January 1963

A NOTE TO OUR READERS

We are introducing in this issue six new features to give you, regularly, more of the kind of ideas and service we know you want. The subjects are not new for Better Homes & Gardens. The "packaging" is new. We hope you'll read these features this month, and that we will have made it easier for you to turn to them in months to come.

New pension plans just for doctors?

How much does a mortgage cost today?

Your mortgage probably is the most expensive document you will ever sign. It can cost you twice the price of your house. But you can save money by understanding exactly what expenses are involved:

Should wives have life insurance?

One of the most overlooked safeguards in family finance is life insurance for the wife and mother. Simply because her death would not cut off a pay check, most families disregard her great importance financially. In truth, there is cash value surrounding the role she takes on daily. Serious money problems can occur in the event of her death. A husband would need cash to pay doctor bills and funeral expenses-- and, what is usually overlooked, cash to replace her services as mother and keeper of the house.

Just how tough is it to save for high college costs?

Even though tuition and other college costs have more than doubled in the last ten years and are expected to rise at least half again as much in the next ten, there is no need for panic or despair. Money invested while your child is still young also earns more today, in some cases more than twice as much as it did ten years ago. So if your child is still in grade school, there are several things you can do right now to finance his college years.

What's the easiest new way to borrow money?

How good are U.S. Savings Bonds?

They are a better long-range buy than many people know. For instance, if someone in your family bought a War Bond 20 years ago for $37.50 and held it, this bond is now worth $68.52-- almost double the investment.

IT'S NEWS TO ME!

This house starts something!

This is the first of a new series of Better Homes for All America. We'll be presenting 18 of these homes in 1963. There will be one each month as in the past-- plus an extra home in our May through October issues, the six key building months. The top builders in your community will choose their favorites of the 12 homes presented in the key building months and duplicate them for your inspection.

Family kitchen built-ins

Roll-around buffet unit

Full wall storage

Family room addition

Carport and workshop

Storage divider unit

Landscape plan--65-foot frontage

Landscape plan--80-foot frontage

What's new in furniture finishes?

You can't tell a wood by its color in 1963. Furniture finishers, like hairdressers, are now using dyes to improve upon nature. Only the most commercial pieces are still stained in old-time red mahogany, brown walnut, taffy-colored maple. Better furniture has newer colors to fit new decorating schemes.

We like to tackle tough decorating problems

Each month for the next year, the editors of Better Homes and Gardens will present a decorating clinic. All the families we've selected for this series have real decorating problems much like your own. Of course, we're not able to tackle all our readers' decorating problems individually, but we go out and find problems that we feel are shared by most of you.

HANDYMAN HOW-TO

Some straight answers for a youngster who is learning to drive

Why do kids have a reputation for bad driving? Because of lack of driving experience, for one thing. They just haven't had enough near-accidents to realize how quickly and unexpectedly things can happen. Secondly, they don't feel as much responsibility as older people-- and they really don't have as much. Married people with children carry their responsibility with them every minute of the day.

HOW TO CLICK WITH ARITHMETIC

Before you ask, "How can I help my youngster learn the multiplication tables?" take a long, honest look at your own attitudes toward this subject. Seldom will a parent say to a son or daughter, "I'm a poor reader so I don't think you will do very well in reading." But it is not uncommon to hear, "I wasn't very good in arithmetic, so I'm not surprised that you are having trouble." This negative approach works in direct opposition to what the school is trying to do.

How to order plans for homes and projects

As a new service to you, Better Homes & Gardens offers plans for all homes and projects in our Better Homes for All America series. You can buy these: Better Homes for All America-- Plan 3301-A, shown on page 28.

Short cuts for quilters

Luxurious sunburst shades are used in the eye-catching bedspread that is a coverlet by day, a quilt by night. Dominant red is picked up in the bolster, headboard, and dust ruffle. Now don't stop here. Add the jewellike color accents of quilted pieces throughout your home.

GLOXINIA!

SHOPPING BY MAIL

the man next door

Science informs us that no two snowflakes are alike, but along about this time of year I tend to feel that when you've seen one you've seen them all.