House Account Monthly - A Prudent Homemaker

Mrs. White's Old Fashioned Ledger book or "Journal" to keep Track of Household Spending

House Account Monthly - for Prudent Homemakers.


[Update - October 2019] This post was originally for an ongoing check-in describing how I am keeping an old fashioned account of our finances.  This is using a "ledger book" or a "journal" or a "cash book."  It is done by hand, simply recording all the household spending for each month.  I am no longer blogging about the monthly check-ins, but am still keeping this old fashioned method of tracking our spending. The description is below. If you are interested in doing this too, I would love for you let me know by leaving a comment. 

** At the bottom of this post you will see my book, "An Old Fashioned Budget" which goes into great detail in describing this method of managing money for a low income family.


A Background on House Accounts:

Keeping a ledger of household accounts was a common practice. Sarah Edwards, wife of Puritan minister Jonathan Edwards, was said to have provided historians with a detailed picture of their spending because she wrote down every single transaction.

"It was a happy circumstance that he could trust everything to the care of Mrs. Edwards with entire safety and with un-doubting confidence. She was a most judicious and faithful mistress of a family, habitually industrious, a sound economist, managing her household affair with diligence and discretion." from Marriage to a Difficult Man- The Uncommon Union of Jonathan & Sarah Edwards by Elisabeth D. Dodds

Did you ever see the movie, Little Women starring Susan Sarandon? You will see them, at times, leaning over a household ledger account.

Edith A. Barnett, in 1894 (London) wrote a book called "Primer of Domestic Economy." Here is a quote from this document - "Whether the income be small or large, certain or uncertain, the good housewife will keep an accurate account of her income and expenditure." She also wrote this: "Probably women as housekeepers spend the greater part of the money that is spent in the world."

The History of Your Estate

Whether you live in a mansion, mobile home or a cozy apartment, your assets are your estate. This includes your furniture, savings, vehicle and personal belongings.  Every family has their own estate. If we carefully record our household spending, we are providing a history of our estate!

The Plan for Keeping Your Own House Account

1. You must write down every single cent you spend, every single day. You can record this in a Ledger book, composition notebook, or any kind of notebook you like. (I prefer a 2 column ledger book.) Write down the date, a description and the amount.

2. Keep receipts of all your purchases. Transfer these to the ledger book at the end of the day. You also need to transfer your debit transactions, and any checks you write, into the ledger book. (You can store the receipts in a large manila envelope.)

3. At the end of the month, look this over and add up your spending.  See if there is any way you can make improvements for the next month.

4. Be willing to share this book with your husband.

A Lesson for Children (Optional)

I plan to have my children do this with me. I will show them how a ledger works. I will let them record my transactions and look over my receipts. This will be an amazing financial education for them.

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 - You will see a Description and Picture of my personal ledger account in- The History of Our Financial Lives.   You will also see my daughter's cash book, from 1998, when she was 10 years old.

- In "The Housekeeper's Budget" you will see the importance of keeping track of our finances, especially our spending.  Whether you are rich or poor, this will help you manage the money with wisdom and care. 


- In "My Husband's Money" you will find more details on my work of keeping a house account.

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Here is what I plan to do - I prefer the hardbound Ledger book because I love to sit at the table or desk and carefully write out each item. I will also include my children in this and let them do many of the transactions.

 When I told my husband about this, he was thrilled!  When we used to own our store, I was responsible for all the bookkeeping and accounting. I used a hardbound ledger book and hand-wrote all our expenses. At the end of each month, I added up my transactions and came up with simple monthly statements and filed my monthly tax reports. My husband had full confidence and trust that I was handling our business accounts with honesty and integrity. I want him to have the same confidence in me with our household account.

How about you? Are you interested in taking on this fun challenge?

Blessings,
Mrs. White

** Update: This book (published in 2019) goes into great detail on setting up a house account and ledger book:

 

For old time encouragement in living simply on a limited income, order Mrs. White's book:

"An Old Fashioned Budget: Humble Financial Management for the Christian Housewife"

77 pages, paperback book.

 

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