People, and especially young people, need a certain amount of sweets in their diet.  But when we know that the candy bill of the people of the United States amounts to $400,000,000 a year, that this is almost as much as the total amount spent for public education, that it is about double the amount used to keep Belgium supplied with food for a year during the war, or that it will buy 234 million bushels of corn at $1.70 a bushel, we may well think twice before deciding to spend much money for candy.

TESTS FOR SPENDING

The few cents difference in the price of two articles between which we must choose, and the nickels we spend for immediate enjoyment, may seem to amount to very little; but the New York City street railways collected in a year $95,000,000 in five-cent fares, and the Woolworth Building in New York, one of the largest office buildings in the United States, was built from the profits of “5 and 10 Cent Stores.”  One thrift stamp a week amounts in five years to $65, and 14 cents a day at 4 per cent interest amounts in twenty years to more than $1500.  In one of the “Ten Lesson in Thrift,” the following “tests in buying” are given: 

Do I need it?

Do I need it now?

Do I need something else more?

Will it pay for itself in the end?

Do I help or injure the community in buying this?

Do you have instruction in your school in home economics that relates to wise spending or buying?

If you do not have such instruction, apply to the home demonstration agent in your county (if there is one), or write to your state agricultural college, or to the States Relations Service, Department of Agriculture, Washington, D.C., for circulars or bulletins relating to thrift in buying food, clothing, etc.

In writing for such material, why is it an example of thrift to ask for one copy of each publication for your class or for your school, rather than to ask for a copy for each pupil?

In what ways is thrift shown by having a class committee write one letter making the request for the class instead of having each member of the class write?

Has any home demonstration work relating to thrift been conducted in your community?  What methods were employed, and what results achieved?

Who in your family makes most of the expenditures for the family living?

For what items in the family living is most of the money spent?

What are some of the things that have to be considered in buying food? clothing? house furnishings? books? amusements?

Discuss the topics mentioned in the following statement of “values in buying” (from “Ten Lessons in Thrift"): 

Food:  nutrition, healthfulness, cleanliness, attractiveness, flavor, quality, price, economy in preparation (of time, strength, fuel, utensils), buying from bulk or in package, buying in quantity or small unit, buying for the day or laying in stores, calculation of portions, calculation of meals, varied diet.