One of the chief of these is to have short accounts. A grocer’s or a butcher’s bill should be presented weekly and paid punctually. When the bill comes in it should be gone over carefully and the items on it checked up, to be sure, in the first place, that every article charged has been delivered; in the second place, that the charge set against it is that which was stated when the purchase was made. It is a common occurrence to find an increase of from one to five cents on several entries on a bill. The error may be due to the bookkeeper’s mistake or to the dealer’s dishonesty. In either event the blunder should be called to the merchant’s attention and corrected. He will respect the housekeeper none the less because he learns she is on the alert for possible discrepancies. Another principle to be followed is that the marketer should not be led into making foolish or extravagant purchases because they are to be charged. In the majority of cases it is a mistake for the small housekeeper to buy in quantity, since the cash saved by the transaction is offset by the waste of the material, either by spoiling or because of extravagant use. Yet when the purchase can be charged it is easy to yield to the temptation toward what seems at the first glance like an economy. Again, the possession of the charge account should not be permitted to lead the housekeeper into the habit of vicarious marketing--either by telephone or by messenger or by ordering through an employee of the concern she patronizes. Other mistakes may also be made, but these are probably the most frequent and those into which the woman who is not on her guard against pitfalls in the domestic path is likely to slip. I have said that it is not feasible to state here a fixed sum to which the housekeeper must limit her outlay for food. Her best plan for arriving at an approximate estimate is by a process of averages. A single day or even a single week cannot furnish a standard any more than can a single meal. The wisest method is by the aid of strict system to keep track of her expenditures and then study how the economy of one time offsets the liberality of another. To illustrate: when the holiday season is at hand expenses are bound to increase. The cost of the Thanksgiving or the Christmas turkey and pies cannot be appreciably reduced. But it is possible to make a science of economical purchasing and catering--this, too, without stinting the family or feeding them poorly--so that the burden of high-priced food may not hopelessly swamp the income.