A simple budget

Title

A simple budget

Creator

Welling, Blanche E.

Language

English

Year

1938

Rights

In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted

Fulltext

46 WOMAN’S HOME JOURNAL Manila, January, 1938 Blanche E. Welling Describes ft SIMPLE BUDGET That Will Enable You To Run Your Home On A Business Basis AFTER years of experience I learned that any budget plan to be a success in my home over any appreciable length of time must be kept as simple as possible. Gradually I have worked out a simple plan which has been very easy to use, yet entirely practical over a period of more than ten years. Its operation is even simpler than the explanation sounds, and this is how it works: Each year I take a fresh notebook (one that opens out flat like a book is the best), and I write the date on the first page. On the next page I make a list of all the big occasional bills to be paid during the coming twelve months. This includes such major items as various kinds of insurance, taxes, vacations, expensive items of clothing and any other big expenses not easily paid out of one month’s income. After I have completed this list of annual expenditures, I add up the figures and divide the total amount by the number of months in the year. The resulting amount is deposited every payday in a special savings account which I keep only for the specific purpose of paying these big expenses. Of course if our paydays are weekly or semimonthly I base my figures accordingly. This amount is always the first item on the budget plan I make out each month. Each Month Is Different The next step in my budgeting is to plan for a proper division of our income each month, so on the following page of my budget booklet 1 make out a plan for one month’s evpenditures. Eacn month is different, so I make out a new plan each month in the year. I do not list every minor detail, because experience taught me that this was one of the things that made my former budget systems burdens o r even failures. Moreover, my figures are usually only approximate amounts, and 1 do not worry if the actual bills are a few cents more or less than the amounts I estimate. I allow a certain sum to miscellaneous: this item covers small emergencies and differences that are bound to come up during the month. The plan also allows a reasonable amount for my husband and me for personal expenses, and out of this amount each of us takes care of dozens of small expenditures each month, and thus we avoid another large and troublesome amount of detail. On the page opposite my monthly budget plan, I record the payment of mdst of the important expenditures. I sometimes even make note of names and addresses of business firms, and memorandums which may ANY CHOICE IS GOOD . . advantageous to you Esiest and Wisest Way to become a subscriber to the WOMAN’S HOME JOURNAL (1) One year subscription ................................................ P 2.00 THREE years’ subscription for only .............. 4.00 (2) Send three yearly subscriptions at P2.00 ................ P 6.00 and we will send you one year’s subscription, entirely free! (3) Send five yearly subscriptions at P2.00.................. Pl0.00 In addition we will send to each subscriber a gift of one unit (% of a ticket) of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes, May 1938 Draw. And we shall give you one year subscription, absolutely free. ----------------------- Mail Coupon Today ----------------------Woman’s Home Journal P. O. Box 30, Manila Mesdames: I want to take advantage of your foregoing offer. Enclosed P..............for special offer No. 1, 2, 3. Please check the number of >our choice. Name—Write Clearly Address—Write Clearly Write in a separate paper the complete name and address of individual subscriber. BARTER By Sara Teasdale Life has loveliness to sell— All beautiful and splendid things, Blue waves whitened on a cliff, Climbing fire that sways and sings, And children’s faces looking up Holding wonder like a cup. Life has loveliness to sell— Music like a curve of gold, Scent of pine trees in the rain, Eyes that love you, arms that hold, And for your spirit’s still delight, Holy thoughts that star in the night. Spend all you have for loveliness, Buy it and never count for cost; For one white singing hour of peace Count many a year of strife well lost. And for a breath of ecstasy Give all you have or could be. prove beneficial for future reference. Often I jot down the number of miles covered as well as the money spent while on a certain trip. In fact, looking back over my old budget memorandum pages is very much like reading a diary. Where Do We Stand? The items listed on my monthly plan are crossed out as they are paid. I insert the date and state the exact amount only when I think it necessary; but I keep all canceled checks and receipted bills for a certain length of time, usually until the next bill from the same firm has been received. This simple method of recording expenditures has proved itself entirely satisfactory over a period of many years. Furthermore, by avoiding unnecessary detail, the keeping of a household budget book has become a pleasure to me instead of a burden. Finally once a year I make out a financial statement showing the condition of money affairs in our home on that date. This usually occupies the last page in my budget notebook. In our case as in the. majority of cases, I imagine, this is a very simple thing to do. I merely make out a list of our assets and then another list of our liabilities. I subtract the one from the other, and then I have in black and white the figures that tell how much we are worth financially year after year. The natural time to start using a budget plan in the home seems to be around the first of the year, but there is no reason why one cannot be started at any time. Business concerns, clubs, churches and government departments start their at a time best suited to thei rneeds. Why shouldn’t a home, the most important business on earth, do the same thing? More and more men and women are realizing they should run their home finances on a business basis, and the secret of making a success of this important undertaking is to keep the budget plan as simple as possible and then stick to it. Take time to plan today and you will avoid a great many of tomorrow’s worries.

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