BUSINESS WOMAN’S HOME

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 838, 5 December 1929, Page 5

BUSINESS WOMAN’S HOME

AN INCOME FROM TENANTS

I came across a woman the other day who is making quite a nice sum of money every week by running a house of bed-sitting rooms for business women, herself included. The idea first came to her through the trouble she had with furnished lodgings and the high price she had to pay for them. She knew many women working in business houses like herself, who had to contend with the same difficulty. During her years of employment she had saved a certain sum of money and, finding that a small house could be rented at a reasonable rate, she took one on a short lease. Arranging the Rooms She furnished it very simply, devoting her holiday to the work. With the exception of the kitchen and scullery, she arranged every room in the house as a bed-sitting room, with gas fire and ring (slot meter), and just the barest necessities—a single bed, a small table, shelves for crockery, a small writing bureau, a bookcase and a comfortable chair. The floors were stained and had a, warm rug on each. Every door was fitted with a Yale lock. It was not a hard task to find tenants and all the rooms were quickly iet. How the Plan is Worked Each tenant possessed a certain amount of crockery and plate. None had any objection to buying a few cooking utensils and the house is worked on the same system as a block of flats. Every tenant is responsible for her own room and food. Most of them belong to business women’s clubs, and have their principal meal at midday. The bathroom, fitted with a geyser, is for the use of all and has a slot meter. The scullery, fitted with a small geyser, provides immediate hot water, and is also for the use of anyone who requires it. The kitchen, furnished by the woman responsible for the experiment, is used as her private sitting-room. A daily woman does her cleaning, and can be engaged by the hour to do any work required by the tenants. The rent of each room is paid weekly. The venture has been such a success, both financially and in the way of comfort, that the originator is meditating taking the next house and developing her scheme.