Household Bookkeeping

Monthly total receipts, $.. Savings, $....................................

Knowledge of bookkeeping is a necessity for systematic homekeeping. The experience gained from a household book with careful planning for one year is of more value than the experience gained from five years of unsystematic housekeeping. Wise management of a home will enable a family with a moderate income to enjoy comforts and pleasures, of which a family in better circumstances, but with poor and unwise management, is deprived.

"Time is money." therefore careful planning of the time that is expended for work, rest, recreation and outdoor life is as important as management of finances. Many women waste much valuable time with nonsensical details in the line of cleaning, cooking and fancy sewing. This abnormal amount of manual work and neglect of mental development is generally followed by worry and poor health, as the result of an. anemic brain. In those conditions mental healers perform miraculous cures either by changing the activity of the mind or by paralyzing it to the extent of ignoring the plain facts of nature, and by denying the testimony of the senses.

The modern household is full of unwholesome things, - too many pictures, carpets, curtains and other ornaments, and too many salted, peppered, sugared and greasy artificial foods, with a lot of unnecessary dishes and utensils. A woman who enjoys spending all her time in drudgery, values herself below the poorest paid day-laborer.

To save time and strength means investing time and strength on more important subjects, such as harmonious conversations, out of door exercise, attending lectures, and the teaching of the laws of health and hygiene to the young, which cannot be begun too early. Unsystematic management of household work and the care of children has broken up many a home.