would be wiser to live in rented
quarters.

It is a good general rule to pay no more than twice one year's salary
for a house; of this amount, not less than 10 percent will be required
generally as a "down payment." Then you will have to pay interest and
amortization on your mortgage, which, with taxes and upkeep, probably
will come to as much as the rent for a similar house. At the end of a
period of years, however, you own the house, which is a definite
advantage.

Perhaps you have decided, as many young couples do today, that you will
both work for wages. The arrival of a baby or possibly some other
unplanned event may force the wife to give up her job. If you would
avoid real difficulties, therefore, try from the outset to meet the big
items--rent, food, essential clothing, and the minimum of insurance and
savings--out of the husband's earnings. Let the wife's earnings cover
only those items which, though desirable, are less important to your
welfare, such as "luxury" clothes, recreation, and items of a similar
character.

Any couple who depend on the wife's earnings for such essentials as
food, clothing, and shelter should be prepared to adopt a lower scale of
expenditure for any of or all these purposes, for as a general rule her
contribution to the family income is likely to be less certain than that
of her husband. The time to take on additional expenses is after an
increase in the husband's wages--not before. Guard against the
assumption of obligations which you could not meet if your combined
income were reduced.

Simple as this rule would seem to be, I have seen it ignored time and
time again, usually with the same unhappy result. I have in mind the
case of a couple whom we shall call the Browns. Doris Brown supplemented
her husband's salary by giving piano lessons at home. They planned to
have a baby and could well have managed to do so with but a short
interruption to Doris' teaching activity. But--and this is what so many
couples contemplating children overlook--complications set in which made
it necessary for her to spend the last six months of pregnancy in a
hospital.

Not only did the family income decline by the amount she had earned, but
expenses increased greatly. Some of the deficit was made up by
borrowing, but there is a limit to the amount that can be obtained in
this manner. That limit was reached before the last $150 was paid on the
grand piano which Doris required for her work. As a res