anks, life-insurance
companies, and other financial organizations. You who are just planning
to be married, however, will find that these statements are compiled
usually for families with two or three children. At best they will only
roughly approximate your special problems.

Let us consider the situation faced by a young couple just starting out
in married life. Generally speaking, if you live in a big city and your
income is about $100 a month, you will pay about $35 to the landlord.
Rents, unfortunately, are disproportionately high in the largest urban
centers, for persons of limited means. In smaller communities, you
undoubtedly will find quarters for somewhat less.

Your food, at the present price level, will cost at least $25 a month
for an adequate diet--and this assumes extremely intelligent and careful
buying.

Transportation to and from work for one person will cost not less than
$2.50 a month. Total transportation costs for both of you--if only one
works--will be between $3 and $4. Not more than $10 a month should be
spent for clothes, and at least $6 must be set aside for insurance and
savings. This leaves roughly $20 a month for all other expenses. It is
not easy for two to live on $100 a month--but it is being done.

While it is not true that two can live as cheaply as one, two persons
who are in love may live more happily if they marry and both continue to
work than if they undergo the strain of a long engagement. This problem,
however, must be worked out with reference to the particular case, for,
as pointed out in an earlier article in this series, it is more
difficult for a man to get a foothold in certain professions if he
marries before his apprenticeship is complete. It seems obvious that if
you are wed before the man finishes his professional preparation, you
will not wish to have children for the time being and that the wife will
continue to support herself. I have seen many complications caused by
the arrival of children before the husband had completed his
professional training.

One young couple I knew were getting along very smoothly while the wife
was working and her husband was spending his last year in medical
school. The arrival of a baby made it necessary for her to quit her job.
This, in turn, made it imperative for the man to earn a livelihood. He
took a position in a department store where today--ten years later--he
is still a junior employee. By now, in the ordinary course of ev