The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1912-02-15
EVENING CHAT
81 RUTH CAMERON.

They say that If you are willing to
puy outright, to wait long enough and to
take reasonable gains, you can be prac-
ucally sure of making money on the
stock exchange
don't know much about that. My
one and only experience certainly hasn't
given me reason for such an opinion.
But do know of one direction in which,
II you wait long enough, are willing to
take reasonable gains, use discretion and
common sense. and know what you want
lar enough ahead, you are absolutely sure
OF making money-or rather saving it,
which is exactly the same thing.
And that is in bargain hunting.
Inc bargain crazy woman who will buy
anything at all, whether she has any use
Tor 1t or not, if only it is advertised as
great bargain, is often ridiculed. and 1
think she deserves all she gets But
there is sane and legitimate kind of bar
gain hunting, of which I think every Wo-
man OF limited income absolutely ought
to be mistress.
neighbor of mine who has need to
make every cent of her household money
tell, practices this to perfection Let me
briefly describe her methods to you.
rms woman devotes day at the be-
ginning or each season to taking stock of
everything in her house, of her husband
clothing, her own, the childrens, the bed
olng, the linen, the furniture, the kitchen
utensils, etc.
And at the end Of this stock taking. she
plans out the family wardrobes for the
coming year, and then makes careful
lists or all the articles that must be
bought during the next few months.
These lists she keeps in her top bureau
drawer ana also, to a certain extent. in
her mead, and with them in view she
makes a systematic study of every adj
vertisement that comes within her reach.
During bargain seasons, such as January
ana August, she takes two or three news
papers in order to keep in touch with all
the shops. If any shop has a list of GUS
toners to which it sends advertising
is the list.
As a consequence of this systematic
bargain building, she is able to buy al
most everything she uses, at from twenty
to thirty per cent under the staple prices.
For instance, at the beginning Of this
winter. she noted down that she would
need half a dozen sheets and a dozen
towels in the course of the next year. One
day in January, she saw an advertise
ment of the sheets she always uses al
twenty per cent less than the ordinary
price. and promptly bought half a dozen
In February, she found an opportunity
to buy thirty-seven and half cent towels
for twenty-five cents apiece. Had she
waited until her sheets and towels act
ually wore out in the spring, she would
probably have had to pay staple prices.
She had the children's next summer
wardrobe5 mostly planned in the fall. and
by careful watching, found a chance to
buy the Bingham for their Bingham
five.
OF course. to do all this requires a
small surplus in the bank, eternal
vigilance and a good deal of time But
twenty-five or thirty dollars covers the
first of these requirements, and as for
the second twO-Well this woman says,
That is my trade. It is my husbands
business to earn much money as pos
sible, and mine to get much value as
possible out of it. BY this method I make
five hundred dollars do the work of six
Or seven. Isn't that worth while to one
who has to count her pennies?"
OF course, any woman would find It
simpler, pleasanter and more dignified to
go shopping just when she felt like it and
pay staple prices.
But then, as for that, might not any
nan find it simpler. pleasanter and more |
ignified to work when he felt like It I
and accept low salary. instead of work. /
ng hard for a higher one?
I believe, with my neighbor, that a part /
# every wffe's business is to use her /
husbands money to the best possible ad- /
5antage, and surely this systematic bar
rain hunting is one excellent way of do
ng that