The Afro-American advance., 1900-03-17
SYSTEM OF HOUSEKEEPING.
Domestic Finance Mas Come to he
Conducted ON Sclen-
tiIic nnsIs.


In the slow days of the old-fashioned
woman the housekeeper WAS obliged To
so TO her husband and ask for money
TO defray the domestic expenses piece
by piece. If he was very decent sort
of man she received the amount, and
perhaps little hit MOI. When she
wan3ed spending money FOR herself she
asked him for that. and il he Was dis.
agreeable person. he would say; Where
Is that IS cents gave you over u week
ago ago9"Z#
But, whether he was generous or un.
generous, he held the purse by a gen
eral II uuwritten law, and he thought
II was all right. while il made no sort
of difference what she thought. - He
suffered himself in a way iihout know
ing it.,No woman WAS going to tease
her husband for money IL buy him de-
lightfully surprising presents, even at
Christmas time, and sol happened that
he was at fault for the hargain-eounter
gifts that. so II is said, he used TO re-
ceive.
However, the business woman who
marries has revolutionixed matters and
has thought out solutions that are far
ahead of even the allowance plan. In
one household il is down TO u fine sys-
tenn. In this case Ii happens that the
wife has small but sure income of
her own, while the man has sure and
comfortably large salary. As things
used TO be managed, the woman's i'm
come 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, 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 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 anyone, out OF the family
purse comes the money TO buy It, II
the family wishes TO GO to the theater
the family purse has 10 pay that bill.
Every thing is systemntized as only the
new woman knows how TO sympathizc
II. and in n manner TO which no one but
the new woman and the new woman's
husband would ever submit Perhaps
he at times chafes under the inflexihle
and unbending rule and longs for a
little less mathematical precision. and
perhaps he would even breathe sigh
of relief IL he were allowed To go TO 9th.
er extremes from the rule of the past
and be put on an allowance himself
The method adopted in another
household is not so original and is nor,
oppressive. because II necessitutes a
rigid keeping of accounts. and because
there is no private purse at all. Every
thing goes into the general purse. From
| this common fund each Of the family
borrows and then at the end OF the
week offers an itemizcd statement oi
how much has been spent and of TIL,
manner in which IL has been spent
That weekly rendering of accounts
tends 10 discourage reckless extrayn
gance and is on the whole depressing.
1t goes quite without saying thai
these families are of rather limited
membership, What would happen tC
the carefully arranged systems in rht
case of larger numbers 10 provide Will
food and clothes and toys might shoS,
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 20 originate
ideas and lay down her own rules foI
regulating the family purse and get.
ting on a fair money basis, But there
Is one thing upon which the house,
keepers of limited income agree, and
that is hatred for bills, and therefore
the envelope system is popular. The
idea is to have series of envelopes
one for the butcher. another for The
grocer, another for the conl dealer
and 30 on. with one for each of the per
sons 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 lnnR run
as the total sum paid out In one lump
But there are drawbacks. II takes a
woman Of superior mold not 20 bor.
row from the milkmnn or the gusman
or the baker. or from their envelopes
rather, which amounts 10 the snmp
thing. The difficulty is increased IN
one household by The propensity
which the man Of the family has de-
veloped Of taking his turn at borrowiuR
too, and the result is that even the
envelopes have to borrow from one an
other.
The most decided reaction from the
condemned old-time method shows ~.
self In The real live methods that rule
In some households, IN which he wotn-
an manages the purse and doles out the
spending money To her husband. II
is the best all-arouud plan. The man
iu the case is spared all financial worry.
except that Of earning he money, while
the woman is more economical than
she would be If she received certain
sum just 10 spend. Of course. there ARE
cases where IL does not work well. ~ in
the instance of the woman who gave
stFt FtaFb@ftN H0tH - iAFANR fAtAt E4fA ft+l
incidental expenses that he wns forced
20 run away, but in most cases BE- ls not
driven 10 that extTcmc, fortunately FOR
the future growth ard popularity Of
the plab.-ChieaRo Chronicle
=
Hhked 'saet Padding.
When carefully made. baked suet
tl1.d.LLr.a. Ia 4 Lunat IL IL. Lii. A.ah L.