A friend was complaining that another friend she had lent money to, decided to go to a spa. The money was borrowed for rent but the other person didn’t pay her rent with the money but instead used the money to treat herself to a manicure, pedicure and spa day for her birthday. The person who lent the money did so because this was a friend who was in need.

On a larger scale what AIG did is similar to my friend loaning money to another friend. “They were getting their manicures, their pedicures, massages, their facials while the American people were paying their bills,” thundered Rep. Elijah E. Cummings (D-Md.).  This was all to the tune of about $440,000. My friend was only out about $700.

Don’t loan friends money. When you spend your money wisely and a friend asks you for a loan, you should be aware that they may not spend the money the way you want them to. AIG rewarded their top performers with a week long spa trip, a banquet, golf and relaxation. I have nothing against people wanting to relax but it is important for people who borrow money to realize that they need to spend it prudently. That is probably the biggest problem many people were not spending prudently and especially if you aren’t spending your own money, you tend to be less careful than if you earned it yourself.

Loaning money to others is risky. If you really want to help someone and know they are trustworthy to spend the money on what they said they would then that is one thing but to spend the money on frivolous activities or items damages the reputation of the borrower in the eyes of the lender – even if there was a good reason. “I needed [wanted] to treat myself for my birthday” or “We need to reward outstanding employees” are not good enough reasons to misspend money that was entrusted to the borrowers.

When you are in the grocery store, it seems so easy to just grab a packet of seasoning to make anything from gravy, spaghetti sauce or salad dressing. Before you reach for a packet off the shelf, check the back of the package and see what the ingredients are. Many times if you have spices at home you could make the seasoning yourself and adjust the amount of seasoning that you need. If you are only making two chicken breasts but the recipe calls for 2 pounds of chicken, you may use too much seasoning or have a packet left over that you might forget about and not use.

Don’t get me wrong, seasoning packages are actually very good and useful but if you are making less than the recommended amount, are watching your sodium intake or add more pepper or spice to the packaged spice mix anyway, then you may not want to buy something that is not quite right.

Sometimes adding to a prepackaged mix enhances the flavor and saves you time and money. If you want to make your own pizza crust, but want to add some oregano, rosemary, garlic and thyme to the mix then you will have a pizza crust with zest. Baking a cake, adding flavoring or substituting another liquid like coffee or soda for the water, you will get a different and more flavorful cake than if you had just followed the directions on the box.

The difference between prepackaged seasonings and boxed mixes is that for seasonings, this is supposed to make cooking easy and are intended to be the only thing you need to use. For boxed mixes, this is a chance to express your creativity and add more to something that will start out ok but has potential for more.

Do the math, if you already have the spices, don’t buy a package just because it has a fancy name and is already in a foil lined pack.