House cleaning and family history

We found a 1938 diary of Nana’s in with all the baby cards too. It’s not especially interesting—she didn’t write much in it, even when she was writing a note in it daily, and that didn’t last until early February—the fate of so many diaries, I imagine. One passage of note from February:

Tuesday, February 8, 1938
Washed hair –
dinner –
Francis (Cook) here –
Went to W.M.U with Mrs. Stone – enjoyed it very much – they came in to see Jackie.
Mobley decided to give me an allowance to budget.

This is pretty typical of many of the entries, except for the news about the allowance. Nana spent a lot of time cleaning house and washing baby clothes—my uncle Jack was about six months old when it started. She doesn’t write much about him—one day he was “perfect” and another time she “discovered” his first tooth, but she evidently bathed him often. The New Year’s Day entry, her first, seemed sad, assuming “He” is her husband:

Saturday, January 1, 1938
Dear little book – my little friend. He hasn’t time – so I’ll have to converse with you.
Dear 1938 – bring me Luck and happiness – Poise, dignity, vivaciousness – alert – wakeful – energy – tireless –
Dear God, My God – grant me 3 wishes – “wisdom” – “knowledge” – “ability” – I Pray!

Towards the end she used it a lot to keep up with her budget—August and September evidently she got rather preoccupied with money, listing grocery costs, baby expenses, all kinds of things. Diapers back then were 1.98, rubber pants .35, and “Similax,” .98. A dress cost .97. Milk was .15 and bread .08. Beer for .13. Her weekly household budget:

rent       5.25
lt.           1.85
sto.        1.00
refrid.   1.19
cook      2.00
grs.       5.00
ldy         1.10
Inc.       1.50
tithe      1.63
             20.52

This list of weekly expenses, written into the last couple of pages at the end of the diary, is pretty interesting. I can’t quite even figure out all these items. I know she bought an electric stove earlier in the year, so I think the 1.00 for the sto. must be a payment on that, which might mean they bought a refrigerator too? Rent’s easy enough. I think ldy must be laundry, and grs groceries, but Inc? Another budget lists lh & wat, so maybe lt is the utility bill?

Just for reference—in 1938, my grandmother budgeted $5.00 for a week’s worth of groceries for a four-person family. Last month, according to Microsoft Money, we spent $453.60 on groceries (well, and eating out too, which Nana didn’t seem to do often)—an average of $113 a week. The washing baby clothes and cleaning house hasn’t changed a whole lot, but boy, expenses have risen!