The exact proportion of any income devoted to each of these is of course a matter conditioned by the needs of the particular family as well as by its tastes and desires.  Figures are obtainable which throw light upon proportions found advisable in what are considered typical cases.  We may learn the minimum amount of money which will feed a man in New York or in various other cities and towns.  We may find estimates as to the prices of a “decent living” in various parts of the country.  Home-economics experts will furnish us with figures which may be used as a basis for apportioning this amount among departments of household expenses.  That the figures offered by these experts differ more or less widely need not disturb us.  It is perhaps too early in such work for final authoritative estimates.

The following apportionment is taken from Chapin’s The Standard of Living among Workingmen’s Families in New York City and has to do with the minimum income required for normal living for a family of father, mother, and three children on Manhattan Island: 

Food $359.00
Housing 168.00
Fuel and light 41.00
Clothing 113.00
Carfare 16.00
Health 22.00
Insurance 18.00
Sundry items 74.00
-------
$811.00

“Families having from $900 to $1,000 a year,” concludes Dr. Chapin, “are able, in general, to get food enough to keep body and soul together, and clothing and shelter enough to meet the most urgent demands of decency.”  Regarding incomes below $900, he says, “Whether an income between $800 and $900 can be made to suffice is a question to which our data do not warrant a dogmatic answer.”

The two apportionments given below have been made by the federal government and concern the maintenance of a normal standard in two industrial sections of the country.  In each case the family is assumed to be, as in Dr. Chapin’s estimate,[1] made up of father, mother, and three children.

Fall River,      Georgia and
Mass.         North Carolina
Food            $312.00         $286.67
Housing          132.00           44.81
Clothing         136.80          113.00
Fuel and light    42.75           49.16
Health            11.65           16.40
Insurance         18.40           18.20
Sundry items      78.00           72.60
-------         -------
$731.90         $600.74

These estimates do no more than suggest the minimum upon which the various items of living expense can be met and the proportion to each account.  People who can do more upon their incomes than merely live must look farther for help.

Mrs. Bruere in her Increasing Home Efficiency offers the following as a minimum schedule[3] for efficient living: 

Food $ 344.93
Shelter 144.00
Clothing 100.00
Operation 150.00
Advancement 312.00
Incidentals 46.85
-------
$1,097.78