The Idaho Republican. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1904-1932, 1916-02-04
BOOKKEEPING IN THE KITCHEN

Speaking about bookkeeping on
the farm, a few days ago a man, who
lives in town and works on salary,
gave the writer an Interesting expert
ence and we pass it on to you as
he gave it:
when we were married we had
to live on my salary. If we were
ever to lay up anything we had to
save it out of my salary. We thought
we could do that, / suppose all new
ly-weds think they are bound to get
rich, and so did we. My wife run
the house and, of course, knew she
was perfectly competent to do it
about right, and / handed over SO
for house expenses. Well, we didn't
much of my salary as seemed right
for house expenses. We didn't save
save anything, we were in debt, but
we had bought furniture and we per-
suaded ourselves that we would soon
make enough to pay and then be saw
ing something. At the end Of each
month my wife suffered disapoint
ment because the house bills were
Ludu DIG lou CAPOStOu thOS
would be.
"She talked to me about it and
got a sheet of paper and wrote down
line of things that we had to keep
buying every month; such as bread,
meat, fruits, vegetables, fuel, etc.,
and l ruled the sheet so there would
be line for every day in the month,
reading from top to bottom. Every
time she bought anything she marked
it down opposite that date and under
the heading it belonged to. Every
night she could add the items in that
| line and write it in the column for
totals at the right. That showed
her every day how the expense was
running. When the month was one
third or one-half gone she could add
them up and see where it would
amount to by the end of the month
at that rate. If it was going too high
she could take the warning and
squeeze the expense somewhat. One
of the first things she cut was fresh
vegetables. She found she was buy
ing more than she needed to and
was throwing out a little because
i 6pOllCu. AC DdAO "oo u uO VA
fresh fruits. Then she found she
could economic on meats by study
ing the cuts and taking notice Of just
about how much we really used. That
reduced the meat bill and yet we
had all we wanted and at less ex
pense. We both became interested
in that expense sheet and we got to
playing the game to see how well
we could live and on how little
money. 1t cultivates the spirit of
order and thrift to keep books on
what one is doing and it brings per-
son to adapt himself to his income.
Nobody ever succeeds until they
learn to keep their expenses within
their income. Nobody ever lays up
money until they learn to keep ex-
pense below income. The bookkeep-
ing teaches you your size, financially.
There are many homes where no
body carries life insurance and they
think they can't afford it. II they
can't afford it when both father and
mother are alive what will they do
when one of them is lost? Book
keeping will teach woman how to
save the price of life insurance by
saving waste on careless purchases.
1t will teach a man how to save the
price of life insurance by saving I'M
necessary personal expenses that he
hadn't noticed. 1t will afford him
more comfort to know that his life
insurance is paid than to remember
that he made a good fellow of him
self with a crowd to whom he owed
nothing and to whom he gave some
thing they did not need nor expect.
1t may seem piccayunish to some
people to figure things down to a
safe and sane and secure basis, but
when we look around and see the
broken homes and poverty born of
carelessness, each thinks he can't af-
ford to have that come to him. Book
keeping on the farm and in the home
helps to avoid these things"
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