It is a rush; but more haste, less speed, is still true. And tidiness is a kind of book-keeping.
The economics of housekeeping mean everything in its place, and a right place for everything, and that is the only possible method for a busy woman. The more busy we become, the more methodical we must be; professional women have no time to waste in looking for things. Organisation saves hours of misery. Tidiness in the home and tidiness in the person bring joy wherever found. Muddle is lack of organisation.
Trifles make up life, and a busy woman’s trifles keep her straight. She can lay her hand on anything in the dark, or send someone to find it, because she knows where she put it. The more engagements we have, the more punctual we must be.
“You are always so busy, I wonder you find time to do things,” exclaimed a friend who wanted a recipe for some Russian soup she had just had at my table.
“It is because I am busy that I have time.”
“That is a paradox,” she replied.
“Paradoxes are often true,” was my rejoinder. “Busy people have method.”
Success is the result of grasping opportunities—being busy is the achievement of method—being idle is the courtship of unhappiness and the seducer of attainment. Time is a tremendously valuable asset. In my busy life I have never allowed more than twenty minutes to dress for a dinner, or ball, or for riding, and fifteen usually suffice. When one changes dresses three or four times a day, as London often necessitates, even that runs away with precious moments.
It is the duty of every married man to go carefully into his income, see exactly how much he has, and after putting by a certain proportion for the rainy day, decide how much he has to spend. Having decided that, the best thing he can possibly do is to divide his income in half. The first half let him keep for himself: he can pay the rent, taxes, the children’s school bills, pay for the family outings, the wine bill, the doctor and druggist, clothe himself, and have enough for his personal expenses, and pay all outside things, such as gardeners and chauffeurs. The other half of his income he should hand over to his wife. She can keep the house, feed the family, pay the servants, and the thousand-and-one little things that are ever necessary to run a household, and pay her personal expenses. Everything, in fact, inside the house. Once having definitely tackled the subject of money, and arranged who is to pay for each particular item, the man should never be asked what he has done with his money; neither should the woman be teased, nagged at, worried, and harassed as to what she has done with every penny of her share, how she expended it, and so on. Each should trust the other implicitly in detail. Haggling over money has upset more homes than infidelity.
The way to make a woman careful, methodical, and business-like is to trust her. She may at first make a few mistakes over her banking account, but she will buy her experience, and will be very foolish if she does not make her pounds go as far as they should, and keep a reserve in her pocket.