The Cook County herald. [volume] (Grand Marais, Minn.) 1893-1909, 1907-04-20
HOW TO LIVE WELL ON A SMALL
INCOME.
Many wastefut Expenditures Incurred
That Could Easily BE Done Away
With-Practice sma| u
Economies
BY MARGARET e: SANGsTER.

Economies.
BY MARGARET E: SANGSTER.
It all depends on your idea Of the
meaning of the adjective small as ap-
piled to an income. l.
I have known couple who started
in life with what their friends thought
flying colors. The man had a busi-
ness berth with q salary of $4,000 a
year. The mans wife went to house
keeping with him in beautiful house
furnished completely from roof to
basement by her liberal father. Her
,mother agreed to give her all her
clothes just as when she had been a
girl at home. At the end of a year
these two people came to their re-
spective parents, and with tears and
protestations declared : that they
could not live in town on the meager
pittance of the husbands salary.
Either they must have twice as much
money or else they must 'emigrate to
some cheap country place. Parents
proving inexorable, the establishment
in town was broken, up and messieur
and madame betook themselves to a
rural environment. What became OF
them I never learned, or whether they
discovered Utopia in cheap village,
if such a. village there be under the
blue canopy that stretches over our
heads. >, i. Z, --.>,..,.~
@,; ExtraVagantspe up1eEcan run through
immense sums: without much trouble.
1t is only necessary to whit every
thing one sees, buy everything one
wants, take no care of anything, do
nothing ones self and be wasteful and
improvident generally; to achieve bril-
liant success in this direction.
All over this country there are peo-
pie. who have solved the problem OF
living comfortably on incomes that
range from $500 or 5000 to $4,000 a
year. IT,
The first thing to be thought of is
shelter. A place to protect one from
the weather and to provide ones fam
lily with the outside shell of that
sweet intangible thing we call home,
is the initial requisite. The home be-
ing selected, it's furnishing comes
next; this may be simple or elabor-
ate, costly or inexpensive. 1t may be
and often is, fully as artistic and fully
as refined and beautiful when its cost
has been trifing as when large sums
have been absorbed in the item of up
holstery, of chairs, tables, wall paper
and decorations.
If it be practicable to build and own
ones home, it is in the long run an
economical procedure, as in a few
years rent eats up in actual cash a.
sufficient amount to buy and wholly
pay for a comfortable home. 1t is not
an unwise thing to have a mortgage
on the home to begin with, If there is
enough forethought and self denial
to make payments and reduce it an
nually, until the house is altogether
ones own. -.
A great deal of wasteful expenditure
is incurred by those who have the too
prevalent American habit of frequent
ly changing their residences: At
times this tendency almost indicates
a morbid and diseased social restless
ness. People move apparently only to
try another house on another street,
when there is not the least advantage
gained by the change and considerable
money and strength are lost in the
needless removal. r. -
People who, make a. study. OF it and
who have very. small incomes, on
which to draw, have assured me that
they can live best, by purchasing
household supplies in. very small.
quantity, ! yIn-Paris, where frugalityy is
reduced to its lowest terms, the house
holder buys q tiny pat of butter, a
single chop: Or a single egg at need.
In America. a. great deal is thrown
away for thesreason that too much
was originally bought. :. A y house
keeper who tided her family over a:
particularly dif1cult crisis in. It's a.
fairs, told me that she knew precisely
how many potatoes to cook for ii fam. a.
lily Of four, how many spoonsful :of
coffee, should be used "a week, and
how many Jumps Of ssuga .2z5 Il must
have been rather a strain: to calculate
SO closely as: she did, but her husband
and children had enough to- s=ieat ana
made good pearance when they hey
vent 5!respectiy to: btlslne ana ssto
school: and sf hey .|z got sss. over. fkoirs
an,,1i ,i .lIs.t trinma 8for.5 ,