January 1931

The Budget System You Helped to Make

ONE year ago Better Homes and Gardens published an article on "A Budget That Makes Saving a Pleasure" and announced the publication of a simple home budget book that was based upon a new idea but also combined the best features of many others that have been suggested from time to time.

BUDGETS I Have Met

FOR nearly fifteen years my wife and I have battled with household budgets of all the standard types, as well as a few freak ones whose chief virtue was that they did not last long They have varied from extremely scientific systems that would baffle an income-tax expert to simple exhortations to "Put 20 percent in the savings bank every payday and spend the rest as you please."

CHARACTERISTIC COMMENTS

THESE extracts from readers' letters are typical of the scores we have been privileged to receivesince the Better Homes and Gardens Simplified Family Budget Book was published one year ago. The suggestions contained in the letters have enabled us, even more in the revised book, to make the plan truly one which is representative of the needs of the great mass of American families.

ALONG THE GARDEN PATH

THE year 1931 promises to be outstanding in civic improvement. It also marks the climax of Better Homes and Gardens' More Beautiful America contest.

A Lesson from Russia

"TO MAKE Russia a potential consumer will require generations of adequate education and millions of dollars' worth of advertising to introduce the standards of European civilization into that country," says an American writer who has been studying Russian conditions.

What to Do in January

RESOLVE to keep your temper this year if the cutworms cut off the cabbage, the moles undermine the delphiniums, or your neighbor borrows your lawnmower, since there is no really foolproof control for these three pests.

Diary of a Modern Eve

January I. "LET'S start our garden today," I remarked as I served Peter with his fifth waffle this morning.

A Home You Can Afford Now

THE term "an attractive small house" has such an elastic meaning in these days that it includes almost any interesting house containing eight rooms or less.

To Get a Good Home Loan You Must Have Good Construction

HOME- OWNING is the only business in which many people ever engage. Tho most families are justly eager to take advantage of the first opportunity to launch this all-important undertaking, comparatively few give adequate consideration to what may properly be called the profit side of the business.

Joy Is Built Into This Greenhouse

IT IS not necessary to build a large greenhouse to obtain the many joys which it gives, nor is it necessary to invest a lot of money. The small backyard greenhouse shown is chosen because of its very convenient size, its ease of construction by the average man about the house, and because of its comfortably low cost.

Most Dogs Can Be Taught Good Manners

TOO many well-meaning people, more than likely some of your best friends who own well-bred dogs and take pains to teach them many interesting tricks, never bother to correct the bad manners and disgusting habits which their pets have learned in puppyhood.

How to Take Out Squeaks and Tighten Furniture

IT IS easy to take the squeaks out of furniture, to tighten loose joints, and to repair breaks. All are easily and quickly done. Almost all furniture an be mended with screws and glue, because most of it is put together at he factory with these two agents.

A Gardened Home Facing Both Ways

THE better house has become inseparable from its accompanying garden in the mind of the true lover of the real American home. Home builders and home designers are all becoming more and more conscious that this is true.

JUNIPERS--the Most Useful Group of Evergreens

DECIDUOUS trees and shrubs are very lovely in our gardens, but during the winter one envies the neighbor who has had the forethought to include in his garden planting or landscape design a sufficient quantity of evergreens to offset their rather barren appearance.

Why We Use Plant Foods

NEITHER you nor I would ever consider the possibility of being born, growing, developing into mature human beings, and attaining worldly and spiritual success without proper bodily nourishment during all these stages. Yet that is just what happens in the life of the plant with many gardeners.

Merry Figures from Vegetables

ONE Christmas morning a number of years ago I wanted a funny doll to give to a friend for a joke.

Radiators Under Cover

WHEN is a radiator not a radiator? When it is a window seat or a dressing table or a warming shelf or-- almost anything you want to make.

A Linen Buyer Talks About Dressing the Table

"WHAT is the new trend in table linens?" I asked Wallace Speers, of James McCutcheon & Company, New York, soon after his return from a buying trip to Europe.

What Does Mary Read?

"YOU LOVE books," David's mother challenged me. "What are you doing about your Mary's reading? Books for David are such a problem!"

I Spend an Evening With the Seed Catalogs

SEVERAL new seed catalogs have come in the mail. A seed catalog is not like any other catalog that is published. Its pages hold tales of high adventure, tales of beauty, stories of wonder. In it one meets old friends that are welcomed with joy year after year, and one is introduced to new acquaintances that will be judged and weighed in the garden before we accept them wholly.

Indoor Plans for Outdoor Fun

COUSIN MARION opens the door of the Hollyhock Lane Garden House and is greeted with the merry clamor of Junior Gardeners.

A Small Colonial House

THE homes of our forefathers possessed the mingled charm of simplicity and good taste and a certain unusual quaintness and charm. They lived in a very simple type of shelter built from the natural products of their surroundings.

Quilts of Great-Grandmother's Day

STITCH, stitch, stitch, in odd moments and at odd times, and after a while a patchwork quilt is made and a truly lovely thing has been created.

Don't Expect Too Much of Him!

JOHN and Christopher are brothers, two years apart, John being the elder.

"Hey-Hey Barn"

FOR three years we had gone out from our city apartment, from whose windows we could see the lazy heat rays rise from the roofs of surrounding buildings and into which penetrated and permeated the confused ramblings of tram, taxi, and elevated.

How to Gather Data for Landscaping the Home Grounds

THERE are several ways to landscape the home grounds. First, you can call in a professional landscape architect who is trained to give consideration to many of the complex problems, such as grading, construction, and recognized good design.

BETTER HOMES AND GARDENS' INDIVIDUAL LANDSCAPE SERVICE

BETTER HOMES AND GARDENS has devised a scheme whereby 1,000 people during 1931 may have a complete landscape plan made of their own home grounds.

A GARDENED HOME

Planning to Organize a Club?

JANUARY brings much renewed activity among club members. The gayeties of the holiday season are past, the children are back in school once more, the household has returned to normal, and the home-maker eagerly turns to her club meetings for mental stimulation and recreation.

The Children's Pleasure Chest

THIS is not the make-believe story of that very renowned old woman who lived in the shoe and had so many children she didn't know what to do--

Doll Collectors

IT HAS been such fun collecting dolls! We are going to keep right on collecting them until we are very old ladies. I hope that we shall be like the old woman in the shoe, with so many dolls we won't know what to do!

ACROSS THE EDITOR'S DESK

YOU will like our new development (page 10) in the way of garden diaries, I feel quite certain. It is a chronicle of garden adventures written by a woman, Leah Hendricks, accompanied by a calendar prepared by Harry R. O'Brien, who wrote the garden diary for the years 1929 and 1930. This combination will be an exceptionally strong one, for both writers are practical gardeners of long experience.