THRIFTY SCHOOL TEACHER.

Franklin Times, Volume 9, Issue 641, 14 June 1921, Page 4

THRIFTY SCHOOL TEACHER.

HOW SHE SAVED £7OO

Those who are always grumbling at the cost cf living may be a little cheered by the experiences of a country school teacher, who, in the course of a letter in the current issue of “National Education,” tells ho'w she saved £7OO in eight years. Here is her story: “I have been teaching eight years, for the last six in a town school, (I am a Grade 1 woman), and in that time I have saved £7OO. Unlike many of my fellowteachers, I have no one dependent on me or I might have a different tale to tell.

“I ‘each’ with a chum in a tiny flat which we have furnished and decorated to suit ourselves. My chum, whose hours are longer than mine, pays the rent and gas bi'bwhiUl undertake the work, shopping, and cooking. Ail other expenses we share. TV e live well, have all we want, and have hot dinners six days a week. I make my own clothes and hats, with the exception of a tailormade costume every third year and a smart winter hat every second year. Three pairs of made-to-measure boots and one of shoes have lasted four years. I have them repaired by the best man in the town and pay the best price, hence their longevity. I do not wear white kid gloves, but pay 15/ once a year for a pair of dark" suede. When I see black gloves or stockings that are a bargain, I buy half a dozen pairs and always have a reseive. Igo to all the sales but never buy anything: the things I want are never reduced and seldom visible. 1 decide what I want weeks before I buy, then walk around the shops with "an object. lam always suitably dressed and never feel conspicuous in any company. I do nor dance and cannot afford plays, though i often go to hear good concerts, recitals, lectures and occasionally pictures. lam an active member of our societies in my home town and have the usual annual dentist's bills to pay 1 realise that I canrtot always teach and 1 must do the best I can for myself while I am young, and that comfort comes from living on one’s interest and not on one’s principal.

“Having been in the country, I appreciate, still, the pleasure of town life with its daily supplies of fruit, vegetables, and fish, its illuminated streets at night, good pavements to walk on, a public library where I can luxuriate for three hours at a time, and the society of other cultured women whom I meet in my leisure time. “I think of onr good Allies, the French, who are rich not by what they earn but by what they save. My pre-war salary was £J 10; it is now £l7O plus £SO grading allowance. My superannuation will be all the sweeter when it arrives to keep my ‘nest egg’ company."