Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1904-09-27
HOMEMAKERS COLUMN.
Correspondence ON topics of interest othe lsdie
Il solicited. Address: Editor HOMEnAKrRs
COLUMN, Oxford Democrat. Paris. Maine
Household Accounts.


After experimenting for several years
with various sorts and conditions OF &C
count books and varied and sundry
methods of bookkeeping, have found
the following plan to be very successful.
That it will not fit all cases without some
slight alteration / am perfectly willing
to admit, but its general working princi-
pies may be applied to almost any house
hold.
Its requisites are an ordinary, FIVE
cent memorandum cash book, in which
all receipts and disbursements should be
entered each day, and good-sized blank
book which may be ruled as desired. My
blank-book is an ordinary composition
book, size eight by eight inches, with
heavy cardboard covers, which have
ruled in pencil. On the left side of each
open page are debit and credit column,
each ruled for date, description and
amount respectively. On the opposite
side, or page, are as many columns as
there are divisions of expenses, as, for
instance, "Rent, ""Groceries and Meats y
Service" personal" this account
should have one or more divisions &C
cording to the number of the family,
Clothing" etc. Above each of these
headings it is we'll to write the amount
that can be afforded for such expendi-
ture during the year, which will serve
as a check to extravaganza.
At the extreme left-hand side are
entered all items of income, whether
salary, extra earnings, gifts, etc., with
date and amount written in their proper
columns. The next division should
show the date, description and amount
of all expenditures, and each page should
be footed and the amount carried for.
ward until all items for the month are
entered, when the account should be
balanced. On the right hand side, the
amounts paid out are carried over and
set down under the proper headings.
Each of the columns should be footed
in pencil at the bottom of the page
and the amounts carried forward
from month to month, when at the end
of the year the total expenditures in
each division may be seen at glance.
Thus the housekeeper will be able to tell
at glance whether the table has
cost her more for the current year than
it did the year previous, and If 80 may
find where the difference lies by a glance
through the columns.
Each night the husband and wife
should each jot down in the small memo.
randum book all receipts and disburse.
ments, and once week these items may
be transferred to the larger book. The
whole system will not take an hour a
week, while the gain from such system
will be at once apparent.
A personal allowance for husband and
wife should be set aside each week OF
month, as the income is received, and
out of these such items as car fare, pa.
pers, magazines, flowers, etc., will be
paid. These small items will not, OF
course, be entered in the account book
as the one entry of allowance will cover
all these minor expenses. If she wishes
the wife may keep separate account OF
her allowance, but it is not by any means
necessary to do so. 1t is to be supposed
that her allowance will be large enough
to cover her little needs, whether cal
fares, club dues or matinees. To entel
all these expenses would load the &C
count book with much unnecessary lum
Der and scarcely pay for the labor in
vOlyed.-Ex.