MONEY IN ODDS AND ENDS.
How a Family Saved $100 on a Salary of $700.
Economy is quite as large a factor as industry in the gaining of a
fortune. With people living on small incomes, it is often the one
element that determines whether they “make both ends meet,” or run in
debt and ultimately fail. The following example shows how one family,
whose income was only $700 a year, actually saved $100. Mr. ----, of ----,
found himself getting behind in money matters, and determined to
practice rigid economy. He found a great many leakages in the household.
Perhaps some one who reads this will find the same or similar leaks, and
learn why he is not prospering:
980. WASTE.--Scraps of meat thrown away, making loss of dinners worth,
$12.50; puddings thrown away, $6; waste of coal in not sifting, $5;
one-half barrel of apples from not sorting, $1.50; wash tub fell to
pieces because left dry, $1; one-fourth loaf of bread every day thrown
away (90 loaves at 10 cents per loaf), $9; ten dozen preserves,
one-fourth lost at twenty-five cents per can, $7.50; twenty barrels of
ashes, five cents per barrel, $1; waste of bones which could be used for
soup, $1.50; waste of heat at the damper, one-tenth in a ton of coal,
ten tons per year, $5; waste of gas in not turning down lights when not
needed, $12; canned salmon, one-fourth spoiled because can was left
open, twenty-five cans, $1; cheese (one-half used, the rest thrown away
because hard), twenty-five pounds, $2; potatoes, for want of sprouting,
one barrel, $1; clothing, for lack of attention, $15; milk, 375 quarts
at eight cents per quart, one-fifth allowed to spoil, $6; umbrellas
which could be mended, $1; shoes thrown away when they could be used by
having heels fixed, $3; kitchen slops, $1; waste of vegetables, $5; wear
of carpet for lack of rugs in places most used, $3; Total waste, $100.