The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1929-12-31

which have the same conditions to
meet. You can get helpful sugges-
tons from budgets which are
planned by experts. Possibly your
own bank has some one who can
help you on this business; but in
the main you will have to portion
your income in accordance with the
demands you know there will be up
on it. The old rules used to say,
for instance, that 20 per cent should
go for rent, Is per cent for food, etc.
You can see the absurdity Of this
yourself. If you are living in large
city it may be impossible to find
desirable place to live for a rental
of 20 per cent of your income. On
the other hand, if you are living in
small town, rents will be lower
while food might be scarcer and
higher, priced.
There are limits in which econo-
mists tell us We should stay if we
wish to come out at the right end
of the horn. They say that the
family spending more than Is per
cent Of its income on rent, spending
more than 20 per cent on clothing,
and saving less than 10 per cent,
is almost sure to get into trouble,
as 1t will not have enough left to
meet other necessary expenses.
While 25 per cent often Is given as
the right amount to spend on food,
it is too low a proportion for the
small income and too high for the
large income.
Record Monthly Expenses
AS a basis, then, for your first
budget, keep a record Of your ex-
penses monthly, for a couple OF
months, to gain some idea as to
what it is costing you for food,
operating expenses, clothing, etc.
Then list items such as taxes, in
surance, seasonal expenses, such as
clothing, installment payments, ETC.,
which are more or less fixed. Look
back over the past years and de-
eide whether your savings have
been satisfactory. If not, set aside
sum that you think will be salts
factory. Next, write down all
sources of income, salaries, COM
missions, dividends, etc. Then por-
ton it out to meet the various
needs-so much for this, SO much
for that.
In looking over a great deal Of
material on the subject recently,
the following headings seemed to
me to be most useful You might
not want to use them all: you
might want to add to them. I do
think, however, that there is danger
in having too few heads, and do
advise that the items be listed and
dated under all heads. The ClaSsifi-
cation I refer to is as follows:
House-Includes rent and taxes,
interest, fire insurance, upkeep, re-
pairs.
Running Representatives, fuel,
light, ice, water, telephone, laundry,
cleaning, supplies, requirements,
household furnishings, taking care
of lawn, automobile, carfare. Under
the general head, most Of these
items demand separate heading
for accuracy'S sake, as they are SO
numerous.
Food-IncludeS all Good-dairy,
meat, vegetables, groceries, meals
outside home.
Increasing Resources - Includes
money put in interest accounts,
other investments.
nSurance-Includes life insur-
ance, accident insurance, health
insurance.
Clothes-Includes new clothes, re-
modelling old clothes, repairing
shoes, cleaning and pressing.
Observation-Disclosures education,
doctors and medicine, papers,
books, magazines, gifts, church.
childrens allowance, music, etc.
Observation-Disclosures entertain
ment, amusementS, clubs, travel,
vacations.