A-B-C
OF
HOUSEKEEPING
BY
CHRISTINE TERHUNE HERRICK
HARPER & BROTHERS PUBLISHERS
NEW YORK & LONDON
HARPER’S A-B-C SERIES
A-B-C OF HOUSEKEEPING.
By CHRISTINE TERHUNE HERRICK
A-B-C OF ELECTRICITY.
By WILLIAM H. MEADOWCROFT
A-B-C OF GARDENING. By EBEN E. REXFORD
A-B-C OF GOOD FORM. By ANNE SEYMOUR
16mo, Cloth
HARPER & BROTHERS, NEW YORK
COPYRIGHT, 1915, BY HARPER & BROTHERS
PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
PUBLISHED MAY, 1915
CONTENTS
CHAP. PAGE
I. CHOOSING A HOME 1
II. FURNISHING THE HOME 13
III. THE TABLE 26
IV. CONCERNING HOUSEHOLD ACCOUNTS 38
V. THE HOUSE IN ORDER 50
VI. HYGIENE AND PLUMBING 63
VII. THE HOME WITHOUT A SERVANT 75
VIII. IN THE LAUNDRY 88
IX. WHEN COMPANY COMES 99
X. THE CHILD IN THE HOUSE 111
A-B-C OF HOUSEKEEPING
I
CHOOSING A HOME
The choice of a home is usually decided by the pocket-book. Other
considerations carry weight, but matters of convenience, preference,
and location are lighter in the scale than the sum one can afford to
pay for a shelter. What proportion this will bear to the rest of the
income must be settled by each one for himself after an estimate of the
other expenses which must be met.
When a whole house is taken and the cost of heating and the charge of
the outer premises, as well as the entire care of the place, have to be
assumed by the tenant, one-fifth or one-sixth of the income is all he
should give for rent. The price of coal, the wage to be paid the person
who is to clean snow from the sidewalk in winter and dirt from it the
rest of the year, look after the furnace and ashes, put out garbage;
the consideration of the services of the one who must sweep front
steps, halls, and stairs; the small repairs every house demands from
time to time, will all have to be added to the sum devoted to rent.
While the tenant and his wife may perform part or all of these duties,
it is only reasonable that they should understand how much they are
saving in actual cash, and comprehend that what they economize in this
respect is the equivalent of what they would pay to the landlord were
they to occupy an apartment in a flat building.
This state of affairs justifies the man who lives in an apartment
in allowing a larger proportion of his income for his rooftree. The
details to which I have referred just now are included in the price
paid for a flat, to say nothing of the reduction of work when all the
living is on one floor, when stairs do not exist for the housekeeper,
and her responsibilities end at her own front door.
The selection of a location is determined by the make-up of the family
and the man’s place and time of business. These considerations must be
taken into account before the house-hunting is begun. Distance from
the center of the town usually means a reduced rent, better air, and
more attractive surroundings. To counterbalance these are the long
journey back and forth, night and morning, the cost of transportation,
inability to come home for the midday meal. As a rule these drawbacks
do not equal the advantages to be gained by a home remote from the
business district.
In order to accomplish the strenuous task of finding a home with the
least outlay of labor and worry--for in any case there will be enough
of both these commodities--as much planning as possible should be done
in advance. The number of rooms necessary should be settled, as well
as the sum which can be paid for rent. The sections of the city which
are suitable should be studied and, if feasible, traversed, so as to
get a general idea of them. Sometimes even a cursory inspection of a
neighborhood decides the would-be tenant against it.
Then, when lists of houses or apartments have been culled from
advertisements and secured from real-estate agents the actual work of
house-hunting is begun. One resolution to be laid down at first and
adhered to positively is not to go over a house or an apartment if the
first glance shows it to be undesirable. When six rooms are the limit
for a flat there is no more sense in inspecting a ten-room apartment
than there is in scanning a house at twelve hundred a year if seven
hundred and fifty is the extreme price that can be paid for rent. Such
examination not only consumes time and strength, but it also provokes
dissatisfaction with smaller and cheaper quarters which may be seen
afterward.
A few essentials must be fixed in the mind, to which any house or flat
should conform. It must be light--not a dim twilight illumination, but,
if possible, sunshine, either direct or reflected--in the living and
sleeping rooms. The kitchen must not be a dark corner, not only because
such work-places affect the health of those who occupy them, but also
because of the additional charge there will be for gas or electricity
burned by day as well as by night.
The matter of heat must next be considered. When a house is taken the
rent is usually higher if there is a first-class heating arrangement
included. Old-fashioned appliances mean lower rent, but they also
require increased work on the part of the tenant or servant and are
often unsatisfactory in the amount of warmth they supply. A good
furnace or steam-heating plant may add to the actual sum of the rent,
but it is generally cheaper in the long run. The quantity of coal
burned by such a plant should be ascertained before concluding to take
the house.
All these questions are eliminated for the man who engages a
steam-heated apartment, but he may change the place and keep the pain.
The comfort of the entire winter depends upon a sufficient amount of
heat, and radiators should be examined and a number of direct inquiries
put so as to make sure that adequate warmth may be secured in bitter
weather. The time when the heat is turned on and off should also be
learned, since it is quite possible to shiver and suffer in September
and May as well as at Christmas-time.
Plumbing is always to be investigated closely, whether in a house or an
apartment. No amount of gilding and marble fittings can compensate for
cheap plumbing and a poor supply of hot water. The dweller in a house
is dependent upon his own kitchen fire for hot water, as a general
thing, but in nearly all apartment-houses the hot water is declared to
be supplied from the cellar. Even in high-priced flats hot water is
not always ready, and queries as to this are to be voiced before the
lease is signed. More than that, care must be taken to make sure that
the plumbing is in perfect repair and is not likely to give way at
inconvenient seasons.
All these details are essential and there are others little less
important. The quantity of closet room, the pantries, the facilities
for washing and drying clothes, the quiet of the house as assured or
banished by the character of the neighbors and other tenants, the
cleanliness of paint and paper, must all be looked after.
No matter what inducements in the way of lowered rent are offered, it
is always a mistake to go into a house which is not absolutely clean.
This does not mean only that it should be swept and scoured before
taking possession of it, but that paint and paper should be refreshed.
The latter is not to be done by pasting fresh paper on over that which
already covers the walls, as is the custom of many decorators--a custom
connived at by landlords because of the saving of expense it implies.
The incoming tenant must insist that the walls shall be scraped clean
before the new paper is hung and that fresh paint shall be used
wherever it is needed. It is hard enough to keep a house spotless
in the best of circumstances, and when one enters a dwelling and
establishes himself in the midst of the dirt of the departed tenants
the task is the most discouraging that can be undertaken.
Moreover, vermin must be banished. This is an easy thing to say, but
hardly a housekeeper of middle age can be found in the length and
breadth of the country who has not had a struggle with the pest in some
form or other. In one home it may have been cockroaches or water-bugs;
in another it may have been black or red ants; in many it has been that
worst and most dreaded of plagues, bedbugs. Sporadic cases of any of
these may be conquered without much difficulty, but when once the enemy
is intrenched in the home it seems almost as if the only way to get rid
of them finally is by burning the house down!
On all considerations, therefore, the house-hunter must make sure that
vermin are not established in the new dwelling. If there is even a
possibility of their presence she must insist upon radical measures
being taken before she will contemplate entering the house. When the
pests have been there and have been driven out it is still wise to
take reasonable precautions against their return. No picture-moldings
should be tolerated in the bedrooms, since these make a lurking-place
for insects. The walls of sleeping-rooms should be painted rather than
papered, and dark cupboards, drawers, etc., should be scoured out,
disinfected, and painted.
I have dwelt upon the need of such care in the bedrooms, but it is no
less essential in the kitchen and pantries. While bedbugs occasionally
get a foothold even here, the usual plague is the roach or Croton-bug.
He is said to be inoffensive and he does not possess the deadly odor of
the _Cimex lectularius_, but apart from the damage he undoubtedly does
in nibbling table-linen and the like, he is an exceedingly unpleasant
housemate. He frequents uncovered garbage-pails, bread and cake boxes
which have been left open, wire safes with imperfectly closing doors,
and the provision compartments of refrigerators; and it does not tend
to improve the appetite to have him pop out of the cereal carton or run
from under the cold roast.
So every precaution should be taken against such creatures as well
as against mice and rats before renting the house. Mice-holes should
be choked up with broken glass and dusted with red pepper; boiling
water should, when possible, be poured down the runways of insects;
borax scattered about their haunts. After that, strict care in the
way of keeping food put away closely, pains to see that no crumbs
or drippings are allowed on the floor or the shelves, and rigorous
cleanliness of every vessel which has been employed in cooking are the
best agencies against the return of the adversaries.
Other points should be looked to about the kitchen. The stove is the
chief consideration after light, cleanliness, and pantry space.
Locality has much to do in determining by what means cooking shall be
done. In the country, where gas is not and wood or coal is burned, a
good range, suitable for either, must be depended upon. Of such ranges
there are many, and there are divers items to be regarded in each
make. The size and fashion of the fuel-box is one. The average kitchen
stove will burn a ton of coal in from five to seven weeks, the time
contingent not only upon the care of the cook, but upon the size of the
range. One should be selected with a maximum of heat for a minimum of
fuel consumption. The range with an upper oven is easier for the cook,
who by its means is spared constant stooping and bending, but some
ranges with the upper oven are said to burn more fuel.
No range or stove should be considered which does not provide adequate
means for heating water. When there is running hot water in the house
a boiler is usually arranged at the side of the stove, but in the
country, where the water must be drawn by a pump or from the well and
put into the reservoir by the pailful, a large enough receptacle must
be furnished to make it possible to have the supply for the day all
poured in at once. In this way the man of the house may attend to this
heavy duty in the morning or at night, so that no woman may have to
strain her back by filling and lifting pails of water during the day.
The coal or wood stove in the country may be supplemented by an oil
or gasolene stove. Of these there is a good variety, each possessing
its own special merits, but they are not to be considered in renting
a house, since they are purchased by the tenant, not supplied by the
landlord.
In every large city, and in many small towns, cookery by gas has
superseded coal and wood almost entirely. The cleanliness and
convenience of gas in cooking, while inferior to those of electricity,
are yet so far ahead of the other means to which we have been
accustomed that the amount of time and trouble the gas saves is
incalculable. The stove is generally owned by the local company, who
install it and keep it in order, but in some places effort is made
by the landlord to charge the tenant for the use of the stove. Common
usage will have to determine the tenant’s course in the matter, but as
a rule the stove is included in the rent and it is worth while for the
man renting the house to make an attempt to secure this concession.
There is a difference in gas-stoves and an up-to-date kind should
be selected, fitted with an upper oven as well as a lower one, and
possessing such features as a low flame for simmering, a plate-warmer,
the latest make of broiler, etc. The inexperienced housekeeper is
frequently imposed upon and the old-fashioned stove is foisted off upon
her. This should be guarded against when the house is rented.
The inside of the house has received principal attention in this
consideration of the rented home. The outer surroundings usually
compel a measure of thought and are obvious enough to force themselves
upon even the uncritical observer. Yet there are a few points worth
emphasizing.
The character of the neighborhood in a country or a small town
generally proclaims itself and the details that must be noticed have
to do with sanitary conditions, the presence or absence of such
nuisances as unsavory factories or businesses, the vicinity of noisy
occupations, the over-close proximity to public schools with the
accompanying racket at certain hours of the day, etc. In the city the
drawbacks may be less self-assertive but no less objectionable. Before
renting a house in a street it is always wise to learn something of the
people who occupy the adjoining dwellings, to make sure that there are
no unpleasing features connected with the section and so insure oneself
against future annoyances.
II
FURNISHING THE HOME
The first details to be regarded in furnishing a house have to do with
the woodwork and walls.
Sometimes the landlord has settled these and the tenant has no choice.
This is especially likely to be the case with the woodwork. If it is a
cheap and unattractive variety of “hardwood,” so called, or is painted
in imitation of hardwood, it is difficult to induce the owner to change
this. When he will consent to paint to please the tenant selection
should be made either of white or of a soft, neutral tint which will
not conflict with any color of furniture. The painting which simulates
the graining of a natural wood is distinctly bad and should never be
tolerated except when it cannot be changed.
The kitchen should be painted throughout, walls as well as woodwork,
and in some good light color, such as buff; this will give the room a
bright, cheery look, and the steam which accumulates on the walls of a
kitchen can be scrubbed off the paint as it cannot be from a kalsomined
or papered wall.
In choosing papers, the tenant should bear in mind that they will have
to be lived with for a long time, and should pick out such as can stand
familiar association without becoming objectionable. Striking patterns
and assertive hues should be avoided. When two or three rooms open
into one another it is well to have them papered alike and thus avoid
the patchy effect produced by several small rooms all with different
wall-coverings. In this day cheap papers which are also pretty and
artistic can easily be found and it is worth while to bestow a good
deal of time and thought upon their choice.
If possible, all painting and papering should be done and the workmen
out of the house before the tenant moves in. This plan permits the
rooms to be cleaned and saves double toil to the housekeeper.
The furniture of the house does not always lie within the tenant’s
power of selection. Few are the homes which are freshly furnished
throughout by a young couple. Almost invariably there are “left-overs”
and “hand-downs” which are presented to the newly married pair,
and they are fortunate indeed if such relics are desirable and not
discarded pieces which no one else wants.
When even a portion of the furniture is to be bought, it should not
be purchased at random. “Sets” of any sort are best avoided. For the
parlor of a modest establishment, wicker and willow articles are far
better than the conspicuous styles which attain a sudden popularity and
then become old-fashioned and out of date. Comfort should be considered
in every item chosen and nothing taken merely because it looks well or
is reasonable in price. While sets are deprecated, a room need not look
like a harlequin collection. A certain uniformity of style and coloring
is to be studied, that the apartment may produce a harmonious effect.
Odd pieces, such as a deep arm-chair, a fancy tea-table, an attractive
set of book-shelves, are entirely suitable and will not strike an
incongruous note in the general surroundings.
Bare floors are more used now than carpets, and rugs may make islands
of safety here and there on the smooth surface. When fine antique rugs
have not been given and cannot be bought, the best choice is from among
the many good varieties of inoffensive native rugs. Or a rug may be
made of a quiet-toned carpet, the breadths sewed together to form a
square of the size desired, and surrounded with a border to match. Good
druggets or art-squares may be found for the dining-room, matting or
bare floors and rugs will serve for the bedrooms, and hall and stairs
are to be covered with the runners which come for these purposes or
with a neat stair carpet in quiet colors and pattern.
The dining-room furniture demands a good deal of deliberation. It
is a mistake to buy it in too great a hurry and so to be laden down
with something one does not really want. The table and sideboard are
usually purchased for a lifetime, and it is better to put up with
makeshifts for a while on the chance of finding something really good
and satisfactory than to buy in a hurry and repent at leisure.
The wood of the dining-room furniture is not so much a matter of choice
in many cases as of necessity. One must buy what one can. Every one
cannot have mahogany or Circassian walnut, and it is a comfort that so
many of the less costly woods are made up into excellent designs. It is
much better to buy a good article of a low-priced material than a cheap
variety of the more expensive woods. Oak, ash, cherry, birch, gumwood
and other native growths may be found in pieces of excellent lines
which will satisfy even an artistic eye. When there is money enough
to get all that is wanted for the dining-room, a serving-table and a
china-closet of some kind may be added to the sideboard, dining-table,
and chairs that rank as essentials.
The requirements of the kitchen will receive more detailed
consideration later on. Among the must-haves are the range, to which
reference has already been made; a good kitchen table, supplied either
with a zinc top or with a shelf to draw out and use as a bread-board; a
refrigerator; a wire meat-safe; liberal pantry room, shelf room, and,
if possible, a kitchen cabinet.
When the bedrooms are to be furnished the same simplicity must be
followed which is recommended for the other apartments. The less
furniture the bedroom contains the better, from a sanitary point of
view. The Biblical inventory of a bed and a table, a stool and a
candlestick, had much to commend it. The bedstead should be of iron
or iron and brass; the dresser, table, etc., of white enamel or some
light-colored wood. The heavy pieces our grandparents took for granted
are fortunately out of vogue in a modest household. A box-couch
may be included in the furnishing of the room, or what is known as
a utility-box for holding shirtwaists and the like, and it is to be
hoped there is either abundant closet room or an extra wardrobe or
clothes-press.
Such are the large and important furnishings of the house. These may be
reduced or increased, simplified or elaborated, in accordance with the
preference and powers of the owners of the dwelling.
Other articles, hardly less essential, have to be considered. Take the
question of draperies, for instance.
Within the past few years the fashion has grown of having two and
sometimes three pairs of curtains for each window--inner hangings of
lace or some similar fabric, outer draperies of rich and heavy goods,
and frequently these will be supplemented by sash-curtains close
against the pane, to say nothing of one or two shades to the window.
This may answer for the woman who is at a loss what to do with her
money and can devise no better use to make of it than a multiplication
of her possessions, but the custom is not one the young housekeeper
need feel it incumbent upon her to follow. One shade of a neutral
tint at each window of her living-rooms, a pair of curtains of some
material which can be readily washed, are all that she requires. For
the principal rooms a good Madras, a pretty scrim, a pleasing though
inexpensive lace (all fabrics which will look well after careful
washing) will meet every necessity and present an attractive appearance.
In the chambers two shades may be demanded by those who wish to have
a dark room for sleeping, but short white curtains of wash-goods, or
sash-curtains, are sufficient here, and something of the same sort,
but possibly a little better in quality, can be procured for the
dining-room. As a rule plain, straight curtains, without ruffles, are
not only more easily laundered, but look better after they are done up
than those pranked out with frills.
When ornaments are to be considered one generally makes the best of
what one has. The newly settled couple may be thankful if they have
not been burdened with pictures and bric-à-brac which not only do not
please their personal taste, but refuse to harmonize with one another
or with anything else. In some cases one can only make the best of
conditions, and after endeavoring to arrange the unwelcome gifts to
the best advantage and scattering them over the house so as to dispel
the curse to as many different quarters as possible, resign oneself to
endurance until such time as the presents can be removed, one at a time.
Those fortunate persons who can buy their own luxuries will recall the
Oriental proverb: “If thou hast but two loaves of bread, sell one and
buy jacinths for the soul!” What form the jacinths may take will be
determined by individual preference. One will find more joy and uplift
in really fine pictures than in anything else; another will concentrate
upon books and magazines; another will turn from both of these and
toward music. It makes little difference which way the window is opened
into the Infinite. The vital point is that such an outlet must be
provided if soul and spirit are to be nourished and grow as well as
body and physical strength.
However much the importance of such plenishing as this may impress
either the man or the woman, the latter would be profoundly lacking
if she did not display a keen interest in other essentials of her new
home. The pictures, the books, the other arts, may rejoice and help
her, but she would be wanting in femininity if she failed to select her
table and bed linen with almost as much thought as she would expend
upon her “jacinths.”
Even with unlimited means, it is not wise to buy more linen than
can be used in a small household. Plenty there should be, but not a
large stock which will lie aside and yellow from lack of service.
Three or four dinner-cloths, each with its accompaniment of a dozen
napkins, will be ample for her average needs, especially if she uses a
centerpiece and doilies on the bare table for breakfast and lunch. In
her purchasing she should avoid the fringed articles; these wear badly
and are difficult to do up well. Fruit-plate doilies to place under
finger-bowls, fish-cloths, centerpieces, tray-cloths, sideboard and
dresser covers, tea and carving cloths, and other ornamental as well as
useful linens will probably be given to her by relatives or friends, or
she may pick them up from time to time as she has need for them or the
chance to purchase them advantageously. As her table-cloths and larger
pieces begin to wear out she can usually cut from them squares which
will serve to lay under hot baked potatoes in the dish, to wrap about
rolls or other hot bread, to use for fish-cloths.
A dozen each of dish and china towels she should have, and the
same number of heavier towels for kitchen use, as well as three
roller-towels. But the napery in this line she should keep under her
own hand, if she has hired service in her kitchen and pantry, and give
the towels out a few at a time in order to save her linen as well as to
inculcate habits of care.
When bed-linen is to be considered, the housekeeper should follow the
same line as that she has laid down in her purchase of table-linen.
The ornamental may be selected as suits her fancy, but there are
certain must-haves in the plainer articles. Six pairs of cotton sheets
are none too many, and pillow-slips to go with them. If she and her
family cherish a weakness for linen pillow-slips, some of these may be
provided in place of so many pairs of the cotton cases. For three beds
three or four spreads should be procured, so as to allow of change, and
these spreads should be of the kind which wash easily and look well
afterward. Mattress-covers are also essential, as are blankets and
extra coverings. Silk or lace counterpanes cannot be reckoned among
must-haves, any more than can like dressings for the bureau, but may be
supplied at will.
At least two or three dozen fine towels must be included in the list
of essentials, half a dozen good firm bath-towels, and wash-cloths at
discretion, as well as a dozen heavier towels for the use of domestics.
Guest-towels, bath-sheets, bath-mats, and the like are luxuries which
may be accumulated after the necessities are attained.
When the housekeeper is filling out her list of household linens and
cottons she must not overlook dusters, floor-cloths, mop-cloths,
dish-cloths, or mops--I hope she uses the latter!--and other similar
requirements. In this advanced day there are new articles in this line
which present themselves constantly and which the housekeeper must
decide for herself to be luxuries or necessities.
For supplying the china-closet a fixed rule is almost impossible. The
best plan is for the housekeeper to make out for herself what her
family will need and then to consult an intelligent clerk in a good
china-shop. Sometimes it is cheaper to buy a whole set of china than
to select from “open stock” the pieces that are absolutely required.
Soup, dinner, dessert plates; plates for lunch and for breakfast,
for afternoon tea, for salad, for entrées; service plates; meat and
vegetable dishes in china or silver, can all be purchased in a charming
variety and at a reasonable price. The same is true of glassware. Many
gifts will fit in well here, and the stock of silver is pretty sure to
be received from the family or friends.
In the kitchen matters are different. Few persons present culinary
plenishing, and it almost always devolves upon the housekeeper to
select it for herself. While she may have developed needs in certain
explicit directions, there are a few rules which can be laid down for
her general guidance, certain articles which it is safe to declare
essentials. Such are the following:
Two 1-quart saucepans
One 2-quart saucepan
One 5-quart saucepan
One 3-quart double boiler
One 2-quart double boiler
Two baking-pans for meat _or_ one plain baking-pan and
one covered roaster
One large frying-pan
One small frying-pan
One colander
One graduated quart measure
One graduated half-pint cup
One meat-broiler
One fish or oyster broiler
Three jelly-cake tins
One large cake-tin
One biscuit-pan
One set muffin-tins
Three bread-tins
Three pie-plates
One 2-quart pitcher
Two jelly-molds
One pudding-mold
One steamer
One teakettle
One teapot
One coffee-pot
Fireless cooker
Chopping bowl and knife
Meat chopper or grinder
Soapstone griddle
Cake-turner
Bread bowl and board
Rolling-pin
Board for cutting meat
Board for cutting bread
Meat-saw
Bread-knife
Bread-box
Cake-box
Butter-paddles
Potato-beetle
Egg-beater
Scales
Lemon-squeezer
Meat-fork
One large crockery mixing-bowl
Two small crockery mixing-bowls
One platter
Two pudding-dishes
Set of skewers
Cheese or vegetable grater
Nutmeg-grater
Vegetable-press
Soup-strainer
Coffee or tea strainer
Coffee-mill
Corkscrew
Pair of scissors
Can-opener
Small vegetable-knives
Mixing-spoons
Flour-dredger
Salt-shaker
Cake-cutters
Split spoon
Skimmer
Ice-pick
Other no less important articles are as follows:
Two dish-pans
A garbage-pail with cover
Sink-brush
Soap-shaker
Wire dish-cloth
Oil-can
Brooms, dust-pans, whisk brooms, carpet-sweeper, etc.
III
THE TABLE
The judicious purchase and use of food is the chief economical
possibility of housekeeping.
The rent is an incompressible item. Every month that immutable charge
presents itself. It cannot be cut down. The only way to reduce it is by
changing the dwelling.
Fuel may be used with a discretion which lessens outlay, but in cold
weather the house must be kept comfortable, even though the coal
bills mount high. When certain repairs are due they have to be made
or the rooms become unbearably shabby. Only in the domain of food is
it feasible to apply a wise judgment in buying, a cultivated skill in
cooking which induces cheap selections to be as savory in taste, as
nutritious in qualities, as those which cost far more.
Such ability in marketing and preparation does not come by nature. It
must be studied and worked for, but it is worth the effort.
At the first glimpse nothing seems simpler than for the young
housekeeper to sally forth to a good market, make her selections, order
them cut off and sent home, and pay for them--or have them charged!
(Usually it is fatally easy to open a charge account!) The same notion
prevails as to buying groceries. If a good shop is chosen, there is
apparently no trouble about the transaction.
Possibly there need be no difficulties if the family purse is so well
filled that a little more or less expenditure is of no real importance.
But few are the homes in which this state of affairs exists and most
of us find it desirable, if not actually essential, to study the
comparative prices of staples in different shops and localities, to
learn if there is an advantage in making some purchases at one shop
and some at another, instead of giving all the family custom to one
merchant.
Earlier reference has been made to the proportion of the income which
is to go for rent. Positive assertions as to how much shall be spent
on the food of the family are far less easy to make, and the degree of
definiteness with which they are uttered is hampered by the constant
changes in the price of food.
Not more than ten years ago a liberal allowance for the food of an
adult was from three dollars to three dollars and a half a week. This
covered only the price of the commodities and did not allow for the
fuel used in preparation, service, etc. To-day this expenditure would
be totally inadequate for the same order of nourishment it would
have included a decade back. At that time a breakfast consisting of
fruit, cereal, bacon, fish or eggs, bread, coffee or tea; a luncheon
comprising a solid dish of meat, fish, eggs, or cheese, one or two
vegetables, or a hot bread, a simple sweet, and tea or cocoa; a dinner
of soup, a meat, two vegetables, a salad, crackers and cheese, or a
good sweet, and coffee--could all have been secured in the family at a
little over three dollars a head, when there were three or more to be
fed. From four and a half to five dollars per capita would be required
at the present time for a similar provision.
The rise in prices may have altered the sums of our estimates; it has
not lessened the necessity for a study of the proportion of the family
means which must go for nutriment. This must be determined by the heads
of the house in conclave. The harder part of the work devolves upon the
woman, who must devise economies and carry them into effect, both in
marketing and in cooking.
The inexperienced housekeeper should try to gain a few lessons in
the best methods of purchasing. Sometimes a brief attendance at a
cooking-school is of aid; or she may be able to join a class for
learning how to market--such classes exist and are most helpful--or she
may gain counsel from some older and more experienced housewife, or by
conning books on these topics. In this day there is no excuse for even
a beginner making the mistakes which have supplied material for many of
the hackneyed jokes at the expense of young matrons.
Important as is the practical and personal lesson in knowing how
to market wisely, much can be gained from manuals on the subject.
Some of these furnish cuts and charts of the various animals, with
descriptions of the portions and of the uses to which each may be put.
Instructions as to the periods of the year when certain articles are
at their best are also supplied. Prices can be learned from the market
reports published in the daily papers and much is to be acquired by
going from one shop to another. After a little the housekeeper will
become acquainted with the appearance of meat and be able to judge for
herself if it looks fresh and good. She can likewise observe how the
shops are kept and in which certain obvious sanitary arrangements are
complied with. She will not need much tuition to inform her that she
should turn aside from shops where the food is not guarded from flies
and dust, where strict cleanliness does not prevail in the salesmen and
the appurtenances, and the objects on sale are not handled with proper
care.
A few points it may be well to emphasize for the benefit of the
beginner. The fat of meat should be white and clean, the lean a clear
red, the joints of poultry must break easily and the skin look smooth
and healthful. When a fowl is yellow, bony, and hairy it is bound to be
old and tough. The gills of fish should be fresh and the eyes bright.
I cannot speak too strongly against the growing habit of marketing by
telephone. Not only is the housekeeper who follows this custom at the
mercy of her marketman, who can put off on her any cut which has been
rejected by the wiser housewives who have come in person to do their
trading; he is subjected to the pleasing temptation to cut off more
than she has ordered or charge her for a heavier piece than he sends
home.
The woman who goes to market gains other advantages beyond those of
seeing for herself the appearance and the size of the piece she orders
and has cut off while she stands by and superintends the process. She
also has offered to her chances for bargains she would never get if she
marketed by telephone. Often there will be a change in the market or in
the weather that will bring down the cost of articles which are usually
high-priced, and the woman who does her own marketing is the one to
benefit by this as well as by suggestions which introduce variety into
her bill of fare.
This same variety is to be studied by the sensible housekeeper, not
only on account of the gratification it gives her to set a pleasing
provision before her family, but also because of the genuine good that
is gained by avoiding a monotony which fails to encourage the appetite.
Moreover, saving is aided by this diversity, since cheap dishes can be
slipped into the commissary without awakening the suspicions of the
eaters that economy is being practised at their expense.
Among the rational details to be observed in buying meat is that of
insisting that all “trimmings” shall be sent home. When a roast of
beef or a breast of lamb or a shoulder of mutton or veal is boned and
rolled, the bones should never be left at the market for the butcher
to sell over again, but sent with the meat that they may be used as a
foundation for soup or gravy stock. The giblets and feet of poultry
should also be demanded. When chops are “Frenched” or a steak cut into
seemliness, none of the scraps should be considered unworthy of saving.
All have their place in the stock-pot or as stew-meat.
Too large a piece of meat should not be bought by the woman with a
small family. Meat merchants have a way of discouraging the purchase of
the smaller roasts on the plea that they dry out in cooking. If they do
it is because the work is not properly done. It is quite possible to
make a small roast toothsome and tender instead of dry and hard if the
housekeeper will cook it in the right way and with due care.
Steak and chops, the frequent resource of the woman with a small
family, are expensive luxuries. She is wise if she learns how to cook
the cheaper cuts in a sufficiently attractive fashion to make her
family contented with these instead of leaving them longing for the
higher-priced portions.
A “run” upon any one kind of food should be avoided as much as having
fixed days for specific viands. Fish on Friday one may take as a matter
of course, but there is no real reason why one should have roast beef
every Sunday or a boiled dinner on Saturday night. I know it is the
plaint of the majority of housewives that it is most difficult to
secure variety in the meat dishes, but this trouble should not exist
in a family where practically all sorts of meat can be eaten. In one
household such as I know, where veal and pork are both taboo, and fish
can be eaten by only one person, the choice is narrowed down a good
deal. Even then, however, with a knowledge of how to prepare savory
stews, minces, hashes, scallops, croquettes, fritters, meat-pies,
stuffed peppers, tomatoes and peppers with a meat filling, as well as
roast, boiled, broiled, braised, and fried meat dishes, there should
be no wail over the trials of the housekeeper in changing her menus
frequently.
No time can be considered wasted which is bestowed on the study of how
to cook cheap meat well. Always it should be recollected that many of
the so-called cheap cuts really contain a greater amount of nutriment
than the choicer selections. As I have said on various occasions, the
housekeeper must be prepared to pay a price for excellence of food,
and if she cannot pay this in hard cash she must supply the equivalent
in careful cookery and wise seasoning. A knowledge of the uses of
curry powder, anchovy, and other condiments in changing and modifying
the tastes of familiar foods, a willingness to give the time to slow
and long cooking which will bring out the best flavor of the meat, an
acquaintance with the manifold ways in which left-overs of food can
be utilized in pleasing combinations, are among the branches which a
housekeeper of small means finds well worth her study.
Reference has been made to the help a fireless cooker is to the woman
who keeps house well. It is a saving of time, fuel, labor, and food
values. By its assistance the housekeeper can prepare her meal hours
ahead of time and go about other pursuits in the calm certainty that
when she is ready for her dinner it will be ready for her, and as
good as if she had simmered over the kitchen fire all the afternoon,
using up her fuel and herself. There are several varieties of these
cookers, all of them on practically the same plan, and it will pay a
woman to look about her to find which kind suits her best. For soups,
stews, cereals, they are unequaled, as for making jams, preserves, or
anything else which demands a long period of deliberate cooking.
Special attention has been given to the purchase of meat, but there is
almost equal judgment to be shown in buying groceries. Here there is a
chance for the inexperienced marketer to be imposed upon. Certain fixed
principles she should follow.
The first of these is that it is, as a rule, unwise to buy in bulk.
That is, there is little gained in a small family by laying in large
supplies at a time. A barrel of flour is likely to be musty and weevily
before it can be used; corn meal in large quantities develops vermin;
so do cereals purchased by a number of packages or pounds at a time.
Care should be taken to select an honest grocer or to know enough of
prices not to be overcharged, and then to order supplies as they are
needed.
Buying in bulk means more than this: it also refers to getting the
“loose” crackers, cereals, and the like, instead of those inclosed
in cartons. The latter is always the better plan, and care should be
taken to select a good variety that is put up by manufacturers whose
names are a guarantee of the excellence of the products. Until one has
investigated the matter one has no idea of how many cheap and poor
materials are foisted off upon a guileless public, bearing the stamp of
unknown makers, with the assurance that they are “just as good” as like
articles put up by well-known houses.
This fiction is especially prevalent about canned goods. When these
are first-class they are admirable, and fortunately there are daily
increasing numbers of fine and trustworthy establishments who can
fruits, vegetables, meat, fish, etc., in conditions which assure the
complete protection of the consumer. Yet there are still in existence
small and unscrupulous concerns whose output is cheap and poor if not
actually dangerous to health, and these should be boycotted by all
housekeepers.
Care should be exercised in buying fresh vegetables and fruits. In
most of our large cities the laws as to protecting these against dust
and dirt are being enforced more vigorously with every year, and here,
too, the housewife can help to bring about a better state of affairs
by insisting upon purchasing only such articles as have been properly
cared for. Vegetables which are to be cooked before eating may not
suffer so much by being exposed to dust, but salads and berries and
other fruits or vegetables which are eaten raw are a menace when they
have been suffered to lie and wilt in a current of air laden with dust
and disease germs.
IV
CONCERNING HOUSEHOLD ACCOUNTS
One of the first items of business to be considered by a newly married
couple, or a pair who are about to begin housekeeping, is the division
of the income between the husband and wife.
This does not imply that their interests are to be opposed or that they
are to have absolutely separate purses. It does mean that there must be
a clear understanding on both sides of what the expenditure is to be
for certain purposes and that the funds for food, domestic service, and
other strictly housekeeping outlay should be in the hands of the wife.
This point has been much debated and the pros and cons on both sides
exploited. Some men argue that the possession of ready money will
lead the wife to extravagance, that it is far better to have all
articles charged and the bills paid by the husband, that women do
not understand household accounts or bookkeeping. Enough foolish and
shallow women exist to lend a trifling force to this position. But the
general and growing view is that the housekeeper upon whom is laid
the responsibility of purveying for an establishment rises to the
emergency, that she does better work and makes wiser purchases when
she is trusted with an allowance for such expenses, that an exhaustive
knowledge of double-entry bookkeeping is not demanded for simple
domestic accounts, that even the immature and untrained wife gains
knowledge by experience and competence by errors made and corrected.
Certain disbursements seem naturally to devolve upon the man of the
house. That he should pay the rent, defray outside or general repairs,
perhaps meet the coal bill, appears a matter of course. But it is
unquestionably the province of the wife to buy provisions and pay for
them, either in cash or by weekly or monthly accounts. Charges for
work done in the house, the replacement of cooking utensils, household
linen and the like, the bills for gas and electric light, all should be
within her control, to be settled by her as they fall due, after she
has examined them and convinced herself that they are correct.
If other arrangement is made than this, it should be after careful
consideration and unbiased discussion of the advantages and demerits of
the system. As a general thing such a division as that just suggested
proves the best.
Exactly what proportion of the income shall be placed in the hands of
the wife is a matter which must be decided by individual circumstances.
Estimate has already been made as to the allowance to be given to
food, and it can readily be seen that this must be determined by
the character and size of the family as well as by the conditions
surrounding them. The household of a farmer or of one who commands a
garden and dairy can be kept on a much smaller pecuniary expenditure
for actual food than is possible in the home of a dweller in the city,
who must buy and pay for every particle of food which comes into the
house. The sum disbursed may amount to the same thing in the long
run, since the cost of keeping up the garden plot or caring for the
cattle must be met by the man of the house, but he will not need to
give as much cash into his wife’s hands as will be required in other
circumstances.
However the amount may be apportioned, whatever may be the charges
laid upon the wife and those assumed by the husband, the necessity of
strict and accurate household accounts should be insisted upon. I am
not advocating any special system. I have known excellent outlines
of domestic expenses which simply darkened counsel with words for
some housekeepers and rendered the business of following their outlay
confusion worse confounded. Sometimes a woman with little more than a
common-school education and an ordinary working knowledge of arithmetic
can keep her accounts with a conciseness and cleanness many a trained
bookkeeper might envy. If a housekeeper has a system which proves
satisfactory it is a mistake for her to try to change it for one which
may be more scientific but is less useful.
Merely as a suggested guide I would advise the beginner to provide
herself with two books, one small and cheap, to be slipped into the
pocket when going to market, the other larger and of better quality.
In the first one, to which is attached a pencil, is to be set down
every purchase and its cost, as soon as made. The memory should never
be trusted in these matters, but each outlay--no matter how small,
if it be nothing more than a car-fare or a three-cent bunch of
parsley--entered immediately. Then these items are to be transferred
in ink to the larger book as soon as possible after the housekeeper’s
return to the home. It is fatal to accuracy and to really helpful
bookkeeping to let the accounts accumulate before they are written down
and balanced.
Still keeping along the most elementary principles of household
accounts, let me counsel that on the left-hand page be written the
amount of money in hand, while the sums expended and the items for
which they are paid out are set down on the opposite page. The two
pages may be balanced each day or as the bottom of each page is
reached, as best suits the housekeeper. The one immutable rule is that
the sum which the written balance shows ought to be in her purse should
absolutely be there. This may sound like the very primer of household
expenses, but no woman who has ever gone through the anguish of trying
to determine what has become of the stray dime her figures show should
be in her possession, or of discovering how she happens to have a
quarter more than her ciphering proves to belong to her, will ever make
light of the endeavor to square her accounts and her cash balance. Such
struggles are avoided by the consistent practice of noting down each
payment as soon as made.
Possibly the most important decision the young housekeeper has to make
in beginning her domestic bookkeeping is how she shall pay for her
purchases. Shall it be cash or credit? And if the latter, how often
shall bills be paid?