Once a month you should leave the book with the teller to be balanced. In a few days you may call for it, and will receive with it the checks that you have drawn, and that have been returned to the bank by the date to which the book is balanced. These checks are called vouchers. With these there is also a list of the amounts showing the total paid out on them by the bank. Check up the vouchers with the list, then check up the vouchers with your check book to see if all in your check book had been returned to the bank by the date of balancing. If there are some still out, add that sum to your check book balance, and then compare the bank book balance with your check book. Deposits may be sent by mail, either with or without the check book. If the book is sent, it should go by registered mail. If you do not send the book, the bank will send a receipt, which you return with the book the next time the balance is made. In either case, write “For deposit” above your signature on the back. EXERCISES 1. Of what value is business equipment in household management? 2. Suggest ways in which a card file might be used in the household. 3. Suggest a system for filing household letters; bills. 4. What should be one’s aim in keeping household accounts? 5. Estimate the cost of your clothing for the last year. 6. Name different methods of payment of bills. Which do you consider the best for the family with $1200 income? 7. Describe fully payment by check. 8. How should a check be indorsed? 9. How can one deposit checks by mail? CHAPTER XXI HOW TO BUY The first rule in good buying is to know standard quality in your intended purchase, for then you need not be dependent upon the salesman. The second is to know your own needs, that you may not be beguiled by the clever advertisement in the daily paper, or the well-displayed bargain, and will not need to ask the salesman’s advice about quantity. Keep lists of articles needed in the card file, and make your shopping lists from these. The third rule is to apportion your purchases to your income and the divisions of your budget. =Where to buy.=——Patronize reliable firms. There are in any community shops of different grades, and you will not find the best return for your money always at those houses where there is the greatest parade of cut prices and bargains. In the end the reliable places are the cheapest. Sometimes a firm trades on its reputation and a degree of fashion it has attained, but on the whole it is true that if one house has goods uniformly cheaper than another, it is because the quality is inferior. One fact that a good shopper learns is this——that certain articles may be purchased to greater advantage at one place than another. One firm excels in silks, another in household linen, another in coffee, and so on.