEC can’t reverse.
SCTTD Says:
March 3rd, 2011 at 8:20 am
John Hussman had somewhat scathing comments about status of FASB 157 and the Boards unwillingness to actually hold their constituents to a reasonable standard in this weeks commentary.
http://hussmanfunds.com/wmc/wmc110228.htm
Scroll down to the open letter to the Financial Accounting Standards Board section.
Alaric Investments Says:
March 3rd, 2011 at 8:26 am
Surprising to think that anyone in the investment community believes that the banks are not intentionally “kicking the can down the road” – of course they are.
In fact, this is explicit government policy: is not a major reason for Federal Reserve’s negative real interest rates to help recapitalize the banks so that they will eventually be able to write off the remaining bad debt?
Also, by “going Sweedish”, do you mean a Mises-like clearing out? I would have thought that “going Sweedish” would conflict with the left of center agenda, no?
Mark E Hoffer Says:
March 3rd, 2011 at 8:27 am
this: “1) Banks are slowly rebuilding their capital by borrowing from one branch of government and lending to another. This is a slow process, but its less well unerstood (and hence more politically acceptable) than merely giving Banks capital outright…”
as an explaination of: “…the arbitrage between the the Fed’s ZIRP policy and Treasury’s 10 year bonds…”
is complete, and utter B*******.
for further reading…
http://www.humblelibertarian.com/2009/08/77-reasons-to-audit-fed-and-end-fed.html
http://www.monetary.org/federalreserveprivate.htm
http://www.barefootsworld.net/banking-fed-quotes.html
Alaric Investments Says:
March 3rd, 2011 at 8:28 am
SCTTTD –
Talk about scandalous accounting: remember that Buffet did not use mark to market accounting on a portfolio of publicly held securities and was able to get away with it with a mere verbal slap on the wrist from the SEC….
http://alaricinvestments.blogspot.com/2010/10/us-is-banana-republic-part-2.html
Shocking?
curbyourrisk Says:
March 3rd, 2011 at 8:35 am
Mark…when you say that is B********…do you mean the act is B******, or you do not believe it?????
For the GSE’s….give me a call….I have a crap mortgage you have as well.
curbyourrisk Says:
March 3rd, 2011 at 8:37 am
Forget going swedish. Let’s all go Iceland on their asses.
Collective middle finger to the banks….
constantnormal Says:
March 3rd, 2011 at 8:43 am
“2) FASB 157 allows banks to carry all of these structured products made of bad mortgages on their books indefinitely.”
Indefinitely? Surely not forever … what happens when these toxic mortgages mature, and still have huge unpaid balances?
Don’t they have to be written down then, or can they continue to be carried on the books as “assets”, with a mountain of “good will” in the form of unpaid principal & interest, penalties, and fees?
Why do the banksters EVER need to work again, if they can mine nothingness in perpetuity?
KentWillard Says:
March 3rd, 2011 at 8:44 am
I think the SEC’s focus is on the largely forgotten commercial real estate (perhaps construction too), not single family mortgages. Although commercial real estate prices have fallen almost as much as house prices, we haven’t seen the spike in defaults (yet?).
The bigger question is why the SEC is pushing this rather than the obvious regulators: OCC and FDIC. Would be interesting to know if all the SEC Directors support this action, or if it is a partisan choice.
constantnormal Says:
March 3rd, 2011 at 8:52 am
Mary Shapiro is gonna get herself in a lotta trouble, if she’s not careful … this is what happens when the head of a regulatory agency is not a former bankster …
Mark E Hoffer Says:
March 3rd, 2011 at 9:00 am
curb,
if I’m reading that, correctly, the GSEs aren’t involved in this statement: ““…the arbitrage between the the Fed’s ZIRP policy and Treasury’s 10 year bonds…”
and, to restate/try to clarify, this : “1) Banks are slowly rebuilding their capital by borrowing from one branch of government and lending to another. This is a slow process, but its less well unerstood (and hence more politically acceptable) than merely giving Banks capital outright…”
as an explaination of: “…the arbitrage between the the Fed’s ZIRP policy and Treasury’s 10 year bonds…”
is complete, and utter B*******.
or, differently, the idea that the FedRes is a ‘branch of Government’, akin to the Legislature, Executive, and Judiciary is, quite, inane..
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/inane
b_thunder Says:
March 3rd, 2011 at 9:14 am
I bet the next budget will have SEC defunded even more than the wettest GOP dream would be.
But this time it will be courtesy of the Obama/Dudley/Geithner cartel.
wally Says:
March 3rd, 2011 at 9:25 am
“Banks are carrying lots of housing inventory waiting for a better residential market to emerge 5 or 10 years down the road.”
A self-defeating act; they’ll be a drag on the very market they hope will improve.
curbyourrisk Says:
March 3rd, 2011 at 9:42 am
Mark…my GSE comment was not related to your comment at all…..just something completely different.
As for the rst of your comment……… The FED RESERVE has been controlled by the government for some time…effectively making a exetnsion of a branch (or multiple branches) of government.
If you do not believe that the actions taken are not complicit in allowing the banks to mock america and fill their coffers at our expense, then you sorely are mistaken….
stopGOVTwaste Says:
March 3rd, 2011 at 10:03 am
stopGOVTwaste
stop_govt_waste@hotmail.com
68.205.104.52
2011/03/03 at 9:38 am
I thought the banks wanted defaults… so they can obtain the Credit Default Swaps, right?
Isn’t this why they tell people to stop making payments (must be 90 days late in order to receive assistance)?
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