Foods and household management

proper heads. In this way it is possible by using double pages of the blank book to keep all the items for each month in horizontal series. The columns for items of expenses should be ruled as needed, but it is desirable to keep them under as few heads as will suffice to give the information which may be desired. The use of the double page is advisable, for then the outer edge of the left-hand page can be used for the dates of purchase and plenty of room for columns of expense left across the two pages. The total in the various columns can be easily calculated at the end of the first month and a new set of pages ruled for the second. The expenditures should be entered daily so as not to be forgotten. A slip of paper kept in one's purse is of help if amounts are jotted down while one is shopping. The totals for each month should be entered in another part of the blank book. Rule spaces for the year with columns for the months across the page and items of expense corresponding to those in the daily entry at the left-hand side. In this way at the end of twelve months the totals for each item of expense can be easily found. If one desires to know from day to day of a month how the balance stands, it is possible to add to Form I two columns for this purpose. One column should show the in- Ice Light Service Fuel and Other Heading according to expense 336 FOODS AND HOUSEHOLD MANAGEMENT ^lllk J^^ i Fuel Clothes . , , - Boot Dentist , . , . Personal . , . . Amusements and other items .... Total expenditure for year came or amounts received with dates, and the second the total »um expended each day. This sum is found by adding the expense of each item across the page for the day and entering in the expense column. Bomewhere in the book there should be kept an account of the receipts from all sources. The balance of the yearly expense account with the sheet of receipt can be easily made. Some plan must be made for showing which purchases are paid for in cash, and which are charged. A simple method i^ to record the articles charged, with the place, date, and price on a card in the card file in a division kept for this purpose, and labeled " Purchases charged." When the bill is rendered, it can be checked up from these cards, and the purchases entered in the permanent account book. The record in the account book gives thus the date of payment. JULT Aug. Skpt. Oct. Nov. Dec. Totals « ft but not the date of purchase, unless this is added too. The date of purchase can be recorded in the inventory of household goods (see Chapter XXII). This simple method of keeping accounts enables one to look over the monthly and yearly expenses and to see if the expenditure is apportioned to the different divisions as it should be. If some of the needs of the physical or intellectual life are being neglected, it should be possible to cut down or readjust the next year to the satisfaction both of the housewife and of her family. It is wise for all girls before they have homes of their own to keep account of their own small incomes. In many families daughters are given money for clothing and daily expenses. Some such system of keeping accounts as the above can be used. It is astonishing in examining acz