The citizen-Republican. (Scotland, Bon Homme County, S.D.) 1???-19??, 1913-04-03
TENDENCY Of WOMEN
NOW IS TO PAY CASH
One Woman Tells Of Advantages
Of Running Household
On That Basis.

" LIS housewives and thetf
.Wsrser halves" particularly Of the
generation, TO transac all
dealings with the tradespeople on q
cash basis only This PAY CASH AND
BE movement has been taken
up by not only individuals. but also
prominent magazines and newspapers
n 1T has gathered substance with the
speed OF q SNOWFALL going down mill
Inc low Is q letter on the subject
March:
Il am a wage-earner's wife with 20
years of housekeeping blunders behind
me, and ] think l nave learned by ex-
perience a few things worth passing on
TO others Just starting in life. When
we married, my husband was making
S2.26 per day, which if wisely spent
would have supported JUS comfortably
n some to spara. Instead Of buying
q small home and economizing to pay
Tor 1t while unencumbered by a fam
lily, we rented houses much larger than
we needed and moved five times in four
years-twice long distances by rail.
The best cooks could be had for $3.50
per week; so / kept a servant all the
line and 1t was a long while before /
realized that a wasteful. dishonest cook
was dear at any price. I was fond of
dress, too, n insisted upon having
better clothes than III means justified.
We were soon deeply In debt and at the
mercy of the merchants with whom we
traded. When pay day arrived the
money had to be divided among our
creditors; SO we seldom got the. advan-
tage Of buying for cash and often had
TO accept inferior goods at ~exorbitant
prices because the article was a neces-
sity.
After four years of such management,
/ began to see some of my mistakes,
and l am SUR that reading household
articles In QoNH M auo1ipac IaJraI ~ IN
90 SO. Ny first step toward reform
was to persuade my husband to buy a
home. He ridiculed the idea-satd he
had nothing to buy a home with, was
head over heels in debt, was not max
ing enough to live on n SO on. He
was earning $3.50 per day then, and
the family had increased to six-three
cnlldren and three adults. Taking this
Into consideration, it did seem prepos-
ferrous to buy a home; but I was de-
termined to have one and finally in
duced him to mako the venture.
We selected a large lot in a new but
desirable locality. The owner had a
nVe-room cottage built on 1t and sold
us the place under a deed OF trust for
$1,000. We borrowed 500 for the first
payment and gave notes of 500 each
at 6 per cent for nine deferred pay
ments. This, with taxes and insur-
ance was about the same we had been
paying just for the privilege Of living
in some n else's house. If we had
bought u home four years before, it
would have been half paid for at the
time when we actually took possession
and we could have made the final pay
ments much sooner and easier than we
eventually did.
That was our fifth move and our last
for nearly 16 years. I dismissed the
cook n buckled down to work, as
l should have done at first. I studied
household economy n soon discovered
that our system of buying was at fault.
To get the most of our money I saw
that we must a cash and buy in the
largest quantities we could use to adj
vantage; but 1t was a long while before
l could fully test the theory on account
Of those old debts which harassed us
for years. To pay an old bill forced
us to make a new one, and SO it went.
We managed to take UP our notes
every year., however, lived comfortably
and decently and kept our children in
school. We improved the place in many
ways and were doing finely when seri-
Gus sickness overlook first my husband.
then myself. For two years W. failed
to save the money necessary to pay on.
the home and were wondering what on
earth to do about it when Providence
took a hand. A legacy Of $500, to which
we had no legal right and which we
had never expected to get, vas given
to us by the people who had taken 1t
years before. 1t was ours by moral
right; SO we accepted it thankfully.
took up our notes, paid off our bills
n a some left.
From then on we nave prospered.
My husbands salary went up to IS
per day, and with no debts to hamper
US we tried out the cash system OF
buying and were %astonished to find how
It reduced our living expenses"