Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1916-04-20
The Family Budget
(BY FREDERICK J. HASKIN.)

Washington, d. c., April 16.-A fam
lily, whose income was twenty-five hun
dred year, had never saved cent.
They were not prof1igate in any sense.
They paid moderate rent for a
house in the location where they
thought it best for the two children
to grow up, they did not set an elab-
crate table nor wear costly clothes,
but still they lived up to their income
the money went, and half the time
they did not know how.
Then, not long ago, one Of the
children had bad case of mastoid-
tits which kept him several weeks in
the hospital. and the bills for medical
attention Appropriated three hundred
and fifty dollars. They decided to
borrow the sum and pay it back out
of their income, so for the first time
they drew up family budget in which
they made an inventory of their ex-
penses. A complete readjustment In
household expenditures followed. and
they saved the amount Of the loan
within the year. After that, they got
the habit and put certain per cent
of their income in the local savings
bank every month. "N
1t usually takes some sudden fin
ancial crisis such as this to teach
the Importance of saving, although
since the European war there has
been a change in the American atti-
tude toward thrift. The great men of
all the nations have been holding forth
on the value of economy, and the
words of an American financier have
been quoted widely. IF you want to
know whether you are destined to be
a success or failure in life, you can
easily find out. Ask yourself but one
question: Are you able to save
money? - If not, drop out OF the pro-
cession, for the seed of success is not
in you -..3
+ so. thrift has ceased to be ignomini-
Gus, but the great trouble lies In the
fact that many people don't know how
to save. When factories and other
business enterprises desire to save
more money, they secure the services
of an efficiency expert, who points out
various places where there Is unnec-
essary waste. But the householder
has nothing to guide him but his own
common sense. There are many oil
ferent ways of saving. and wnat is
successful in one case will not prove
so in another. .r-a~ F.. @r.&
In every household, however. there
should be budget-a simple system
of bookkeeping whereby the income Is
distributed into various divisions, In
c,uding shelter, food, clothing, operat-
ing expenses, which comprise heat,
light, laundry, etc.; education, amuse-
and savings. There is no uni
yersal consensus Of opinion as to how
much should be expended on each
item. as some people prefer to pay
more FOR rent and less for food, or
more for clothes and less for rent, but
various schedules have been sug-
eested. An equable adjustment of In
comes from $1,000 to $1,000 year, for
example, is given as 30 per cent for
food. % per cent for rent; clothing IA
per cent; operating expenses Is per
cent: education per cent, luxuries,
including amusements, per cent,
which leaves 10 per cent to be saved.
The majority of persons spend more
nearly 10 per cent for luxuries, and
as a consequence other things must
suffer-usually the savings account.
The thing to do is to make up your
mind what means the most to you,
and plan the rest of your income &C
cordingly. If you think that educa-
ton is the most essential thing in life
and wish to have your children well
educated, you may be able to take 8
per cent out of the, luxuries column
and per cent off of operating ex-
penses and add them on to education,
it to II per cent. On the
other hand, if you find that your So
cial or business status requires the
wearing of good looking clothes, you
may be able to cut down your rent or