Foods and home making

You have learned that time may be wasted when no plan for spending time is followed. Money may be wasted when no plan for spending money is followed. You learned that a time budget was a plan for spending time. A money budget is a plan for spending money. The word budget is commonly applied to the spending of the income. A budget is a plan for spending the income. The way money is spent in a home plays an important part in the success of a home. Indeed, happiness that should pervade every home may be blasted because money is unwisely spent. Following a plan for spending the family income has helped to make many families successful and happy. How is a budget made? Spending the income is such an important matter that advising people how to spend the income wisely has come to be a business. There are, in the employ of some banks and savings institutions, women who spend all their time helping people with problems about the spending of their income. 198 Modern Housewifery Persons who have had much experience in making budgets are quite generally agreed that household expenditures include : Food expenditure includes the grocery, market, meat, and ice account. It includes money spent for meals eaten at home or in a public eating place. Shelter means rent for those who do not own the house in which they live. For those owning their own home, it includes taxes, insurance, payments and interest on a mortgage, and repairs. Operating expenses include fuel, light, telephone, laundering, and other work for which money is paid. Clothing expenses include anything spent for wearing apparel. Advancement expenses include that which is spent for improve- ment of any kind, such as education, travel, vacations, doctor’s and dentist’s services. It also includes money spent for amuse- ments, entertainments, furniture, jewelry, and automobiles. Savings include savings account in a bank or building and loan association, life insurance, and money invested in property, business, or other organization. No two families have the same needs. Even though two families are the same in number and have the same income, there is no one plan for spending that will suit them both. Each family should work out its own budget. It may be easier for some persons to work out a budget, if an average budget is used as the basis. The commonly accepted amounts for the different items of a budget are : Food — 25% of the income Shelter — 20 to 25% of the income Operating expenses — 10% of the income Clothing — 15% of the income Advancement — 15 to 20% of the income Savings — 10 10 15% of the income 1. Food 2. Shelter 3. Operating expenses 4. Clothing 5. Advancement 6. Savings i99 Budgeting Time and Money A budget should be flexible. If a plan for spending is found to be faulty, the budget should be changed until a satisfactory plan is made.