Book-Keeping in the Kitchen.
UNTIL within a few years, the study of book-keeping has been almost entirely neglected in our public schools, especially by the girls, and even now you may hear them say, "Oh, it will do well enough for boys who are going into business, but it will be of no service to me." I would say to these girls, "Don't you ever intend to look after your own affairs? Do not most of you expect to have homes of your own, sometime, when it will be supposed that you will do your part in running the domestic machinery? If so, then will it not only be of great benefit to you to know something of practical book-keeping, but, I might say, a necessity to your full success?" How many of the housewives of to-day are able if called upon to write a receipt, an order or a promissory note? Men, as a general thing, understand such matters, even those with little book education. Why? Because they know it is expected of them, and therefore inform themselves, while a woman complacently folds her hands and says, "Write such a note as you think proper and I will sign it." Very frequently when a man fails in his business, one and another remark, "It is not strange; he had a very expensive family." Now, although I know this is true sometimes, yet I am not one to throw the blame upon the weaker side for every fault or folly of the stronger. Still one cannot wonder that such is often the case, when there are so many women who spend their husband's money without a thought of how much they can afford them. This is bad enough, but to run in debt is still worse. Where the husband receives a monthly or quarterly salary, it may seem advisable, and often, unavoidable to get trusted for articles that you know you cannot do without, but, if possible, it is better to always pay for what you purchase. Yet if you prefer the credit system, you will find it necessary to know how much you can spend for the household, and keep your accounts accordingly. If you do not keep a strict account, you may find yourself in the situation of a young wife, who was expecting visitors for a few weeks, and, desirous of buying a few articles, asked her husband for some money. As it happened, he was going away and could not well spare any just then, but told her she might get trusted for what she needed while he was absent, and, when he returned, he would settle the account. She did so, and soon after his return he asked her how much she supposed their account was. She told him she thought not over twenty dollars. What was her chagrin and distress, when, after settling the bills, he informed her that instead of twenty, it was sixty dollars. "That," said the wife, when relating the circumstance, "was the end of our getting trusted. We pay now for what we have." "But she probably needed all these things," you may say. You know there is a great difference between necessity as it is commonly applied, and absolute necessity. We may seem to need a thing that we can get along without. The amount that we really need is small compared to what we imagine is necessary. We need our carpets, pianos, pictures, and plants to make our homes comfortable and pleasant, but we can, when obliged to, do without them, and so, if you want an article that you cannot well afford, or pay for, ask yourself if you cannot dispense with it, or, if you cannot be happier to wait awhile, than to possess it, knowing that it is not really yours as long as you are owing for it. If you are allowed a stated sum to spend for domestic purposes, be sure that your expenses fall within your allowance, and do not commit the folly of spending in one week what was to have lasted you three or four. Have your blank book in the kitchen, and in it place all the articles you buy on the Dr. side, and the amount allowed you on the Cr. side. You can obtain these blank books already ruled at any store, but, after you get your book, you may be unable to make the entries. I knew of a pass-book being carried into a store where the merchant's wife was attending, and she acknowledged herself unable to enter the articles bought and sold, and this woman had been a teacher before her marriage. If you really wish to learn how to do this, go to a good accountant and he will show you, in five minutes, a simple method, but, if you do not like to do this, perhaps I can aid you. If you neither take, nor give credit, you might make your entries as in the following sample. This exhibits an account for one week, and leaves you quite a balance. Were the balance on the other side, your purse would be in disgrace, which, I trust, may never occur. The left hand page of each folio is used for debt, and the right for credit. The manner of balancing requires no explanation. It is not essential, doubtless, that you keep your accounts in a business manner, but it might happen that you would sometimes be in as much of a quandary as the man, who could not tell whether he had bought a cheese, or a grindstone, as a circle, the symbol he had used in his book, would answer to either. In a memorandum book you can note down of whom you buy, and to whom you sell. If you have an account with persons, you can keep it in the same way as in the sample, except to place the person's name at the head of the account, and enter in this folio only the transactions you have with him, or her. I would not be so particular in my explanation, if I had not heard many persons say they would be glad if they knew how to keep their accounts properly, imagining that it is very difficult and complicated. Such a simple form as I have illustrated, is all that a housewife will need, and if she has a disposition to live within her means, and follows this practice, she will have the satisfaction of knowing that there is not a balance in her favor, at least, there is nothing against her.—Sel.