From comparison of many budgets statisticians have worked out certain percentages that are helpful in making our decisions, although they are not to be taken as fixed rules.
Expenditure for food.—On examining the budgets of families having incomes from $500 to $5000, it is found that the percentage spent for food increases as the income decreases, amounting sometimes to at least 50 per cent of the income. This means that there is a limit to the money spent per capita per day for food, below which we cannot go and maintain life with even sufficient efficiency for unskilled labor. Figure 77 shows that a $900 income gives about 45 per cent to
food. An expenditure of thirty cents per capita per day for food in a family of five with an income of $1500, is 36.5 per cent; i.e. more than one third of the total income. Suggestions as to allowance for food in families of different incomes are contained in the tables of budgets given farther on in this chapter.
Fig. 77.—Typical division of a small income. Courtesy of Ladies’ Home Journal, Oct., 1912.
Thrift in buying and using is necessary with the small income,
and highly important with the larger where we are prone to yield to a foolish impulse to please a whim of the palate.
Expenditure for shelter.—The increased cost of building and the general advance in rentals make the expenditure for shelter a large one.
The question whether homes should be owned or rented is a vital one. Ownership is possible for comparatively few, but there is probably nothing that contributes more to the upbuilding of a community and the development of good citizenship than the permanent residence of families in localities. The pride of the members is enlisted in the home, its surroundings and general community welfare. This sense of ownership makes a house more a home although real home spirit is not confined to ownership of buildings. There are of course advantages and disadvantages of ownership, and these should be carefully weighed. Preference for fresh air, more space, less crowded conditions even if they necessitate daily travel, have driven people of limited incomes and certain ideals from the crowded cities to the suburbs in search of homes. When it is possible it is certainly much more advantageous to own than to rent a home, when living means the attainment of certain ideals in the lives of the members of the family.
In deciding upon the proper expenditure, we must take into account the location, whether convenient to business, school, and church, sanitary conditions in surroundings and in the house or apartment, the appearance of the house and the attractiveness of the neighborhood as well as its convenience and healthfulness. The house should be adapted to the needs of the family and selected with this thought in mind. See the companion volume, “Shelter and Clothing,” Chapters II and III.