man families
living on what we should call small incomes; and they show more
exactly than any vague praise can do the prodigies of thrift
accomplished by people obliged to economise, and at the same time to
present a respectable appearance. The first one is the budget of a
small official living with a wife and two children in a little town
where a flat on the fourth or fifth floor can be had at a low rent:--

L s. d.
Rent 20 0 0
Fuel 3 10 0
Light 1 10 0
Clothes for the man 3 0 0
Clothes for the wife 2 0 0
Clothes for the children 1 0 0
Boots for the man 1 0 0
Boots for the wife and children 1 5 0
Repairs to boots 0 17 6
Washing and house repairs 3 0 0
Doctor 2 0 0
Newspaper 0 12 0
Charwoman 3 0 0
Taxes 2 10 0
Postage 1 4 0
Insurances 2 10 0
Amusements 3 0 0
Housekeeping 45 0 0
Sundries 3 1 0
-----------
L100 0 0
===========

The fuel allowed in this budget consists of 30 cwt. of _Steinkohlen_
at 1 mark 15 pf. the cwt., 30 cwt. of _Braunkohlen_ at 70 pf. the
cwt., and 4 cwt. of kindling at 1 mark 10 pf. the cwt. This quantity,
3 tons without the kindling, would have to be used most sparingly to
last through a long rigorous German winter, as well as for cooking and
washing in summer. The amount set apart for lights allows for one lamp
in the living room and two small ones in the passage and kitchen. The
man may have a new suit every year, one year in winter and the next
year in summer, and his suit may cost L2, 10s. His great-coat also is
to cost L2, 10s., but he can't have a new suit the year he buys one,
and it should last him at least four years. The ten shillings left is
for all his other clothes except boots, and presumably for all his
personal expenses, including tobacco, so he had better not sp