GOOD HOUSEKEEPING

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22346, 21 August 1934, Page 15

GOOD HOUSEKEEPING

LIVING WITHIN THE INCOME,

While the nations of the world are Wrestling with: the problem B of budget balancing, and are endeavouring to carry out-a policy of planned economy* it might be a good idea if the housewives of the World conducted individual economy campaigns in the home kitchen (sayo an Australian weekly). All this necessity for planned economy is due, in the first place, to untidy budgeting and leavjng things to chance, and the same thing exactly applies domestically as nationally. Probably, if it were possible to assess it statistically, it would be found that as much money goes down the sink and into the rubbish bin in the ordinary household as is poured into the national debt annually. Most people, to do them credit, do not realise the wastage they incur in their own pantries by careless buying and want of _ a co-ordi-nated system of meals to provide a wellbalanced diet which dovetails the daily menu into a weekly plan. Just as there are thousands of housewives who allow the business of housekeeping to drag on from day to day with* out any plan further ahead than the next meal, so there are countless housewives in the community who, either thiwigh early training or tjirough the more recent necessity of revising the household expenditure to meet the exigencies of reduced incomes, are conducting their housekeeping on a budgeted plan; and it is to these to whom we look for practical information regarding their weekly household expenditure.

Nor can housekeeping budgeting be done entirely on a weekly basis. There are all kinds of things to be ta,ken into consideration. Holidays, clothing, occasional entertainments, possible, illness, household wear and tear, repair work, club or library subscriptions, and such luxuries as can be included according to the standard of living, which is, of course, largely controlled by the income. It' is ridiculous for a woman whose husband receives £3OO per year to attempt to live up to a £6OO per year standard. That way lies disaster. Untortunately for the harmony of. the married state in which they live, there are many women who do not consider that by wasting their husbands' incomes on careless household expenditure they are, cheating at the game of being good wives. On the other side of the, picture there are the wives who are maintained on such a meagre allowance that for them anything but the utmost thrift and vigilance is impossible. But we are not concerned with extremes. Rather do we seek to learn from our thrifty and practical readers their methods of planning and balancing their household budgets, so that this invaluable information may be passed on to readers whose training in this very necessary aspect of homemaking has been overlooked.