Friday, May 06, 2011

A Household Ledger from 1936

I loved this little article I stumbled across, about a family who found their grandfather's old ledger:





Our family discovered buried treasure recently: a household ledger kept by my husband's grandfather in the 1930s and '40s.

Randy's mom found it while sifting through papers, a 100-page Standard Blank Book yellowed with age. The first line reads "January 1936." Just below that: "cash on hand, $8.21."

What caught my eye first was the handwriting — loopy, uniform, beautiful cursive. John Henry was an elementary school principal and his wife a teacher in Great Bend long before computer keyboards. Their everyday penmanship was wedding-envelope quality, unmatched.

It draws the eye and piques the interest, so I read on:

Rent, $12.50.

One gallon of milk, 20 cents.

Newspaper, 10 cents.

Lights and water bill, $2.35.

Flowers for Mr. Doran's funeral, 15 cents.

"To the Lord's work," $5.

As with most household budgets, the income lines are fewer and farther between, but similarly telling:

Salary for January, $95.

Sold Mrs. Copeland a chicken, 60 cents.

Two dozen eggs, 30 cents.

Helped Bill unload shingles, $1.50....


Reminds me of the notes of my Dad's that I found after he died...

17 comments:

Money Beagle said...

What an amazing find. If you have any way to post images of this at a future time, I'm sure many would enjoy seeing them.

Thanks for sharing!

Dave Lucas said...

I have a ledger at home with my Mom's budget from the 1950s. Just like the one you have, I see how prices on certain items have risen questionably.

Example: You have Rent $12.50, milk at 20 cents and the light bill at $2.35.

TODAY I have $1250 Rent, $2.49 Milk, Newspaper $1, Light bill $440, Flowers for Mother's Day $29.99...

Money Clip said...

We haven't a ledger at home.. I wish my mom would have it soon!! I'm sure this ledger was so classic..:)

Optioned Unarmed said...

What jumped right out for me was the rent as a percentage of income. Only 13%. ($12.50 / $95)

That is extremely low compared to what is considered normal today.

One fact that the media ignores in the wake of the housing bubble is that expensive housing is as bad for society as expensive food. Everybody needs food and shelter.

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Anonymous said...

thought you would like this article about a family in Britain who decides to downsize their lifestyle...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2011/may/14/downsized-family-budget

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Anonymous said...

way too much for the lord's work...

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Nick said...

Wow, imagine spending only $12.50 on rent - it is amazing to see how prices have inflated in that time.

MarkLee said...

Superb blog...i like this too much!!!

Anonymous said...

It's amazing to see just the effects inflation has had over the past 100 years. My Grandma used to tell me similar stories where a single quarter would easily buy lunch for the family.

Samuel Stewart said...

Wow! Don't you wish it was like that today! Amazing what inflation will do I guess.

Financial Independence said...

This is one of the reasons I keep publishing our expenses and the breakdown by categories.

This is the only reflection of everyday life and actual inflation.

Great post, thanks.

Telebrands said...

Thanks for this story about finding your husband's grandfather's ledger. It's interesting to remember how prices (and penmanship) have changed over the years, isn't it?

Nifty said...

I'm most amazed that rent was only 13% of the income. I'm currently paying 36% of my take home pay as rent -- which I know is on the high side, but with the housing market the way it is, renters are being gouged.

Interestingly, that $2.35 for lights and water was about 2.5% of the $95 income, and a quick calculation of my own numbers reveals that the percentage I pay is still roughly the same: 2.5%.