ECONOMIC BACKGROUND

Locality—

Like every other estimate of the quantity and cost of a given way of living, this quantity and cost budget represents, as has been said, a theory of a prevailing standard of living at a given time and in a given locality. If applied to other parts of the country, modifications of the standard of living herewith presented must be made.

Certain peculiarities of the San Francisco Bay District influence the items and quantities assigned in this estimate:

1. An equitable climate reduces the winter fuel bill and the ice bill; makes special summer and winter clothing unnecessary; makes equally unnecessary the family trip away from home during not seasons.

2. Conditions in the real estate business make a modern house for rent difficult to find, while, on the other hand, easy terms of purchase put house-ownership within the reach of families with moderate incomes.

3. Domestic helpers are scarce, with consequent high rates of pay for full-time service.

4. Good roads in every direction, with open winters, make the custom of owning and continually using an automobile so universal that automobiles of some type come to be considered among the necessaries.

Items such as these represent some of the local variations which appear in this attempt to display faithfully what the professional class in the San Francisco Bay District considers a satisfactory standard of living.

The distinctive features of the standard of living outlined here are as follows: ownership of a modern house in a “good” neighborhood; food that is designedly nourishing but which includes certain expenditures due to elaboration of menu and of service; the husband's lunches taken away from home; some help in the administration of the household, but no full-time resident service; a contribution to the Community Chest more or less fixed because the Community Chest now represents a quasi-tax; an automobile, a vacation, occasional patronage of commercial amusements, some formal hospitality. The standard adopted excludes the possibility of expensive clothing, membership in exclusive clubs, extensive entertainment, or private schooling for the children.

012133

Size of family—

The family chosen as representative of the class under consideration consists of a man and wife, nearer forty than thirty, and two children—a boy of eleven and a girl of five. This family of four conforms in size to the recognized average or “census” family. The ages of the children are those which the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics made customary when the “Tentative Quantity and Cost Estimate for a Clerk in Washington” was worked out in 1919. The selection of children of different sexes helps to express the costs of the distinct types of clothing and the added housing costs that children of two sexes entail. Given children of the ages described, the family may ordinarily be considered complete. With children at this age, it is possible to consider the early years of married life with their temporary quality past and, on the other hand, the children are not yet at the more expensive age when the costs of their higher education, their more ceremonial dress, and their social entertainments must be met.

THE DISTRIBUTION OF COST

The total costs of the standard—

Given the prices current in November, 1927, and the standard of living defined for a professional family by the items and quantities listed in this study, a sum of not less than $6,500 a year seems necessary to pay for the goods and services required as part of that scale

Per cent of total cost Items Annual cost Food $1,043.28 16.0 Clothing 893.44 13.7 Man $237.31 3.6 Wife 424.83 6.5 Children 231.30 3.6 Housing 1,343.30 20.7 House operation 991.98 15.3 Miscellaneous 2,228.00 34.3 Total $6,500.00 100.0

TABLE 1 Distribution of Total Costs, and the Per Cent of Each Major Division to Total Cost

013134 Per cent of total cost Items Annual cost Food $1,043.28 16.0 Clothing 893.44 13.7 Wife $424.83 6.5 Man 237.31 3.6 Boy of 11 115.67 1.8 Girl of 5 115.63 1.8 Housing 1,343.30 20.7 Installments and interest 959.40 14.8 Taxes 237.90 3.7 Repairs 80.00 1.2 Water 30.00 .5 Garden 20.00 .3 Fire Insurance 16.00 .2 House operation 991.98 15.3 Service 300.00 4.6 Replacements 250.00 3.9 Coal and wood 95.00 1.5 Laundry sent out 78.00 1.2 Gas 72.00 1.1 Telephone 48.00 .7 Electricity 42.00 .7 Personal cleaning supplies 30.00 .5 Ice 28.00 .4 House cleaning supplies 19.98 .3 Stationery and postage 12.00 .2 Garbage removal 9.00 .1 Fire insurance on furniture 8.00 .1 Miscellaneous 2,228.00 34.3 Savings and life insurance 620.00 9.6 Automobile 382.48 5.9 Medical care 275.00 4.2 Recreation 219.40 3.4 Education 136.80 2.1 Gifts 125.00 1.9 Social entertainment 123.00 1.9 Charity 60.00 .9 Incidentals 60.00 .9 Tobacco 54.00 .8 Church 50.00 .8 Barber and cosmetics 46.32 .7 Carfare 40.00 .6 Organization dues 36.00 .6 Total $6,500.00 100.0

TABLE 2 Costs of Specified Items with Per Cent of Each to Total Cost

014135

of wants that most professional people consider at once necessary and conservative. Whether or no the majority of young men in the professions may expect to earn such an income regularly is not here the question. If this estimate is, as it is believed to be, index of fact, no smaller sum will meet the current and controlling theory of a conservative list of needs for the class in question.

General distribution of costs —

Tables 1 and 2 show the largest single division of needs and costs under the heading “miscellaneous.” Given the standard of living, this allotment conforms to traditions and current practice. The fourteen item in this division, including such important absorbers of income as investment and savings, recreation, medical care, and the automobile, require expenditures taking one-third of the total expenditure. The housing costs take 21 per cent. Given the food estimate used, food costs absorb 16 per cent of the total expenditure. The division of household needs most often treated slightingly, house operation with its fourteen items, absorbs 15 per cent. The clothing estimate takes 14 per cent of the total, the least proportion of the total income. The fact cannot be too often emphasized that the allotments appearing in these summary tables, like all the quantities and costs assigned throughout this study, are presented with no reference to any theory of exemplary spending nor any considerations of biological needs. The committee has set them down because it believes that these lists characterize, in a general way at least, the spending habits of the class of consumers here under consideration.

FOOD

In the estimate that the California State Civil Service Commission published in 1921-22, Dr. Meyer E. Jaffa, of the University of California, prepared the food items and quantities. It was Dr. Jaffa's theory that the kinds and amount of foodstuffs appearing in the allotment for the executive 4 met all requirements for energy and vigor, and allowed, in addition, certain expenditures for variety to tempt the appetite. This estimate for feeding the family of an executive, slightly revised and fitted to the prices of 1927, has been used in making the statement of requirement that appears in table 3. The consumption of starches and fats may possibly in actual custom be

4 California State Civil Service Commission: Cost of living survey (Sacramento, 1923), table 43, p. 61. 015136 Pounds per month Price per pound Total cost 1. Meals at home: Class I: Meat and fish 52 .371 $19.29 Milk 120 .065 7.80 Eggs 12 .394 4.73 Class II: Flour and bread 43 .095 4.08 Other cereals 22 .119 2.62 Class III: Vegetables 115 .055 6.32 Fruit 64 .097 6.21 Class IV: Butter 10 .065 6.05 Other oils and fats 8 .250 2.00 Class V: Sugar 24 .073 1.75 Class VI: Coffee, tea 6 .624 3.74 Sundries 9.85 Total cost per month $74.44 Total per year for meals at home $893.28 2. Meals away from home: Husband's lunches—6 days a week, 50 weeks, @$.50 Total food per year $1,043.28

TABLE 3 Amount of the Chief Categories of Foodstuffs used during one month with the Total Monthly Costs and The Annual Costs

lower than the distribution shown in table 3. Recent dietetic teachings and the influence of the fruit and vegetable market in California are undoubtedly developing habits that dictate an alternative increase in the quantities of fruits and vegetables used. In this family group the average number of persons fed at home per diem has been assumed to be 3.78. This number was fixed upon by counting the husband absent daily from luncheon, Sundays excepted, and calculating that some help or a guest would be present at a meal at least twice a week. The average cost of food per capita per diem is therefore sixty-five cents. 5

5 This per diem cost of sixty-five cents, reached by the quantity and cost method, checks interestingly with a similar per diem cost recently acquired by the account book method in an unpublished intensive study of food consumption among twelve professional families made during the past year by the Heller Committee. 016137

Meals away from home —

The allotment for meals taken away from home allows for the husband's luncheons on business days. If the other members of the family use public eating places, such meals must be paid for out of other funds than the food allowance appearing in table 3.

CLOTHING

Undoubtedly the most fluctuating and uncertain element of expenditure today is the clothing standard. It is particularly in the costs of clothing that the majority of the community feel the burden of the inflated standards set by the luxury spenders. Americans notoriously wear a standardized dress, but the tendency is to level up. The man with $2,000 a year and the man with $20,000 aim to appear equally well dressed, and this ambition applies to his family as well as to himself. In tis country, too, shabbiness means not only personal discomfort but, in theory at least, a professional handicap. The desire to have one's wife and family well dressed, the love of fashionable and fresh clothing, and the lure of the clothing market all play heavily upon good intentions about economic management and income possibilities.

The expenditure for clothing displayed in tables 4, 5, 6, and 7 assume a family with the clothing standard of the professional class, resolved to keep up appearances in clothing, and at the same time to keep the costs as moderate as possible. This clothing standard includes a desire for warmth, comfort, and decency, special types of garments for special occasions, and a general intention to have a wardrobe that expresses in some degree fashion, variety, and freshness. The purchasing standard must also include the resolve to do conscientious buying and conserve garments carefully. The clothes bought must be of good quality and must be worn as long as a respect for convention permits. The committee adopts this bias of standard as typical without pausing to pass upon its economic or social merits or demerits. The wardrobes selected under the influence of this standard cannot be called either elegant or extensive. The prices quoted are the median in a series given by the shops as the range of prices that might be paid for each item of clothing. Indeed, occasionally the prices given in the tables are close to the minimum for which goods of the type appearing in the tables may be purchased.

017138

The stock of clothing assigned to the whole family and the prices selected makes the annual expenditure $893.44, or 14 per cent of the annual total. The wife's wardrobe takes $424.83, nearly half of the family's total expenditure for clothing, and 6.5 per cent of the total annual expenditure. The husband needs $237.31, about one-fourth of the clothing allotment and 3.6 per cent of the total annual expenditure. The children's clothing allotment takes the other fourth in about equal parts. The boy's made cost $115.67 and the girl's $115.63.

Husband's clothing —

In table 4 the husband's clothing needs appear in detail. The quantities represent, it is believed, current practice in the district under inspection. The period of fifteen years assigned for the man's dress-suit may, at first thought, seem long. The committee believes, however, that this length of time expresses a modal habit of replacement for men of this age and class. The same is true for the overcoat replacement. Likewise, two new hats a year, either felt or straw, and one good business suit ready-made of the best grade or custom-made by some inexpensive tailor, seem the customary number of these classes of garments that men of this occupational group buy during a year. The allowance for sport clothes is undoubtedly small. The quantity assigned would be adequate only for an annual two weeks vacation. If the man plays golf regularly or goes shooting, fishing, or camping frequently, and during these outdoor sports pays attention to appearances, he must add to his wardrobe; but in order to do it, he must economize in some other item. Certain garments and clothing accessories are in a border class; for example, sport clothes, slippers, billfolds, and the like—a class likely to come into the possession of the average person by means of Christmas gifts. The probabilities are that in many families these items are paid out of the fund assigned in “miscellaneous” for Christmas gifts. In order to maintain the replacement standard expressed by the figures in table 4, the clothing must have been purchased with attention to quality, so that a stock of garments not quite ready to discard can be reckoned on to keep the clothing replacement down to the figures given. The allowance for upkeep of clothes represents the probable minimum annual cost if clothing is to be kept fresh and the individual is not to be clean and press them himself.

018139 Unit Items Stock Replacement Price Annual cost Formal: Full dress suit 1 1/15 $75.00 $5.00 Tuxedo 1 1/15 55.00 3.67 Shoes 1 1/3 10.00 3.33 Socks-silk 3 1½ 1.00 1.50 Shirts: Pleated bosom 2 ½ 3.50 1.75 Stiff bosom 2 ½ 3.50 1.75 Collars 3 3 .17 .50 Ties: Black bow 1 ½ 1.50 .75 White bow 1 ½ 1.50 .75 Muffler 1 ¼ 4.50 1.13 Vests: White 1 2/15 10.00 1.33 Black 1 1/5 10.00 2.00 $23.46 Business clothing: Hats: Felt 2 1 7.50 7.50 Straw 1 1 3.50 3.50 Overcoat 1 1/3 50.00 16.67 Suits 3 1 65.00 65.00 Shoes 2 2 8.50 17.00 Socks: Lisle 8 6 .50 3.00 Wool—mixed 4 2 .75 1.50 Shirts: Neckband 6 4 2.50 10.00 Negligee 3 2 2.50 5.00 Collars: Soft 9 6 .33 2.00 Starched 9 6 .17 1.00 Ties—four-in-hand 9 6 2.00 12.00 Handkerchiefs 18 9 .50 4.50 Suspenders 1 1 1.00 1.00 Belts 1 ½ 1.50 .75 Garters 1 2 .50 1.00 Gloves 2 1 4.00 4.00 Underwear—athletic unions 6 4 1.50 6.00 Umbrella 1 1/3 3.50 1.17 Bill fold 1 1/3 5.00 1.67 164.26 019140 Sport wear: Cap 1 1/3 2.50 .83 Sweater 1 1/3 6.50 2.17 Extra trousers: Knickers 1 1/3 8.00 2.67 Khaki 1 1/3 2.75 .92 Boots 1 1/3 10.00 3.33 Golf socks 2 1 3.50 3.50 13.42 House wear: Bathrobe 1 1/6 8.50 1.42 Pajamas 4 2 2.50 5.00 House slippers 1 1/3 3.00 1.00 7.42 Total clothing $208.56 Upkeep: Cleaning suits 12 1.50 18.00 Pressing suits 9 .75 6.75 Blocking hats 1 1.00 1.00 Half-soles and heels 2 1.50 3.00 28.75 Total $237.31

TABLE 4 Total Stock of Clothing for the Husband with the Annual Costs of Replacement and Upkeep

Wife's clothing—

The total cost of the annual replacement for the wife's wardrobe is large if compared with published clothing estimates or records given for the women in families living at the lower income levels. However, viewed in relation to those possibilities which the professional temptation of the shops now offers women who buy clothing, $424.83 a year buys only what, in relation to the standard of dress controlling the buying of women in the class of consumers here under consideration, is a modest clothing replacement. Such a woman needs half as much again as the man because the garments she must wear are of perishable material and of a style that shifts more frequently than that of the man. Also, especially with regard to evening dress, the habit of suiting clothing to occasion holds more firmly for the woman than for the man, and evening dress in particular is the most definitely perishable and expensive part of a woman's wardrobe. One dinner dress every other year, one formal evening dress in alternate years requires self-control on the part of the buyer. If more clothing of this class is wanted in a given year, the alternative, if the clothing

020141 Items Stock Replacement Unit price Annual cost Formal: Hats 1 ½ $15.00 $7.50 Coats 1 ½ 85.00 42.50 Dresses: Dinner 2 ½ 50.00 25.00 Afternoon 2 1 39.50 39.50 Evening—formal 1 ½ 50.00 25.00 Slippers 3 2 11.00 22.00 Stockings 4 4 1.95 7.80 Underwear: Costume slips—silk 2 1 5.95 5.95 Brassieres 2 1 2.50 2.50 Handkerchiefs 4 2 .75 1.50 Gloves—kid 3 1 4.50 4.50 Bags 1 ½ 10.00 5.00 $188.75 Street wear: Hats 2 1½ 10.00 15.00 * Coats 1 ½ 50.00 25.00 Furs 1 1/6 59.00 9.83 Dresses 2 1 29.50 29.50 Shoes 2 2 8.50 17.00 Rubber—toe 1 ½ 1.00 .50 Stocking 4 6 1.95 11.70 Underwear: Costume slips 2 1 5.95 5.95 Corset or equivalent 1 1 7.50 7.50 Vests: Glove silk 2 1½ 2.50 3.75 Rayon 2 1½ .95 1.43 Bloomers: Glove silk 2 2 2.95 5.90 Rayon 2 2 1.95 3.90 Brassieres 3 2 1.50 3.00 Sanitary apron 1 1 1.00 1.00 Gloves—fabric 2 2 1.75 3.50 Handkerchiefs 12 6 .50 3.00 Purse 1 1 5.00 5.00 Umbrella—silk 1 1/3 5.00 1.67 154.13 Sport or country wear: Hats 2 1 7.50 7.50 Sweaters 1 ½ 7.50 2.50 Frocks 3 1½ 15.00 22.50 Oxfords 1 1 8.50 8.50 Scarf 1 ½ 5.00 2.50 43.50 021142 House wear: Work dresses 4 2 $1.95 $3.90 Aprons—cotton 4 2 .75 1.50 Bathrobe—wool or corduroy 1 ¼ 5.95 1.49 Kimono—silk 1 1/5 10.95 2.19 Bedroom slippers 1 ½ 1.95 .97 Nightgowns 4 2 1.95 3.90 13.95 Incidentals 12.00 Total clothing $412.33 Upkeep: Cleaning 6 1.75 10.50 Half-soles and heels 1 1.50 1.50 New heels 2 .25 .50 12.50 Total $424.83

TABLE 5 Total Stock of Clothing for the Wife with the Annual Costs of Replacement and Upkeep.

* Includes sport coats.

expenditure is to remain below $450 annually, is cheeper dresses, evidently a sacrifice in quality, material, and workmanship which would jeopardize the accuracy of the replacement column. From all that the committee could gather, one afternoon dress per annum pictures the actual custom. This is also true for the allotment of one new coat each year. This estimate permit no evening wrap. To keep within the amount assigned for coats, one coat that conforms to current notions about afternoon and evening wear may be purchased in a given year. In an alternate year, it is assumed a tailored street coat or a sport coat is purchased. Thus, each coat in this estimate will be actually used about three or four years. The estimate for underwear is obviously conservative. To allow, as this budget does, no special grade of garment for evening wear other than a costume slip and a brassiere to match the evening dress means, for most women, definite abandonment of habits acquired in girlhood. The quota allowed for spot clothes will, of course, vary from this assignment of two cheap sport frocks annually or one of better quality. A woman of this spending class may prefer to wear sport clothes. But, in order to do this, she must, of course, divert certain money, either from her street and afternoon wardrobe, or from other division of family expenditure. The estimate for upkeep of clothing can only be justified by the assumption that keeping clothing in order is done in major part at home. The annual hoe bill is $51. Careful consideration 022143of current habits concerning women's footwear leads the committee to believe that, year in and out, $51 is a conservative estimate of the present costs of shoes for women who aim to be ordinarily well dressed. With even more emphasis the same consideration control the quantities and costs of stockings. The perishable silk stocking fashion makes it seems likely that the average woman will perforce go beyond this conservative allotment of $19.50. Considered item by item, a woman's wardrobe that costs $24.83 to replenish annually is an outfit purchaseable at this price only by the most careful buying.

Boy’ clothing—

A small boy of the class in question tends, it has been assumed, to dress with simplicity. The child is expected to be in a public school; he will wear “cords” and a sweater. The family theory regarding renewal of his clothing permits school clothing to be discarded only when it is in reality nearly worn out. Also it has been considered probable that the boy will go bareheaded much of the time. In all probability, a healthy and growing boy need at least two suits of good material during three years. The more ceremonial suit and overcoat assigned for Sunday and other “occasions” will possibly be outgrown rather than worn out during the years of use allotted. Although the cost of shoes amounts to $35.50 per annum, this allotment is probably conservative, requiring the assumption that the oxfords purchased for formal occasions will probably be included in school wear after an uncertain period of formal appearance. Also it may be assumed that each pair of leather shoes will be half-soled once at least. A pair of overalls or an extra pair of corduroys usually supplement school clothes for Saturday and vacation wear.

Girl's Clothing —

For other members of the family than the five-year-old girl, the clothing ha been assumed to be ready-made. Custom tends to lead most women to abandon the habit of making garments for themselves. This for several reason; the home dressmaker becomes more expensive and more difficult to find; the disappearance of domestic help makes household administration likely to occupy all the time a woman of this class is willing to give to household affairs; the easy accessibility of ready-made clothing tempts most women not to undertake a task for which many have no native aptitude. For the small daughter, however, dresses may be supposed to be home-made more often than

023144 Items Stock Replacement Unit price Annual cost Dress clothes: Cap 1 1 $ 2.50 $ 2.50 Overcoat 1 ½ 20.00 10.00 Suit 1 ½ 20.00 10.00 Shirts 3 2 2.00 4.00 Ties 2 2 .75 1.50 Shoes—low 1 2 6.00 12.00 Socks—three-quarter, wool 3 3 1.50 4.50 $ 44.50 School: Rubber rain hat 1 ½ 1.00 .50 Raincoat 1 ½ 4.00 2.00 Sweater 2 1 5.00 5.00 Cords 2 2 3.00 6.00 Shirts 5 5 1.50 7.50 Ties 4 3 .50 1.50 Underwear—athletic unions 4 4 1.00 4.00 Shoes: School 2 2 5.00 10.00 Tennis 1 2 2.25 4.50 Rubbers 1 1 1.25 1.25 Socks 6 9 .33 3.00 Handkerchiefs 9 12 .25 3.00 Garters 1 3 .25 .75 Belts 1 2 1.00 2.00 51.00 Play—overalls 2 2 1.50 3.00 3.00 Nightclothes: Bathrobe 1 1/3 5.00 1.67 Bedroom slippers 1 1 1.75 1.75 Pajamas 4 2 2.00 4.00 7.42 Total clothing $105.92 Upkeep: Cleaning 3 1.25 3.75 Half-soles and heels 4 1.50 6.00 9.75 Total $115.67

TABLE 6 Total Stock of Clothing for Boy of Eleven with the Annual Costs of Replacement and Upkeep

not. Style for little girls are very simple, so that relatively little time will have to be expended in making the garments he needs. Better material can be put into the clothes, thus increasing their durability. The coast, winter or summer, for this child will probably not be home-made, and a given coat, it is assumed, will be made to last two years. A winter hat every two years and a summer hat 024145annually seem to express the general conservative custom. One party frock a year has been considered the least quantity that satisfies on the one hand the child's craving for things “as pretty as other children's,” and on the other hand the mother's pleasure in dressing

Items Stock Replacement Unit price Annual cost Dress clothes: Hats: Winter 1 ½ $5.95 $2,98 Summer 1 1 3.95 3.95 Coats: Summer-reefer 1 ½ 8.95 4.48 Winter 1 ½ 15.00 7.50 Party frocks—made at home 2 1 7.50 7.50 Dresses—made at home 2 1 6.00 6.00 Shoes—party slippers 1 2 5.00 10.00 Socks—silk 3 3 .75 2.25 Underwear: Drawers 3 2 1.25 2.50 Slips—made at home 3 2 1.75 3.50 $50.66 Kindergarten: Sweaters 2 2 3.95 7.90 Raincoat with hat 1 ½ 5.95 2.97 Rubbers 1 1 .85 .85 Dresses—made at home 8 6 2.00 12.00 Shoes 2 4 4.00 16.00 Socks 6 8 .50 4.00 Underwear Unions 5 4 1.25 5.00 Waists 3 3 .50 1.50 Bloomers—made at home 8 6 .65 3.90 Garters 1 4 .15 .60 Handkerchiefs 8 12 .15 1.80 56.52 Nightclothes: Nightgowns 4 3 1.25 3.75 Bathrobe 1 ½ 3.50 1.75 Slippers 1 1 1.25 1.25 6.75 Total clothing $113.93 Upkeep Half-soles and heels 2 .85 1.70 1.70 Total $115.63

TABLE 7 Total Stock of Clothing for Girl of Five with the Annual Costs of Replacement and Upkeep

025146

the little girl. For this girl, as for the boy, custom, dictates simple and inexpensive school clothes. In the district under consideration, the climate makes wool or flannel dresses unusual. Replacement of the lighter weight dresses at a half-dozen a year proved to be the quantity reported as habitually required. The cost of shoes for a girl of five is set at $29.80. This estimate permits four pairs of school shoes a year, a pair of slippers every six months. Since children at the age of five are apt to outgrow shoes before they wear them out, the charge for half-soling is expected to be slight.

HOUSING Items Annual Cost Installments and interest (over a 10-year period): Value of house $10,000.00—value of lot $3,000.00 Original mortgage 65 per cent of value of house, or $6,500.00 Monthly payments $12.30 per $1,000.00, or $79.95. Annual cost $959.40 Taxes: Assessed valuation—50 per cent of total value, or $6,500.00. Rates—$3.66 per $100.00 assessed valuation. Annual cost 237.90 Repairs 80.00 Water—$2.50 per month 30.00 Fire insurance—$8,000.00 @ $6.00 per $1,000.00 for 3 years 16.00 Garden * —plants, seed, fertilizer, etc. 20.00 Total $1,343.30

TABLE 8 Annual Cost of a House Bought on the Installment Plan

* Gardener charged to service (table 9).

The figures and facts which appear in table 8 assume that professional families are house owners. This assumption that ownership of a house is usual, is warranted both by local conditions and by prevailing ideals in relation to shelter. In the locality under consideration, few houses of the type this class of consumers want are to be rented, and on the other hand, the real estate agencies offer opportunities to purchase on easy terms. Ownership, therefore, becomes the most expedient thing. In addition to expediency, the desire for the prestige and pleasure of property right in a dwelling place, and the belief that owning a house is a safe form of investment, tend to clinch 026147the decision to live in a house of one's own. The type of house whose costs appear in table 8 would be, in the neighborhood under consideration, a detached residence with three bedrooms, one or two bathrooms, and with living and dining quarters as separate rooms. This rather standardized house is assumed to be in a neighborhood called “good” and near an accredited school. Given the current prices of real estate in the locality described, a house of this class will cost $10,000 at least; the lot will mean an additional expenditure of $3,000 and up. Both custom and probable income warrant the further assumption that the house is being paid for on the installment plan. The plan of buying the dwelling shown here incorporates the scheme generally advocated by the local building and loan societies. The family has been assumed to be able to pay out of some source other than income, $6,500, an amount that covers the cost of the lot plus 35 per cent of the cost of the building. A mortgage of $6,500 remains to be paid off over a ten-year period at the rate of $12.30 per thousand per month. On the basis of this assumption, the installment and interest on principal costs $959.40 per annum, or 15 per cent of the total annual family expenditure. When taxes, fire insurance, costs of repair, garden, and water charges are added to this sum, the total costs of housing becomes $1343.30 per annum, a somewhat intrusive amount. Buying a house on such a plan represents a rental exceeding $1200 a year. When the interest on the $6500 tied up in the house is also computed and added, as it ought to be, to the costs of shelter already enumerated, ownership of this type of house means a cost close to $1700 per annum for the ten-year period while installments are being paid.

HOUSE OPERATION

Service and laundry —

No full-time help is allowed in this estimate. This decision is based upon the facts that resident help is scarce and the wages for the “domestics” available are very high. These circumstances tend to make the wife of even a professional man undertake the major part of her own housework, lightening her routine by using labor-saving devices and part-time assistance for the heavier cleaning, and the laundering. As part-time assistance, the costs of a cleaning woman or a houseboy one day a week and three extra days of service per annum for thorough cleaning, window washing, and the like

027148 Items Annual cost Service $300.00 Cleaning and laundry—1 day a week, 50 weeks, @ $4.00 $200.00 Extra cleaning, window washing, etc., 3 days a year, @ $5.00 15.00 Gardener—2 days a year, @ $5.00 10.00 Care of children—1 evening a week, 50 weeks, @ $1.50 75.00 Laundry sent out @ $1.50 per week 78.00 Replacements of furniture and furnishings (see detailed analysis) 250.00 Fire insurance on furniture—$4,000.00 @ $6.00 for 3 years 8.00 Light, heat, and fuel 209.00 Electricity—54 k.w.h. per month—lighting 42.00 Gas—6,300 cu. ft. per month—cooking 72.00 Other fuel—heating 95.00 Kindling blocks—12 sacks @ 3 for $1.25 $ 5.00 Logs for fireplace—1½ cords @ @24.00 36.00 Coal—3 tons @ $18.00 54.00 Ice—350 lbs. a month for 8 months @ $.01 per lb 28.00 Telephone: 48.00 Single party line @ $3.50 per month 42.00 Tolls and telegrams @ $.50 per month 6.00 Garbage removal @ $.75 a month 9.00 House cleaning supplies: 19.98 Laundry soap—104 bars @ .04½ 4.68 Washing powder—12 boxes @ .35 4.20 Ammonia—3 1½-pt. bottles @ .25 .75 Cleansers—24 cans @ .07½ 1.80 Soap flakes—12 large boxes @ .25 3.00 Furniture polish—1 qt. @ .60 .60 Silver polish—2 boxes @ .25 .50 Floor wax—3 lbs. @ .65 1.95 Disinfectant—6 cans @ .25 1.50 Miscellaneous supplies 1.00 Personal cleaning supplies 30.00 Soap—15 cakes per person @ 3 for .25 5.00 Toothbrushes—3 per person @ .50 6.00 Toothpaste—4 per person @ .35 5.60 Mouthwash—3 bottles @ .55 1.65 Combs 1.75 Man ½ @ .50 .25 Woman ½ @ 1.00 .50 Children 2 @ .50 1.00 028149 Brushes 2.25 Man ¼ @ 2.00 .50 Woman ¼ @ 3.00 .75 Children ½ @ 2.00 1.00 Cleaning fluid—4 cans @ .35 1.40 Shoe brush—¼ @ .50 .25 Shoe polish—6 tins @ .10 .60 Shoe cleaner—1 bottle @ .50 .50 Miscellaneous bathroom supplies 5.00 Stationery and postage 12.00 Total $991.98

TABLE 9 House Operation, Details of Items with Annual Costs

appear in table 9. With regard to the laundry, it is assumed that bed lines and the husband's shirts and collars are given out, and that the allowance of $1.50 a week pays for laundry work of this type. Assuming that members of the family will give the garden the ordinary care, a gardener is allowed for only twice a year. Also, since the absence of resident help leaves the children alone in case the parents desire to go out in the evening, a further sum is allowed to pay for someone to come in once a week and stay with the children when the parents are away. These specifications increase the total bill for services to $300 a year. A resident servant, even one poorly trained, would swell this expenditure for help to at least $900.

Replacement and renovation of furniture and furnishings —

The cost next largest to domestic service is the replacement and renovation of furniture and furnishings. The sum of $250 given here represents the cost of keeping up what has been bought and of replacing what is wearing out. This cost has been arrived at in the following way: a sum representing the investment in furnishings was first fixed upon. Five thousand dollars was believed to be a conservative estimate for the initial outlay. Three thousand five hundred dollars of this will be spent for furniture, a sum that obviously permits no lavishness. However, there is a wide range of choice in furniture, and with shopping ability $3,500 gives a good equipment, such as a davenport, an upright piano, a phonograph or radio, the customary odd sets pieces for the living room, dining room, and bedrooms. Kitchen equipment is more standardized, and the $290 here assigned 029150seems to be the average amount which allows for a gas range and the other usual kitchen appliances. The costs given here for electrical equipment include a vacuum cleaner, an electric iron, a percolater, a toaster, a waffle iron, and a sewing machine. A washing machine would require additional investment, but is not considered necessary here because there are no small children. It is assumed that there will be a full set of flat silver which will last a lifetime. The initial cost of $325 will possibly not appear as a charge but only as a value because the silver is so frequently a gift.

Annual replacement Items Initial cost Estimated life, years Per cent Cost Furniture $3,500 25 4 $140.00 Kitchen furniture 210 20 5 10.00 Kitchen utensils 80 8 12½ 10.00 Electrical equipment 290 14 7 20.00 Linens and bedding 400 8 12½ 50.00 China 175 10 10 17.50 Cleaning and Laundry equipment 20 8 12½ 2.50 Silver 325 lifetime Total $5000 20 5 $250.00

TABLE 10 Initial Cost of Furnishing a House with the Annual Costs of Replacements

The renewal allowance outlined is believed to express the minimum habitually spent to cover annual wear and tear. Where this amount is not spent, the household cannot possibly escape the shabbiness that arises from the inevitable and more or less rapid deterioration in all classes of household goods.

Light, heat, and fuel —

The charges under this subheading appearing in table 9 derive from the general assumption that the modern house, which the family has chosen, will have electric lighting, a gas range for cooking, and a gas water heater. There will be some central heating, either gas, electricity, or coal, and the costs here set down assume that such central heating plant will be used for an average of about two months in a year. The fireplace will be used at least ten months a year. Information seemed to warrant estimating 54 kilowatt hours of electricity and 6300 cubic feet of gas per month. The central heating has 030151been computed on the basis of a coal furnace, as probably more common than gas or electricity. The assignment of three tons of coal and one and one-half cords of logs for the fireplace is certainly not an overestimate. The total cost of $209 per annum probably represents a minimum annual sum for heating, light, and fuel that only the maximum of economy can make sufficient for this class of consumers.

Other items —

Ice, telephone, stationery, garbage removal, the cleaning supplies for household uses and for members of the family—these relatively small items of house operation have been estimated to require about $150 per annum. Since the climate of the region under consideration is rarely excessively hot, many families use ice on special occasions only. Recognizing, however, a growing tendency to use small quantities of ice, the allowance here is set at $28 a year, enough to keep a small ice-chest filled during eight months. The amount assigned for facial soap will purchase only popular domestic brands. Such an allowance will permit neither imported soaps nor similar small luxuries.

MISCELLANEOUS Items Annual cost Savings and life insurance $620.00 Savings $360.00 Life insurance—$10,000 @ $26.00 per 1,000 260.00 Automobile 382.48 Upkeep @ $25.00 300.00 Insurance 68.50 Tax—$300.00 assessed valuation @ $3.66 per $100.00 10.98 License 3.00 Medical care 275.00 Recreation * 219.40 Commercial amusements 76.40 Theater—6 times a year—2 persons @ 1.65 $19.80 Concerts—4 times a year—2 persons @ 2.00 16.00 Movies—once a month, 2 persons @ .50,2 @ .15 15.60 Opera—once a year, 2 persons @ 2.50 5.00 Football—once a year, 2 persons @ 5.00 10.00 Other 10.00 Vacation—camping or a rented cottage 125.00 Records for phonograph or upkeep of radio 18.00 031152 Education 136.80 School supplies, etc 5.00 Private lessons—music 96.00 Daily papers—morning 13.80 Periodicals 12.00 Books 10.00 Gifts 125.00 Social entertainment * 123.00 Dinners—6 @ $10.00 or 4 @ $15.00 60.00 Luncheons—6 @ 5.00 30.00 Bridge parties—2 @ 12.00 24.00 Informal Sunday teas—6 @ 1.50 9.00 Charity 60.00 Incidentals @ $5.00 a month 60.00 Tobacco 54.00 Church 50.00 Barber and cosmetics 46.32 Barber 34.95 Man—18 haircuts @.65 11.70 Woman—15 haircuts @.75 11.25 Children—12 haircuts each @.50 12.00 Cosmetics 6.50 Cleansing cream—2 jars @1.00 2.00 Face powder—1 box @1.50 1.50 Talcum—2 cans @.50 1.00 Compacts—1 @1.50, 1 refill @.50 2.00 Shaving upkeep 4.87 Shaving cream—6 tubes @.49 2.94 Razor blades—2 pkg. @.77,1 pkg. @.39 1.93 Carfare 40.00 Organization dues 36.00 Husband—2 24.00 Wife—2 12.00 Total $2228.00

TABLE II Miscellaneous Items With Annual Costs For Each Item

* These details are inserted merely as an index of one of the possible ways of spending this allotment. * These details are inserted merely as an index of one of the possible ways of spending this allotment.

Under this somewhat negligent title, a group of items appears whose number and importance increase for all classes of consumers. The items listed in table II gauge the family standard of living and especially the decisions about acquiring the “new known goods” that appeal for the alert purchasers’ attention. Items such as social entertainment and recreation, the automobile, preventive care of health, education, savings—all these classes of expenditure represent both a widening theory of “necessaries” and a field where choice may be 032153most freely exercised. This is the division of expenditure about which Engel said that expenditures increase as income rises.

Observation and inquiry lead the committee to believe that, given current habits of spending at a professional standard, at least $2,228, or 34.3 per cent of the total budget, is typically absorbed by this class of wants.

Insurance and savings —

The sums allotted to these two items result from assuming that because the family is making somewhat large payments on their dwelling, the amount which may be assigned to other forms of savings will at this period of their lives be naturally reduced. The payments recorded for life insurance are calculated on the general assumption that a man of this age and with this earning power will probably undertake to carry an insurance policy that amounts to about twice his annual income. Thus the premiums here entered represent payments on a $10,000 policy for the man with average health. Thirty dollars a month is allowed for other savings. Obviously this is a small sum, and can scarcely be considered a source of income. Rather it is a bank saving to meet emergencies or to pay for the periodical purchase of a new car. Much larger sacrifices in other directions will be necessary and are undoubtedly often made on an income of this size if the family believes in setting up a larger reserve fund.

Automobile —

Present custom in California dictates including an automobile in the belongings of a family of this class. The type of car here assigned is one of the popular makes costing around $1,000. Probably this is a conservative amount. One thousand eight hundred dollars is much more likely to be the cost price of the automobile, in which case, the upkeep as estimated here is low. The allowance entered in table 11 is, of course, for the annual cost of running the car. The total of $382.48, nearly six per cent of the total annual expenditure, which represents the reported average expenditure, allows $25 monthly to run the car, and $68.50 for insurance. Membership in an automobile club, the heavier costs of wear and tear, and depreciation are not allowed for.

Carfare —

Carfare appears as an annual expenditure of $40. The carfare in San Francisco is still five cents. Six round trips a week, fifty weeks 033154in the year, for the husband, and two round trips a week for the rest of the family is probably a low estimate. The automobile naturally reduces this cost.

Medical care —

Obviously the costs of the medical care of a family during my given year cannot be foreseen. Certain considerations, however, help to make it possible to state an approximate amount. A new standard of preventive care of the teeth has introduced the element of routine dentistry charges. The new dental routine means at least a semi-annual visit to the dentist for each member of the family. The costs of an increasingly watchful care of the eyesight; tonsillotomy for the children; the unavoidable minor ailments or an annual attack of the “flu” with the costs of the drugs that follow the doctor's visit—these events will total a sum not less, on an average, than $250 or $275 per annum. Such an amount may not be spent in a given year, but good years and bad years taken together, the average charge upon income for meeting prophylactic care and departures from general health will probably not be much less than the sum designated. It is taken for granted that the average family cannot provide out of current annual income against the cost of serious illness.

Recreation and social entertainment —

Students of human needs agree that recreation is a “necessity” for satisfactory living. Accepting this dictum as a truism, and accepting the further fact that there is every evidence of an increasing will to spend for leisure-time pursuits, the committee has assigned five per cent of the total income as the probable minimum costs if the family adopts the current notions of ways to spend money during leisure time. Hospitality has been assumed to be both a satisfaction and a social necessity for the class under consideration. The small sum set aside for the purposes of social entertainment—$123 a year—forbids any large or elaborate plan of hospitality. Such an amount allows two “parties” of one type or another annually, and some formal dinners or luncheons. If the latter are simple, they may occur monthly; if more pretentious, these occasions will come less frequently. It will be remembered that the costs of casual guests are provided for in the regular food allowance. Small as it is, $123 a year permits certain variations, according to taste, in the use of this amount. The allowance of $76.40 for amusements that have a price is based upon a theory that the class of spender herein considered 034155is influenced by a compromise between what custom dictates and a reasoned plan. The whole family goes to the movies once or twice a month; less often the parents go to a concert, a theater, or an opera. The total allotment for this class of recreation includes $10, which will permit relations with such social activities as church socials, special club meetings, excursions, and the like. Annual attendance at the football games is assumed to be habitual.

Vacation —

Report on prevailing ways of living in this class warrants the assumption that the family takes some vacation. The sum of $125 here apportioned is recognized as the minimum vacation costs for a family of four. Carefully spent, such an amount will permit the family to go for a brief period to a summer hotel. If a longer period is preferred, the allotment will be spent for some form of automobile camping or renting a cottage at the seaside or in the mountains.

Phonograph records —

In recognition of an almost universal custom, allotment appears for the periodic purchase of phonograph records or radio accessories. Eighteen dollars is probably a minimum sum for this type of education or recreation.

Tobacco —

Throughout this estimate, the aim of the committee has been to picture a class of spenders whose ways are conservative. The amount assigned for tobacco can only be justified with this reservation in mind. Fifty-four dollars a year, or $4.50 a month, is assumed the necessary expenditure for one who does not smoke heavily, who smokes cigarettes as often as cigars, and who indulges neither his friends nor himself in imported varieties of the weed.

Organizations and clubs —

The family of the type under consideration can belong neither to country clubs nor to exclusive city clubs. If golf is played at all, it must be on public courses. The allowances of $12 for the wife's social affiliations will permit her to belong to a church society, an informal card club, or some civic or social organization. Unless she makes deductions from some other field of expenditure, she cannot belong even to the less expensive “exclusive” clubs. Likewise, should the husband join a service club or other professional organization, the $24 assigned him would be, of course, insufficient.

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Church and charity —

There seems to be no consensus of opinion about the amounts spent for church and charity. Certain families have no church affiliations; others make a point of giving generous support. As social influences now run in the locality whose way spending is being shown, it would appear that the typical professional family gives to church and charity in about the proportions allotted here. Given the public pressure to contribute one per cent of its income that the annual Community Chest Drive represents, about $60 a year will go to charity. It is also believed that as a class, this group will more or less voluntarily expend $50 a year for church or some type of kindred affiliation.

Education —

Our information seems to dictate setting aside an annual change of $136.80 or education. The amount permits no fees for private schools. The children may have some lessons in dancing or music, but the teachers employed cannot be paid at the highest prices. The customs we have examined suggest that the remainder of the education costs will go to one or two daily papers, an uncertain number of periodicals, and a very few books.

Gifts —

Like church and charity, the item of gifts rests on small information and differing opinion. The sum of $125 appearing here may be too little or too much. It would seem, however, that if the family is to meet the well-established tradition of Christmas giving within its own group, and pay besides for the occasional wedding gift, for certain Christmas exchanges, and contribute to an occasional occupational or social offering, $125 is the minimum annual expenditure to meet such claims.

Barber and cosmetics —

Barber shop and accessories to the toilet add to the rising costs in the current standard of living among all classes of consumers. Forty-six dollars has been assigned as the probable annual costs for this class of service—but not without the exercise of self-restraint. However, with $46 a year, the husband may go to his barber once in three weeks, the wife may bob her hair, and the children may have occasional haircuts.

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Incidentals —

Any estimate must recognize incalculable extras. The $5 a month, or $60 a year, added here is an arbitrary allowance for the unforeseen. A funeral, a law-suit, moving, or any other unusual event which would involve relatively high costs, is not accounted for at all in this estimate of incidentals.