ference between caring and ceasing to care
for one's investment.

Married life is serious business, as living always is, but it is easier
and at the same time more rewarding than single life. To be human is to
be lonely. To be successfully married is to have an inner bulwark
against loneliness.

_Elizabeth Bussing_

CHAPTER SIX

_Marriage Makes the Money Go_

"And they lived happily ever after!"

The romance in the old storybook always ended blissfully in marriage.
The valiant Prince Charming slew dragons, vanquished giants, and worsted
sorcerers; but once he had attained the fair lady of his dreams, he left
all his worries behind him.

Today, however, Prince Charming, unless he is an incurable romanticist,
realizes that the real struggle begins only after marriage.

"Now that you have won the fair lady how are you going to support her?"
is the question he must solve satisfactorily before he can qualify as a
suitable husband. The answer is determined by two factors: "How much
money is earned?" "How can that sum be spent most efficiently?"

The first query is quickly disposed of. The second, however, requires
careful thought and planning. Its solution is up to both the husband
and the wife, for each couple must work out their individual problem. We
wish we could do it for them, but we can't. At best we can only give the
rules which we have evolved as the result of our own experience.

The first step in the art of orderly spending is the preparation of an
adequate budget. This is not so formidable as it seems, for the budget
is nothing more than an inventory of resources and a calculation of
needs that will help you develop a schedule of spending which should be
fair to both you and your partner. It will differ in detail for each
couple, because no matter how similar circumstances may seem to be,
senses of values will vary.

At the start, however, it is well to keep an itemized account of
expenditures to aid in adjusting your budget to actual needs and to
learn just how much you are spending for each item. You may find that
you have been paying more for some things than you thought you were.
Once you have settled on the approximate amount to be allotted to each
purpose, however, you probably will find that keeping a written record
of every purchase is more of a nuisance than a help.

It may help you to plan your budget if you study some of the model
estimates published from time to time by savings b