CHAPTER XVI.

HOUSEKEEPING BOOKS.

Simple Mode of Keep'ng Accounts.-Analysis of Expenditure.-" Sundries."-Balancing

Accounts.

HERE are many kinds of housekeeping

books issued by enterprising firms of stationers. There are menu books, daybooks, books for a record of the weekly, monthly, or yearly expenditure, and washing books to last a twelvemonth. Such an array is enough to daunt the girlhousekeeper, especially when, in addition to this little army of her own, she has the tradesmen's books to check every week.

The plan we should be inclined to suggest is much simpler than that involved in keeping such a number of books. These, if allowed to get neglected for a few days, offer a formidable task in the setting to rights. When only one book is

kept, the difficulty is not so great as to be deterrent. An account book long in shape should be chosen. The length of the page is advisable as doing away with the necessity of so frequently as is requisite when a short page is used. book must be kept for a record of the moneys received, and the right for an account of those paid away. The pages will stand somewhat thus :

adding up the totals The left side of the

This would be on that day of the week on which the tradesmen's books are paid. On another day the items would be less heavy and slighter in kind, probably, and some such record as the following might be the result:—

It will be seen from these imaginary accounts that the method recommended is carried out by writing the date at the top of the column on the left-hand page of the book, and recording under the heading "Cash Received" the particulars of whatever sums may be in hand, and of amounts received from every source. Under "Cash Paid," on the right-hand page, all sums paid away have to be entered. When this has been done, the total of "cash received" and "paid away" can be ascertained by adding up the respective rows of figures. By subtracting the total of sums expended from the total of those received and in hand, the balance left is obtained.

For those who desire to possess a correct analysis of expenditure, there are books issued which render the process very simple. But there are certain minds that might find some difficulty in discovering and acting upon the principle upon which these account books are arranged. For these we suggest the simple plan of having a small book for each separate class of expenses. For instance: dress; laundry expenses; food; firing; light; rent, rates, taxes, and repairs; travelling expenses; charities; stationery and stamps; servants; furniture ;-all these may have a small account book devoted to the record of expenses under the various headings, and bearing the name of each heading distinctly written or printed upon the cover.

Weekly, monthly, or quarterly, according to the convenience of the owner, these small books can be produced, and into each should be copied, in regular order of date from the day-book, the various sums expended upon each.*

Our advice to the inexperienced girl-housekeeper is, to enter every single item in her accounts, even though it be only a penny to a crossing-sweeper. It will then be possible to calculate to a halfpenny the exact amount

* In a small volume sold at rs. by the publishers of this work, and entitled "How to Dress on a Shilling a Day," tables of expenditure on dress will be found, with directions as to the management of the rather limited sum indicated in the title.

expended each year on everything. In these days of fluctuating prices, it is interesting, though occasionally far from satisfactory, to mark the gradual rise in nearly all the necessaries of life, interrupted by a few temporary falls, as recorded in our own private and carefully kept household account-books. One other small book it is advisable to keep, in addition to those already named. In this a complete record of the sums received from every source should be entered. In the case of those who have the management of the family income (a duty which, fortunately, does not very often devolve on girls), this will be especially valuable; while even with those who are allowed a certain weekly sum for housekeeping, and a quarterly sum for dress, travelling and personal expenses, it will be found to have its uses, as showing at a glance the sum total of all that has passed through the hands during any particular period.

A few months' careful balancing of the accounts would be of great assistance in enabling the girl-housekeeper to know exactly what should be the expenditure in each branch of the household economy. After one year's experience she would be able to tell, within a little, what the expenses of the house and family are likely to be during the following year. This will be of material assistance, by helping her to lay out the money entrusted to her to the best possible advantage, and, in a case of limited income, to assist her in bringing together those very trying ends which ought not only to meet, but lap over comfortably.

CHAPTER XVII.

HINTS FOR GIRL-HOUSEKEEPERS.

Influence over Servants.-Early Rising.-Laying Table for Breakfast.-Making Beds.Cleaning Rooms.-Laying the Luncheon and Dinner-tables.-Waiting at Table.

HE best way to establish a mistress's true influence over servants, is to show that you are far from ignorant as to how things ought to be done. Of course, the first step in this direction is to learn how they should be done, and in this chapter we purpose to supply instructions on some of the more important matters of the day's routine.

Early Rising.-If the servants of the household do not rise in good time, everything will be hurriedly, and therefore imperfectly, done. The usual hours are: six o'clock in summer and half-past six in winter. But the young mistress, if she herself indulge in "laziness" in the mornings, cannot with a very good grace reprove her servants if they fail to be up in good time. This is one of the things in which example is better than precept.

Breakfast.-One of the most cheerful rooms in the house should be chosen for the scene of the morning meal. One into which the morning sunshine comes-when there is any-is the best. Our climate gives us so many days of grey and brown that we should economize every ray of light and brightness that it sends us. No gloomy hangings, no pictures of disagreeable subjects, should be allowed in either breakfast-room or dining-room. The tablecloth should be snowy in its unimpeachable cleanliness. Not even flowers can make a table look really nice if the cloth be of doubtful white even; but when stains and splashes are visible upon it, they are enough to drive appetite away, even if the viands themselves be well-cooked and

savoury.

On the tray, before the seat of the mistress of the house, the requisite number of cups and saucers should be placed, together with the china-basin, sugar-basin, the cream-jug, and, if coffee be taken, a jug of hot milk. To her right is the tea-pot-stand, with teapot and coffee-pot upon it. To her left are

her plate, knives and forks, and napkin. Behind the tray the urn or tablekettle is placed. These must all be arranged so that she can reach them without having uncomfortably to stretch her arm.

Before the master of the house is laid whatever hot dish has been prepared for the morning meal, with hot plates of the size known as puddingplates directly before him. Bread on a platter, with bread-knife; the eggstand, with boiled eggs, egg-cups, and egg-spoons; and any cold dishes, pâtés, or potted meats, are placed where they can easily be reached by those breakfasting at the table.

In ordering the various dishes for dinner, it is well, if possible, to impress the cook with the opinion that you understand how they should be made as well as, if not better than, she does. How many hours a ten-pound joint will require in cooking; how long the pie ought to be in the oven; whether vegetables should be done in hot water or cold;-all these and a thousand other bits of useful knowledge should be within call if needed. In another chapter, on menus and cookery, we shall hope to give some practical and useful information on this head.

How to Make a Bed.-We spend at least a third of our time in our beds, and the care spent upon making them comfortable is far from being thrown away when it results in procuring an added measure of "tired nature's sweet restorer, balmy sleep." On rising, every girl should throw the bed-clothes over the foot of the bed, and open the bedroom window, if it has not been opened before, when she leaves the room, so as to allow of a current of air passing among them. In addition to this, it is advisable to toss back the feather bed, if one be used, or the mattress. This, however, is rarely done, even by women. As to men, it is of course absurd to expect anything of the kind from them. Their business at home is to make work for others, not to do it themselves. But, in cases of neglect of this good rule of shaking up the bed, the housemaid should go into every bedroom in the house while the family is at breakfast, open the windows, spread out the bed-clothes, and shake up the beds. This renders the mere making of the beds an easy matter. Many ladies make their own beds from choice. Servants are not to be depended upon always even to give us the same number of blankets every night! They sometimes arbitrarily take one off the top of the bed and lay it beneath the under sheet. When asked to give a reason for such conduct, "they can't think why they did it!" The person who has to sleep in it, very naturally makes no mistakes like these. With the help of the maid, she turns the mattress, or shakes the feather bed thoroughly, afterwards arranging it at the exact angle at which she likes it, lays on the under blanket smoothly and squarely, following suit with the under sheet, which is carefully tucked in. Very particular people turn the hem of the under sheet downwards, so that the right side of the hem comes uppermost, and take care to place the marked end of the sheet towards the top of the bed. The upper sheet is arranged with similar precision, with the right side of the hem uppermost instead of turned downwards, so that when the bed is occupied, the right side.