DEBT by Mrs. Geo. A. Irwin

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Aug 7, 1900

DEBT

By Mrs. Geo. A. Irwin

MRS. GEO. A. IRWIN.

I doubt not that there are many of the sisters who read this page from week to week who are longing to know just how they can keep the home expenses within the bounds of the income, and have a little margin left. It is sometimes a difficult problem even to make ends meet, and the idea of saving something besides seems incredible.

It is the object of every housewife to make her home just as cozy and comfortable as possible, and it is true that some women can do this on half the amount that others require, because of the unequal division of natural ingenuity. Sometimes the most simple suggestion will be a help to a woman, and therefore I give a few that have been a help to me, hoping that those who do not need them will bear with the recital, and will tell us of other things that have been a help to them. As woman's gospel work begins first of all in the home, anything that will be practised there will tend to the advancement of the work; and it is with this object in view that I write.

I once heard a man of means say that with ten dollars he could furnish a house to look real homelike; and surely a woman should do as well.

My mind has recently been called to what Sister White has written on domestic economy, and I wish that every sister would look up this subject in Sister White's books. She worked in every way to lessen household expenses, and avoid having money tied up in furniture that she could not dispose of when called to move. And I know from experience that a great many articles of furniture can be made by a woman, at small expense.

I made a good washstand out of a large box, putting shelves in the box, for toilet articles, and nailing pieces on the back, which I covered with a splasher. I put a pretty valance around the box, to hide its contents, and a pretty cover on top, and with a splasher it was surprising to see what a dainty and useful piece of furniture it made.

I well remember one of my tables, which was made by Elder Olsen, out of rough boards. The legs were planed and stained, and the rough top was covered with a spread, and answered the purpose very well.

Cupboards can be made out of boxes by fastening shelves in them, and tacking curtains of creton around them. Bookcases can also be made in the same way, by using a little differently shaped box.

The rooms in many houses are not provided with a closet, and wardrobes are usually expensive. An economical way, both in money and space, of providing for this need and preserving the clothing in proper condition, is to nail a board to the back of the bedstead headboard, and underneath it put hooks or nails. The shelf is convenient for storing away things, and a curtain can be nailed to it, which will protect from the dust the clothing hanging beneath.

No bedroom is complete without a shoe box, nor a sitting-room without a lounge. An ordinary shoe box and a long deep box are the best for these purposes, and can be obtained for almost nothing at the stores or manufacturing houses. Fasten the lids on with hinges, pad the top, and cover with pretty material.

Not long ago I took dinner with a sister whose means is very limited. She had only a few chairs, but she had taken nail kegs, and by cushioning the top, and tacking a ruffle around the sides, she was able to provide comfortably for all her friends.

A room always looks bare without carpet or rugs on the floor; but where it is impossible to get enough to cover all the rooms in the house, a small piece of carpet can be made to go a long way by painting a strip about two and one-half feet wide around the sides of the floor, and tacking the carpet down in the center. This is more cleanly than a room wholly carpeted, and makes a room look very neat. I made a carpet of the usual size answer for three rooms in this way. Denim is much cheaper than carpet, and can be used in the same way.

Money should never be spent for bric-a-brac. There are many things that will make a house homelike, and yet represent but a small sum of money. Buy the most necessary articles first, such as you can not possibly contrive to make yourself. Avoid everything that is simply for display. Even if we have plenty of money, we know that the Lord is soon coming, and we should be just as careful to economize for the advancement of the truth as for our own personal advantage.