Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1921-05-10
A Time Budget
The Housckeeper's Task Is Far
Easier.
Y INCREASINGLY large mum.

IS not so much that they want to cut
down expenses. but 10 apportion them
So as to get the right balance in liv-
ing
ny keeping an account OF the
money you spend on food. for In
stance. you can then compare Il with
the amount that experts have found
~ he the fair amount for persons
with YOUR income. II you find 1t is
a. below the figure allowed then
,ot may conclude that you are not
setting as good a table as you should,
II L is far above then you may be
suro that YOU are depriving yourself
~ other necessities and luxuries 10
which you are entitled. II may be
that Won are living in less pleasant
quarters or that you spend less on
what is snown as the higher life
books. travel and amusement.
So much for the money budget. A
great many women now have adopted
this system who did not even know
cNactlv what a budget was three or
four years ago They know just what
they should spend on clothes. food.
shelter savings etc. and they keep
approy<mately to this amount
nut how many OF us keep time
buGret"
Time is money. no less in the
A..-.L.ra 49,, -, tI,o hueipCre world
I. is perhaps harder 10 make up
ycu. time budget because there Is
less help to he obtained from experts
on the subject But little thinking
and observation ought TO make IL pos
sible for you 70 make your own
budget in this regard
Tor instance II you keep house
with only the aid of a woman one day
week and sewing woman who
comes perhaps on an average Of
twelve days a year. then there is a
ce.tain ideal time that you should
spend on Housekeeping. sewing. cook
ing. cleaning and the other sorts Of
work This will vary according to
the size of your family. whether or
not tho man of the house takes his
midday meal at home. whether or not
he contributes of his time TO the
house tasks.
For instance. II you daily prepare
meals for four people you should
know just about how much time you
ought to spend on the preparation OF
each meal You should know how
much time you ought 70 spend on the
cleaning. on the washing or ironing
on the mendinC. etc. Just because
you like 10 cook IS no reason why yol
should feel that you are entitled TO
spend two or three hours in the prep
aration OF every dinner. You should
always bear in mind that II is hardly
worth while to spend an hour to save
ten cents. For this reason sometimes
the preparation OF cheaper cuts OF
meat or cheaper vegetables is not an
economy IL you have to hire
woman by the day 10 do your weekly
mending so that you will have time
10 save possibly a dollar week by
using cheap materials instead or
more expensive ones in meal prepa
ration. then you are not acting
wisely, because the mending woman
surely costs more than the dollar
tlct YOU have saved.
another thing that you might bear
IN mind is that the larger the family
and the more help you have the
longer you may feel free 10 spend on
any one sort of work in the house.
For instance, If these are several
women in the home, and you daily
prepare dinner for eight or ten. then
II is worth the while of one of these
women 10 spend as much as two
h 1rs in the preparation Of one meal.
good way To work out this
t.Geet IS TO get TO work With a pencil
suC paper, making a little chart 70
represent the days Of the week and
1le hours OF each day The chart
u look like the sort OF schedule OF
81 >~es that you used to make out in
sr.ool TO show you just what lessons
y had every day
n the average family one-half
hDr ought to be enough time TO pre-
pafc breakfast when the housewife
d,c- the work alone. II you find you
have 10 spend very much more than
this then the chances are that You
DTG pare 100 elaborate uIS0GS- nan
an hour ought also to be enough to
spend on luncheon or supper. and an
hour or q little more on dinner. This
means a little over two hours of your
working time on meal preparation.
Some authorities in cookery feel that
tie housewife ought TO give more
time than this TO the matter of food
preparation But If you do then you
are pretty sure to slight some other
im poTtant matter.
An hour a day with four or five
hours additional one day a week
ought TO be enough TO spend on
Gle ming IN the dining polish
ing silver. cleaning salt and pepper
dishes sugar bowls, etc.
An hour a week ought to be spent
on the laundry if you do not do any
OF the washing or ironing yourself
. half hour IN getting it ready, sort
ing il, doing any necessary prelimi-
nary mending. and a half hour when
IT comes back. putting il away. The
equivalent of five or six hours a week
can usually be spent to very good
advantage in mending and household