Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1896-02-05
farn1 aud fireside.
THE VALUE OF KEEPING ACCOUNTS.

The VALUE UF kEEflNd hGGUUNlo'
There is no question but that keep
ing accounts teaches the value of mon
ey as nothing else will. When the
figures stare one in the face, they make
one realize what this or that luxury
cost, and what an important place the
sum holds in the total amount of mon
ey spent. When one adds up those
long columns of figures that represent
household or personal expenses, one is
confronted by the fact that there are
only 100 cents in 81. Of course one
knew that before, but it was vague,
intangible fact. Ten dollars seemed a
large sum, full of infinite possibilities.
Alas now it is spent, and one is rude
ly awakened to the fact that it is only
10 times 81, and that it has vanished
in so cents here, a quarter there, 81 or
So on one siae, and repeated dimes and
nickels on the other. No, nothing so
convincingly teaches the great total
that small out-lays make as accounts.
In household as we'll as in personal
affairs, when the totals. Of the expen-
ses and money received are balanced
and deficit results, there is no wiser
counsellor, no more tactful monitor,
than the account-book There they
stand, figures put down by ones own
hand, and they cannot be gainsaid. In
modest homes where expenditure of
monev must be carefully adjusted, so
that the food-money must not encroach
on the fuel-money, or the clothes-mon-
ey borrow from the rent-fund, accounts
are of great value. They help to keep
a steady balance in the various parts
of living, as the phrase is, and to show
the small leaks. 1t is these that are so
disastrous to family finances. The
large outgoes are considered and plan
ned for, but the little ones are not
thought of, and they creep in by sim
giles, couples, and groups, until the
family 6nancier cries in alarm, "Where
has the money gomez" 1t is the tiny
tissue that, unheeded, scuttles the
bravest ship. In large establishments,
where there are many servants, large
outlay, and bills paid once month, or
once in three months, strict accounts
are a necessity to keep expenses with
in bounds and to prevent needless
waste and dishonesty, for no house
hold is so rich as to bear two sources
of leak continually.
But where a woman has kept &C.
counts for years, her method OF spend
ing money has become in certain
sense a routine. She knows about
what she can allow for this and that,
and how much she can indulge her
family and not get into debt. When
such. sense of ability is reached, 1t IS
a distinct waste of nervous energy to
try to keep accounts. What difference
can it make to such woman whether
25 cents went for salt or coffee, pro-
viding the family have been well fed?
IF a piece of meat is particularly ex-
pensive, she knows enough to buy
something cheaper to offset it without
the prompting of figures. She knows
how long food materials ought to last.
Why tax her memory and her time to
set down each item of money spent.
When a woman turns bread winner,
she often earns more money than she
could save by keeping accounts. Why
should woman worry, when there is
a fixed weekly sum for housekeeping
and personal expenses, over the exact
detailed account for every cent? 81
am just tired out" exclaimed a bright
woman, "with my accounts. l could
not find nine cents this week, and my
columns wouldn't balance though l
hunted for them two hours" This
woman was earning $40 week in in
tellectual work, and yet she wasted two
hours of precious sleep for nine cents
Account keeping can be carried too far,
and then becomes an illustration of the
old adage, "a penny wise and
pound foolish.