Monday, December 31, 2012

Closing my Household Account

Mrs. White's Cash book from 1980.



Throughout the year, I kept a record book of my household expenses.  The majority of entries were entered by my youngest son, John (15). I have taught him general bookkeeping by having him look over my receipts, organize them, and enter the totals of my spending. 

At this very moment, he is closing out my accounts for the year.  He is in the process of getting monthly spending totals, by looking over the handwritten entries in my old fashioned ledger book.  He is analyzing the numbers and thinking about all the different things his mother spent money on this year.

 (There is no computer doing this for him. It is an old fashioned method of thinking and seeing the history of our financial life.)

When he finishes the monthly totals, he will give me a final figure of exactly how much money I spent during the entire year. 

Tomorrow, we will set up a new household account in our ledger book. This will be for 2013. We will make plans and goals and find ways to be as economical as we can.  Since John has been working with me all year, I will seek his advice, ideas and input.    This is a very precious way for him to learn how to manage money, by helping his Mama to manage her household funds.

Blessings
Mrs. White


From the Archives -

When Things are Going Wrong - Forgotten Kindness in Marriage.

We Took One of These - A Vow of Poverty.



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7 comments:

momma-lana said...

I keep a handwritten ledger too and would do it no other way! I love having the record and hand entering my receipts. Good job teaching your son this too!

Anonymous said...

if not intrusive ,I would be intrigued to know how your food bill fared for the year?
thanks
becky

Cathy said...

He will be a good steward of his own home someday, thanks to you.

Jessica said...

That is so wonderful on many levels - not the least of which being the wonderful example and experience for your son :)

We also do things by hand here - it is just so much easier than working on the computer anyway! Too many technical glitches! There are some things I still notate on the computer but most is done by hand.

My hope for 2013 is to be a bit more meticulous than we were this past year.

:)

Unknown said...

What a great way to train him to manage his own home finances someday. Sounds like fun! :)

Blessings to you and your family in this new year! You've been a wonderful inspiration to me throughout the year...I look forward to continued friendship in 2013!

Mrs. Sarah Coller

Karen Andreola said...

What valuable experience you are giving your son.
Happy New Year,
Karen A.

Dawn said...

I wonder if you would be more specific about how you do this. I would love to begin, but have no clue how!
Maybe a picture of a ledger? What you record?
Any additional help would be so appreciated!!
And P.S. _I want to be you when I grow up.