Woman's World

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVI, Issue 83, 2 September 1914, Page 6

Woman's World

WOMEN WHO CONvlk;E ECONOMY WITH iUKU'i 1 .

; (From an English paper). Very few women uiidie.nsui.nd what thrift really is; the giwjt mass of women aw eitlher wi.tUy extravagant or incredibly nueam. Only ihere anil there one encounters a woman who ia «'.» oub without being extravagant, eco--nomical without being stingy. It is difficult to know wlucui family to .pity irost—.that (of tlie mardmaitely thrifty woman or ttat of (lire woman w"ho has no idea of ithie value of money. the thrifty woman is most in evidence, and she is certainly more difficult to deal with than -the generous hearted woman Vliose Ben's oive feelings respond to n, gienitte, well-timed word of warding or advice. The maan woman wraps herseM up in a imnitle of reserve, and will aJJow 110 one to criticise toe.r household .regime or expenditure.

SPENDING A SHILUMi TO SAVE A PENNY.

ror honest, geauolne thrift one should liavo profound admiration. But t'lie luajui'iily of women wlio eail themselves tihrifty are in reafctiy appallingly anean. In a lirousu. in the West Eiid of Ifcndon Uvea a miiddie-aged woman with an meouis of tit least four thousand a year. Shu sends her houwt-kyeper 'to Covent Garden in eaufly morning to buy vegetables and limit. (She gel# potatoes and strawberries, for insbaaiee, at somewliiat dlieaper prices than she .would have to .pay in tlhe 'boat tlhops. Buit, on the other hand, she has to pay her •housekeeperls fame ■by juis to Uovent Garden and back, so the true wontli of uier economies at once become apparent. Jlost of iuh know the fetory of tllie country maid who spent fall a guinea on her rutiuoin ftwe to Lond'on in order to buy a iitat at nadf-a-crown. Instances such to tlhoae are not, peilhaps, of common ©ocuri'ence. One hopes and believes that there are not many womiiai so lacking .in 'tlhe sense of proportion that they cam persuade themselves ...io<t they are making a bargain when it costs them half-a-guinea to be in a position tio buy a ridiculously cheap hat. Tins, so far from bumg economy, ; ia stupid extmlvagfmee. Many women, however, especially young women, are wicked) and silly enough to d;o this kind o f tilling. j- -io writer knows of one young girt, 'learning sJliorbhanld and typewriting, who was allNved a shilling daily by Ihor father, for 'iunch. instead of spending the money on a isiiibstanMal meal she did without lunrih altogether, and '-.pent tiler* allowance. on clothes, li Was ,i»yly... when die broke down in •health. and the doctor said Hhe was .innouirMieu, that her parent* suspected Uje truth, anu t«ie girl confessed Ho iicr folly. It was mouths beflclre sihie could retum to work. lWas iuus thrift or extra vagajicc?

iHE FOLLY vF STLXTLV; FOOD.

'llhe Jast t/hing in "vvliie'h one should economise :ig surely fooA One can live without a shelter over one's head; one can live witlhoiat etotihiew. Hut loUl ie neoessairy to life, and it is s&ee.r folly 'to begin one's economies 'by atinting in food. The mean 'housewife cuts bread in enormously thick slices so that the children wi.'u nc/t eat so infudi ibutter; the itoedj new boots, .slot bubbv wil'l have to do' without bacon, for 'breakfast; if tihefie in to be a Iholiday at file : soa tlm yuair pudding's must be* left out of tihie daily menu, for dinner, and so on. A -woman of this type economies in faxl first, and consoles Ihorself 'tiie reflection that r*ho is saving two or three shillings every week tliiat iean be i»ut by for a wnv day or for .some special brealt or purpose." Siurih si. woman confuses economy wit/li meanness, andj tiiiough she m-ay not bo si'My enough to spend a pnmy on a car in'ordtir :ilo get sugar a halfpenny a ■pound cheaper, tllie mialkes tho.se around filer suffer through (her /deplorably false notion, of econumly. (growing children and a ilmsl«ind who works hard need good food if they are itto retain their good heai,oh. If a woman carnnot afford 1 to <buv tnor

small girt a new frock and provide iier husband with substantial breakfast, die iixilot MicriJice the child's, and iter own vanity, to hj?.- Uinf-band's phym-al wellbeing. If economics arc to lx! made the/ Should nwt, whatever else, be economics tlrat will send a man out to ilits day'* work insufficiently fed, liar children 'to i-chool on a breakfast that ooimfotK of weak tea and one slice of thiek bread w-raued with not too .pure bettor. ■«/.SSiIiUS 'EXTRAVAGAACK IX FOOD.

It is not for u moment s'ujrgestcd that in catering for a. family the Ihousew.iie should | aj vide f.\p?iWire and elai.or.ite meals. l*ut it she m<ust economise, she should do so by re-arranging iher iue of e.\p<eii<Mure mai\\ scientitically. She should leaiitni the value of tlM»c scrapp m wl'ten tliirown away; sin: should cwiae to <k»(MHe foreign meat; rilie should aeijttire a better knowledge of 'housewifery ami cookery, so that i tio can ,nm her aiouwehold on ap-to-date adn ecwioinifcal Jiwes. if she kaops maids, she siiould make sure that they are not wasting goWd food, if ortly v-omen vould ieiini to keep a slirtct account of all they spend, Dtoey wo'uid s"on detect small extravagances, and learn w liat tine thrift rcaltv is. Woaien' who was'-c mtney oil chix-o'latcs or clothes •lliey do not nce<l or which were bought at sales simply because t'hey weae cheap, oil Whow and glitter and '"keephi<i up" a]>]M'aianc("s, -would lie asltoni'-iied at wmat stn-li tilnnv l .- cost if thev knew. N*> woman with a -strong ..enso «l piop»rtion is ever 'repulsively mean or Hwlishiv extravagant. It' 5s jieiihap.i "asy it ! n avoid 'the -more obvious fornm of extravagance, but it is not easy to avoid that extravagance which cau-es the perplexcd -housewife to say, "1 realty don't know how the m'i nev goci-,." The point. however, Ls tJuat silie should make it 'her ba'sinests t-o kllc-w where the money goes. -She «h<niJd have the <jno:stion tllion-raigh'ly thrashed out witih llicr ■hu-'Jiauil, and together they should decide, after careful eou'sideraition, exaatl v what it'Jiev can, and; intend to. s]x<ml 'iji drew. food, light and filing, rent, wages, laundry, amusements, charity and tilie education of tllie children. If a sunii is set aside for emergencies it nhoiild lie possible to kwp within l the slated amount allowed for«w.. class <if wants. Mii K.li more can be got Dirt of an .income if it iti carefully ami scientifically planned in this way 'than if it i ;! Inpliazarilly from week to week. PITTING BV FOR A IUIXY DAY". Very ;inainy women make the mis'take of thinkim; that localise thev cannot save nnic.h, therefore it i,s not. wonh while saving at ail. 'I -n'cire are li.v better-class working men or clerks whose wives eiouhl not put by half a crown every weeilc lor passible dark days. In ;u>n yeiira" -time this woul.l amount to as miu.eh m si.\t-y-li've pomuls —a sinu' t-lia't, Ht 'iiihl liave sa-ved mae-v a man from dixastc?, intmv a woniaii fioi]! lifelong liiiseiT, if on'ly it had lieen available. It is a mistake to stint onn-el," or ones la-iDily iii food, or -iii: warm clothing or in lnod-eiraite tnimisenv.eut.. for t'lie of saving. Pvut, without resoHtiing Ho such method's, most v.tenon i-o'.lld .-.ave somothilig even- aveek, even if it were only a. shilling. ' It is no r. e to save spom-dk-aHy; itlie shilling or five shillingK or the Vovercifm siiouid Jie I'ankiMl every week with mifaiiajijg ivguliLi'it \, and siiouid not. (lie ilvu wII 11Jin 111 except ia unroumstances ,of till© grcsutest urgency. An exeeMent way of dev-olou-

ifig'jr'tore of itoiffc, iff the'best' eensc of the wond), in children, is to promise them a penny for every shilling 'they save. The idea of suou 'Wtoiiest" appeals to them; and if tlie kiddies have been tonight iiromi eaiilliesit y«ars itiho foil of extravagance, they will' be wtidy eniough Ito respond to such a auggeisbßon from, motlher or father. THE lUlu i WOMAN.

lie women who strain every nerve and ever)- energy in ordw to save tire, never happy, and they do ntct ir,a!ko those am'und tihemi happy .cither, Tllie women wilio throw money about recklessly cause inlinite anxiety co uieir husbands and children, and I'liey are unhappy because they huive no .sense of security. The liaippsd it ; \\<oniian, .the woman who mojst nobly full life her diuty to her hiusaairad and famii\v, is she wiho plans ouit 'tllie lipeimdingi cf the miloaimy carefullly, lovingly With due regard .to resi'l economy, and without a HoUtary thought of swing at tile expeais® of health an!d happiness.