Evening star., 1935-11-23
EAR DOROTHY DIX: FinanC

in the lives of a married
~ couple. Perhaps you viii be
interested in how we have solved thi;
problem.
Going back to my own parents: My
| father was a worker. When he ano
my mother married he took charge OF
his wages, but they never seemed tC
stretch to the point to cover even theil
daily needs. After a bit he gave up
and, chucking his pay envelope into
mothers lap, he asked her to see what
she could do with it. She spent hours
in what we of today call budgeting
and by good managing not only sup
ported the family comfortably, but also
was able to put tiny amount into the
bank each week.
Before I married I was a book
keeper and loved figuring. My huS-
band was paymaster and the head OF
an organization in which he had tC
handle large sums and keep accurate
records, but to him money was bug
bear, and as soon as we were married
he turned his pay envelope over to me
and have had 1t ever since. I keep
an elaborate set of books that shows
just where every penny goes. Every
thing we buy that is expensive enough
to call for a receipt is put in our
joint names. Our bank account Is a
joint account and our home is owned
by US together. Each child has her
own insurance policy and her own
bank account, and just as soon as she
learns to write and figure she keeps
an accurate account of her allowance.
OUR oldest child hates arithmetic,
but she knows how to keep an
accurate record Of her spending money,
and, although she makes plenty of
errors in school work in adding and
subtracting, she doesn't make many
in her cash book. Common sense,
budgeting and honesty are the three
most important things in connection
with the family pay envelopes. Am I
not right? READER.
AnsWer-You certainly are right,
and you are right about one other
thing also-that is. that the member
Of the family who has the best finan-
cial judgment should handle the fam
lily finances. Sometimes this is the
husband. Very often, as in your and
your mothers cases, it is the wife.
BY good judgment and budgeting
her income your mother was able to
support the family in comfort and to
lay up little nest egg. 1 know of
another case in which man who had
spent rs years with his nose to the
grindstone and always harassed by
bills, for his wife could never make
their income cover their expenditures,
sent her on long visit of several
months to a relative in a distant part
of the country. When she returned
she found that by handling the money
judiciously he had paid up all of
their debts and had a nice deposit in
the savings bank.
THERE are more family quarrels
over money than over every other
cause combined, and every young
couple should settle before marriage
about how they are going to handle
their financial problem, and determine
how much is to be spent and how it is
to be spent, and how much laid aside
for the rainy day that is sure to come
to us all.
Inasmuch as our happiness and our
prosperity depend upon learning how
to spend money wisely, it is of the
utmost Importance that children
should be taught from their infancy
up how to do it. Among my friends
are a couple who seem to me to have
worked out this problem most cleverly.
From the time their children are
5 years old they are given an allow
ance, which is increased every year.
On pay day each child is required to
put 10 per cent of its income into
its saving box. The balance must
cover the child's little treats and if
it spends it all the first day it must
do without the balance of the week
This is most important because it
impreSses on the child the fact that
if we waste our money We must pay
the price in Self-denial.
); !; = x
WHEN the children go to school
their allowance is made to cover
the necessary school expenses as well
as treats, and a little later on the
child is given enough to buy its own
clothes and is permitted to select them,
mother looking on, but not coercing
the child so that if it buys coat or
hat that strikes its fancy but that
is inappropriate it still has to wear it.
Another lesson in using our heads