The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1900-01-14
FOR FEMININE READERS
VARIOUS METHODS OF MANAGING
THE FAMILY FINANCES.
One Thing the "New Woman VIII
Facts About Furnishing.

In the good old way, there were bills for
which the woman Of the household ap-
| preached the man OF the household and
asked for the money, says writer In the
New York Sun. If he was a very decent
sort Of man she received the amount and
perhaps little bit more. When she want
! ed spending money for herself, she asked
him for that, and if he was a disagreeable
person he would say, Where is that twen-
ty-five cents gave you over week ago?"
But whether he was generous or ungen-
crous he held the purse by a general IL
unwritten law, and he thought it was all
right. while it made no sort Of difference
what she thought He suffered himself In
way without knowing IL. No woman was
going to tease her husband for money to
buy him delightfully."- surprising presents,
even at Christmas time, and so it happened
that he was at fault for the bargain
counter gifts that. so it is said, he used to
receive.
However, the business woman who mar
rfes has revolutionized matters and has
thought out solutions that are far ahead
Of even the allowance plan. In one house.
hold 1t is down to a fine system In this
but sure income Of her own, while the man
has a sure and comfortably large salary.
AS things used to be managed the woman's
income would have been her spending
money, but this is the way they have done.
The total income is pooled and then divided
into two equal parts so that they may
share and share alike. Then. as the next
step. family purse has been established
for which both are equally taxed When
the funds In the family purse begin to run
low each member Of the firm puts In five
or ten dollars or more and then uses the
rest Of the divided fund for personal bills
till the time Of the next taxation.
When 1t is necessary to give united
present to any one. out of the family purse
comes the money to buy 1t. If the family
wishes to go to the theater the family
purse has to pay that bill. Everything is
systematized as only the new woman
knows how to systematic it and in man.
ner to which no one but the new woman
and the new woman's husband would ever
submit. Perhaps he at times chafes under
the inf1exible and unbendng rule and longs
for little less mathematical precision, and
perhaps he would even breathe sigh Of
relief if he We're allowed to go to other
extremes from the rule of the past and be
put on an allowance himself
The method adopted in another house
hold is not SO original and is more oppres-
SlVc, DecduS6 IL ueCeSSlldleS a rlSlQ Keep
ing of accounts. and because there is no
private purse at all. Everything goes into
the general purse. From this common
fund each of the family borrows. and then
at the end Of the week offers an itemized
statement Of how much has been spent
and of the manner in which 1t has been
spent. That weekly rendering up Of &C
counts tends to discourage reckless ex-
sing.
1t goes quite without saying that these
families are of rather limited membership.
What would happen to the carefully ar
ranged systems In the case of larger num-
bers to provide with food and clothes and
toys might show a survival of the tried
and true methods Of managing the family
finance.
No two Of the up-to-date families employ
exactly the same methods The woman in
each case prefers to originate ideas and lay
down her own rules for regulating the fam
lily purse and getting on fair money basis.
But there is one thing upon which the
housekeepers Of limited income agree, and
that is q hatred for bills, and therefore the
envelope system is popular. The idea is to
have a series Of envelopes, one tor the
butcher, another for the grocer, another
for the coal dealer, and so on, with one for
each Of the persons who may be expected
to present claims.
OF course, a small amount going into
each Of these envelopes every day doesn't
seem so great In the long run as the total
sum paid out in one lump. But there are
mold not to borrow from the milkman, or
the gas man, or the baker. or from their
envelopes, rather, which amounts to the
same thing The difficulty Is increased In
one household by the propensity which the
man of the family has developed Of taking
his turn at borrowing too. and the result is
that even the envelopes have to borrow
from one another
The most decided reaction from the con-
demned old-time method shows itself in the
real live methods that rule in some house.
holds in which the woman manages the
purse and doles out the spending money to
her husband. 1t is the best all-around plan.
The man in the case is spared all financial
worry except that of earning the money,
while the woman is more economical than
she would be If she received a certain sum
just to spend. OF course, there are cases
where 1t does not work well, as in the in
stance OF the woman who gave her hus-
band such a narrow margin for incidental
expenses that he was forced to run away,
but in most cases he is not driven to that
extreme, fortunately for the future growth
and popularity Of the plan.