A Pound a Week for Three People.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XL, Issue 7533, 6 May 1903, Page 7

A Pound a Week for Three People.

HOW "ECONOMY" MANAGES

In our February issue, says the New Idea for April, a sentence which read, "A single woman who may have only £50 a year would certainly need to' add to that," drew from one of our readers a letter, in which she said:

What will you say when I tell you that I I have only that for three of us' to live . upon, nnd 8s 6d per week out of that goes for house-rent? Yet I neither beg, I borrow, nor steal • owe nothing to anyone, and manage to spare 3s a year for my "New Idea," subscription. If any of your subscribers cannot get along oii £1 iDer week 1 am quite willing to answer any question as to how I manage. It would be well for thoso having small incomes if they would adopt my plan of living.—Yours, sincerely, ECONOMY. Melbourne, February 10. The response from our readers was immediate, and since "Economy's" letter appeared, almost every day's mail lias brought us queries as to how she does it. HOW IT IS DONE. In order to answer these inquiries, a representative of "The New Idea" made an evening call on "Economy," who lives in a four-roomed cottage in ono of the middleclass suburbs of Melbourne. Everything about the house, inside and out. bad the "wondrous neat and clean" look which betokens tho good housekeeper, and "Economy" herself turned out to be a widow with two children—a lad of sixteen and a trirl of six years. Sho impressed one immediately as a brave, honest woman, with a great deal of self-reliance and a very wholesome dread of debt. She was cheerfully willing to explain how she made a yearly income of £50 cover her housekeeping requirements, and the thought arose in our representative's mind, as a result of the interview, that whilst "Ecomomy's" family cannot be -strictly said to "live on £50 a year," yet if all the women in Australia with .such slender means had equally stout hearts and equally lofty principals, the next {reneration would be "of the stuff whereof flourishing nations were made."

''Of course." said "Economy." with a smile, "I am not a novice housekeeper, and mv being able to manage on £1 a week is tho outcomo of hard thought and of practical experience But my golden rule lias been to livo within my' means nnd keep out of debt, and I am fiappy to say I have managed it. "Perhaps the best way would be for me to givo you the doings of an average day. and wo can jot- down figures as we. go along. Well, then, hero is my daily programme : — THE DAILY PEOGEAIDLE. "I riso at half-past 6, put the match to my little stove for boiling the kettle, then I preparo breakfast. This we make mostly on oatmeal porridge, with a3 much bread and butter or jam and tea as we like Then I cut tho midday lunches for my lad. who goes out to business, and my little girl, who goes to school. This lunch is varied sometimes, but generally consists of br?ad rind good jam—I never use rubbish—and butter. After this I have to do somo thinking as I want to vary the food as much as possible, while keeping within bounds. As one articlo of diet rises in ■price, I retrench its quantity or substitute something for it. For instance, bread has gono ii]i considerably of late; this means very much to the poor. On the other hand, potatoes have gono down, so I take tho advantage and get them while they are cheap. Thus I can do with less bread. Meat I use very littlo. as you will see dircctlv. when I come to go into figures. It is now timo for me to go forth on my purchasing expeditions. I may say I fetch everything in and buy nothing at the door. I go, first of all, for my day's milk, which I get. a little way off, fresh from the cows, without any watering. Than I tako my basket and fetch my bread and other things I may require for the day. My shopping over. I have to sco to washing, making and mending, for mv heme is nvy factory. I cultivate Known vegetables, too. so my garden reciuires seeing to. Xow it is time to get dinner or ten ready, whichever you like to call it. This I try to make as substantial as possible, at 5 o'clock. By this timo tho day is drawing to a- close. When this is disposed of. there aro some small duties to attend to, but I generally find time for a read before retiring to rest. Then I review the day. a habit I accmired when young; and, being satisfied that I have tried to do my best, I say "Goodnight' to all."

"How about your health, among all this cutting and contriving?" "Well, we keep very free from sickness, all threo of us. Plain living is mere wholesome than luxuries."

"And now how are we to get to particulars of your management?" "Yes, that is the : next thing to come at. I have just told you we don't eat much meat; 'we none of us care much for it. and could not afford it if we did. Itis commonly snid that there is too much meat eaten in Australia, and at any rate wo are none the worse for eating very littlo. For our porridge, a. packet of flaked oatmeal lasts a week, and costs: 5Ad. We use half a pound of tea in a week: that cost« 6d. Of bread we # use* three larote loaves and ono small one in a week, and that, comes to 2s. Vegetables, as T have said, I grow—all but potatoes : those cost, mo, one week with L another. 6d. When I can buy uese extra, cheap in a ouantity. nnd can manaere it. I do so. The other day I hought 351bs for ls. _We use a pound and a. half of butter in a ■week, at ls 2d per lb. This makes ls 9d. Two tins of jam a week come io lOd. Our wceklv supply of si*_rar is 41bs at 2-..d.. which comes to 9d'. Wood is an item that wants well watcliincr. I burn knots too stubborn to scnlit; in summer time I crm mako Is do for a; fortnight: in winter wood costs me ls 6d per week. We will .-..verago this directly. I may say Tarn trying to f?et a ton of wood for winter, which will cost 10m. but shall not pet it till I have tho 10s. We use two nuarts of keroseno in a. week, one week with r.nother, but it comes to an fverngc of 5.1. nil roimd. M;lk. ns I snid. I fetch—a "nt find a half dail-c. which costs Id., i.e., 7d per week. I will -nut soon, blue penTier. sv.lt. vinegar, nnd mustard to**, ether: they cost; on the outside 6d a week for the

lot. Apples aud tomatoes I reckon at 6d a week." "How long havo you been going on your present economical tack " "For years, and in some of those years tho necessity for economy has been even greater than now." "But surely you cannot include 8s 6d per week for rent in this pound a week outlay?" "I certainly do. I nay 7s 6d every week for rent, and I have to pay tho rates, which come to another shilling." THE WEEKLY BILL. "Well, now, suppose we make a, list of the items of your weekly outlay." "That is easily done; practically we have done it already; but it is easy to show it in form. Rent and taxes 8 6 "*•' Meat .' 2 0-' Oatmeal .0 s_; -' Tea o 6A^ Bread 2 0 '" Potatoes o 5-V Butter JJJ 1 Cj/A Jam " 0 10Sugar , 0 9H Wood, average per week all year round \ q Kerosene 0 5 Milfe 0 7 Soap, Blue, etc 0 6 Apples or tomatoes 0 6 20 3£ "Do you keep fowls?" "Yes; I have fivo. and of course find tho eggs they lay useful either for consumption or sale?" "Woll, now, what about clothes?" "My statement that I could and do keep the threo of us on £1 a week did not, of course, include that item." "Would it be impertinent to ask what you find them to cost you in any given time?" ' " "Not at all. I have some help from outside sources in this respect, I may say I am an experienced needlewoman, and can use material that most folks woidd throw aside as valueless. I don't think, one week with another, I spend more" than an average of 3s a week on clothing. But that, of course, is outside what wo aro speaking about."