news & views... Learning How To Handle Dollars And Cents

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31108, 11 July 1966, Page 2

news & views...

Learning How To Handle Dollars And Cents

(By V.H.) Just imagine winning a fabulous trip to the United States with £5OO to spend for yourself and your husband. It would take neither of you very long to get used to paying in dollars and cents —even if some things you bought were dearer or cheaper than in New Zealand.

Within a year you will have to start balancing the family budget in dollars and cents —more prosaic than spending on a glamour holiday—but the principle is just the same: the sooner you learn how to handle the new currency the happier you will be.

In Christchurch last week, Dr. N. W. Davey, secretary of the Australian Decimal Currency Board, said women took longer than men to adjust to dollars and cents. But he pointed out that women made many more small purchases. Most men have a limited range of day-to-day spending, but housewives have the daily chore of shopping—and shopping wisely. While your husband may have only to pay a bus fare, buy a newspaper or a pack of cigarettes, you will have to rethink the family budget. You can start planning a dollars and cents budget now. Most of the money you have in your purse now will convert easily to dollars and cents. Every 6d is equal to 5 cents, shillings are 10 cents and 2s pieces 20 cents. Ten shilling notes are one dollar and pound notes two dollars. To make it easier for everyone the 10-cent coins will have both 10 cents and a shilling stamped on them. This will be a key coin. Ten of them make one dollar, divide by 10 and you have one cent; 10 up and you have the largest unit, 10 down you have the smallest.

New Zealand plans to make the change to dollars and cents on July 10 next year. This means you have a full 12 months to learn what your approach will be to the new money.

They have been continuing to think of dollars and cents in relation to pounds, instead of the other way around. Many advertisements in Australian newspapers and magazines still have prices only in pounds; this is not doing much to help the change at all. Australia switched to the new currency on February 14 this year and the change mainly has gone smoothly.

Technical problems because of the conversion of some cash registers mean that some shops still will use pounds, shillings and pence after the change until their machines are converted. So for a little while you are going to have a mixture of money in your purse.

New Zealand can learn a lot about the approach to dollars and cents from the Australian experience.

Although 18 months have been set aside from next July for the two currencies to be used together it is likely that pounds, shillings and pence will disappear sooner. Some shoppers and shops in Australia made their own difficulties with the new currency.

Now is the time to start thinking how you will use dollars and cents; to start thinking forward by mentally converting pounds, shillings and pence into decimals. Many Australians left it until the day of the change to do their thinking.

Both coins and notes will be smaller in dollars and cents and relate better in size to their worth.

In decimal currency there will be no coin like the penny —bigger than the other coins and worth the least.

Shops, stores and supermarkets probably will all soon show prices in both pounds, shillings and pence, and dollars and cents. Many do so already. This should also help you learn the new currency. No Two Alike No two household budgets are alike. You probably have quite a different scale of values to that of your nextdoor neighbour. You may spend far more on milk and bread than she does; she may think fruit more worth buying. If you have an organised mind you can now start working out your weekly budget in dollars and cents; analysing it to see how much you spend on what.

Unfortunately, if you are the kind of housewife who never knows Where her money goes, you will find dollars and cents slip through your fingers just as easily.