The Husband as Housekeeper.

Press, Volume L, Issue 14985, 4 June 1914, Page 8

The Husband as Housekeeper.

A Highgate l_otis->'*c*' l '"- of comfortj able means thinks ho has proved th | tho husband and no: ..:. •■■■''-■ c the i ideal housekeeper. According to the I "DaiJy Mail," it happened this way. His wife wanted a motor-car, but the husband, while ho did not mind the initial cost, objected to an addition of £ICO a year for maintenance to his expenses. He was sure, however, that £100 a year could be saved in the household expense?, so he took things in hand with a view to making such a saving balance the upkeep of the car. First of all he found that his wife was paying 2d apiece for eggs when they could be got for ls Id a dozen. The household, including servants, was using 100 eggs a week, -;o here was a saving of os 8d a week. Then he found that the butcher always sent more than was ordered, and attention to this little matter saved 3s a week. Hitherto his wife had done he.shoppin.; by telephone; he got her to go to the chops, and as a result she saved 4s 4d a week in telephone charges and l got much better servico. Elimination of wastage of gas in the kitchen saved a shilling a week, economy in food sent to tabic cut down expense, by 15s a week, and so ou. Altogether the husband effected an economy averaging nearly 12s a week over a period of six months, and no doubt by this time the patience and roshjna+io. of tho wife has been rewarded with a car. But the housewives of London are not disposed to accept this experiment as one from which wide conclusions can be drawn. "My husband tried the same thing for a month," says a Kew wife. "I lost one of the best cooks 1 have ever had and spent a perfectly miserable time. He bought sugar, bacon, coffee, tea, and flour enough to last threo months. Tho amount of waste was appalling—the cook became hopelessly extravagant. The bacon became rancid and uneatable, the coffee stale. At tho end of the month my husband said he had saved £6. 1 worked it out and found that actually ho had wasted £8." Then thero are the servants' feelings to consider. Most, English servants would resent it if the riiaster of ihe houso fussed about tho kitchen. "I would cive notice at once if master interfered in my work/ writes a cook. "It isn't the servants who waste the gas. It's the men who come down to breakfast late so that wo havo to keep tho food hot." But no doubt most men think they could keep tho b.U& lower if they had tho running of the household.