Every home maker has a cherished ideal for the various members of her family. The rapidity with which that dream is realized depends upon how the family income and individual energy are used. To those who have never kept a record of expenditures, the first definite step toward establishing a substantial financial basis and assuring progress to the family is the keeping of an expense account. Each day, make an accurate accounting of all expenditures. Keep this carefully for four months, then, with that account as a basis, plan your expenditures for the next four months and live within that plan. The third quarter, keep your expense account again and then you will have the accurate information regarding the financial needs of your particular family. After a careful analysis, make up a year’s budget, cutting down non-essentials and adding to accounts that really mean an advance step toward your goal.

The following percentages will serve as a guide showing the possibilities of various incomes. Each family will find it necessary to adjust the figures according to special needs, local conditions and family ambitions. Special education is worth economy in many lines, as it offers future returns and is really an investment.

The food section of the Family Account Book is perhaps the most important. Without properly prepared food in proper combination, and quantity, we are not able to exercise our greatest earning ability, to grasp new situations as we should, or to invest our savings wisely. By keeping the food account according to the body building uses of the food purchased, we daily progress in our food knowledge and become adepts at using alternative foods.

When one really operates a budget plan to win, it is an advancement in itself. In cases of a large independent income it is wise to have your banker’s representative work out a budget for you. The budget outline, on page 6, is estimated for a family of five, one young child, two school children, mother and father. Where the family is smaller, the food and clothing accounts will change, the amount saved going either to savings, investments, or advancements.

BUDGET FOR $200.00 A MONTH OR $2400.00 A YEAR

FORM FOR YOUR FAMILY BUDGET

Itemized Accounting of Expenditures and Percentage Apportionment of Income.

Estimated for Family of Five on $300 a Month. Percentages of Expenditures for Food, Operating and Contingency vary according to income.

The accompanying is a family budget outline that is easily adjustable to entirely satisfactory use in your home. If the home manager, by means of her ingenuity or by doing work herself, saves on the regular scheduled expenditures, that money should go to her personal account. Preparedness is a big factor in the growth of the Home Manager’s credit column.

With this form as a guide, lay out your family budget outline, in any ordinary notebook eight by eleven inches. Substitute your own income and percentage figures, listing your needs under their proper heads. As this outline is general, it may contain some suggestions better fitted to your neighbor—just leave these items out of your budget and add any others in their proper class.

The analysis of your needs and expenses necessary to make up your very own budget is a great help toward keeping within your income bounds.

Attach a pencil to your account book and keep it where you will put down the day’s expenditures regularly each evening.

Make your budget a co-operative affair, soliciting suggestions from the family as to what investments, savings, etc., to make.