by Edith Fleming Bradford

The business of housekeeping needs its records, not only those dealing directly with finance-the whence and whither of the income-, but those showing such facts as the quantities of staple supplies bought each season and the amounts remaining on hand. These records should include tested recipes, varying in quantity or cost from the originals, and such data as the comparative cost of supplies, and the time required to carry on different kinds of work in the routine of housekeeping. The filing of correspondence helps to prevent the accumulation of unimportant letters and acts as a reminder that replies are due. It also gives latest addresses, thus replacing the address-book which, of necessity, shows many alterations and is frequently not up to date. Magazine and newspaper clippings become of greater value when systematically arranged than when allowed to accumulate in a desk drawer or when pasted in a scrapbook. Many housekeepers try to preserve data of this nature by memory, dreading the thought of systematizing records to so great an extent. Such organization, however, may be carried out gradually, beginning with the data most frequently used and extending to other subjects of interest.

The following list of subjects may suggest a classification of household records: (1) accounts; (2) financial papers, such as insurance policies; (3) inventories of furniture, linen, and the like, with a separate card for each type of equipment, such as chairs, sheets single, sheets double; (4) comparative cost of foods having approximately the same value in the diet; (5) stock of staple food supplies; (6) tested recipes; (7) dishes suitable for each of the three meals, those quickly prepared being listed separately; (8) household hints on laundry, dyeing, and the like; (9) storage record; (10) time record for certain kinds of household work, when no interruptions occur, valuable not only to the woman who supervises the work of others, but to the one who does her own housework; (11) medical and dental record; (12) correspondence; (13) gift record, of special value to those who send many gifts at Christmas; (14) plans for the future, such as making gardens; (15) amateur photography. Films may be classified according to place or subject. Prints may be placed with films or separately under a similar classification.