53 + 2 = 55... and Operating Expenses

Another week, another weigh-in. And a successful one at that. I weighed in at 139 this morning for a loss of 2 lbs. during the past week and a total loss of 55 lbs. since April 2009. It's time to set a new mini-goal! How 'bout this: by Saturday, February 20, I want to weigh in at 134. Now, on to the fun stuff:

Operating expenses - 10-15 per cent of income

Operating Expenses is a wide category. From electricity to toilet paper, it covers all of the basic utilities and supplies - with the exception of food - that it takes to keep a household running smoothly. I may have a tough time estimating how much I'm spending for some of the items listed under Operating Expenses, but I'm going to give it a whirl. I'll know more as the new year progresses and I'm tracking my actual expenditures every month.

Electricity
I logged on to my electric company website and can see that during that last 12 months I've spent $682.83 for electricity (Yikes!) or an average of $56.90 per month.

Gas
I suspect they're not referring to automobile gas here, but natural gas piped into a home. None used here.

Fuel
This category covers any alternative sources of energy. In the '40s, coal, wood, and kerosene might typically have shown up here.

Telephone
Here's another place where those online accounts come in very handy. During the last 12 months, I've spent $664.48 for telephone service (Double yikes! That's for just a single land line!!!) or an average of $55.37 per month.

Garbage Collection
My rent includes garbage collection, so nothing extra here.

Water
My rent also includes water, so nothing here.

Ice
This item made me giggle at first, but I suppose it was a very real expense for homeowners of the '40s who still owned an icebox.

Service and Repairs
I'm not sure what kind of subtle differences the authors of The Manual might have intended between "service" and "repairs." Any ideas? At any rate, most of my household repairs are taken care of by the landlord at no expense to me.

Furnishings
Can't wait to spend some cash on furnishings during 2010! My expenditures in this category have been few and far between, so it's hard to hazard even a guess here...

Household Supplies
I've saved my supermarket receipts for the past two weeks, so I've got a little something to go on. My purchases in 2010 that have fallen under this category include toilet paper, dishwasher detergent, a refill for my hand soap dispenser in the bathroom, garbage bags for the kitchen, a box of envelopes, and some of those one-time-only mini loaf pans I used to make up the rest of my holiday quick breads. I seem to be spending an average of $14.60 per week on household supplies - which works out to about $58.40 per month.

Laundry
I spend $4 per week (or $16 per month) to do my wash in the laundromat in my apartment complex. Haven't bought any new detergent yet this year, but that'll also fall under this category. As would any other items somebody might regularly use, like dryer sheets or spray starch. Do you send anything to the dry cleaners? Better include that expense here...

So my best guess is that I spend about $186.67 per month on Operating Expenses. That's 5% of my gross monthly income of $3666.67. I'm sure once I start indulging in some of the new furnishings I have in mind for 2010, I'll have no problem spending something more like the 10-15% figure recommended in the "pattern" household budget! They were planning for the expenses needed for the average family, though. One income split six ways - where I'm only splitting one income one way. The authors of The Manual also have some suggestions when it comes assessing your expenditures on Operating Expenses:

Are you amazed at the present cost of running your house? Which items seem too high? Can you cut them? Don't sacrifice good lighting, but don't keep lights on in empty rooms. Learn to operate your kitchen range and electrical appliances economically. Keep track of telephone calls so that you won't exceed the limit unless absolutely necessary. Operate your heating plant efficiently. Buy furnishings with an eye to wearing qualities and cleaning ability. Don't waste water by letting faucets drip. As you see, there are many ways to cut operating costs if you are determined to do so.

Week Forty-three: The Mission

Time to step things up again... When the latest additions to my routine begin to seem super manageable, I know it's time to take on a new mission!

Fitness
You know I'm the first to give it up to vintage advice, but these limbering and stretching exercises are transforming my figure. I'm amazed at the changes I've seen in my waistline and my arms since adding these exercises to my almost-daily walks. Don't get me wrong. The walking has made a tremendous difference, especially in my legs, but - after about three months of these vintage exercises - I'm feeling leaner and lither and more flexible than I have in years. These may be some very basic movements, but when done slowly and regularly they seem to be making a real difference.

Here are a few more I'm going to add to my evening exercise routine beginning tomorrow night. These hip-busters were written up during the early 1940s by Betty Clarke, a syndicated woman's page columnist:

20. Stand with feet apart, arms out at side, bend body, touching left arm to right foot, then right arm to left foot. (20 reps)

21. Put feet flat on floor, raising arms overhead. Bend forward, touching floor with palms of hands. Raise arms over head, bend body back from waist. Relax. (20 reps)

22. You’ll need a three-foot rope, but your lounging robe belt will do if you can make a secure loop at each end of it. Lie on your back and put a foot in each loop. Lift your right foot as far from the floor as the rope permits. Alternate lifting right and left. (5 reps)

Reducing
My weekday lunches are still a challenge. Particularly because I get tired of eating the same thing more than once or twice in a row. The hot dishes called for on these menus, even the coleslaw on my most recent menu, are hard to prepare in just one or two servings --- and there's only so much room in my freezer for storing additional servings! I'm going to continue plugging away at this mission, though. It's made me truly appreciate the convenience in convenience foods, but my figure and my health are going to benefit immeasurably in the long run from moving towards whole foods at lunchtime.

Grooming
Here's the next step in the 1946 grooming routine. After taking my evening bath (a morning shower on the weekends), drying briskly with a towel, applying deodorant, and brushing and flossing my teeth:

Down with a nice, long glass of water - and so to bed.

I can do that. I've usually reached my water quota by the time I head in for my bath, but it can't hurt to save that one last glass for a little bit longer. Plus it keeps me from trying to down too much water too quickly in the evening. The more I spread this water out throughout the day, the easier it is on my bladder!

And a Word about Exercise

I was just looking back over some older posts --- way back to when I first started my vintage fitness routine. It may seem like a lifetime - it's actually been just seven weeks - but there have been some positive changes during those seven weeks and not all of them on the scale.

At two weeks, I felt a new spring in my step.

At four weeks, I felt like an old broken-down woman.

At seven weeks, I'm no longer dreading my walks. I wouldn't say I'm looking forward to them yet, but they're definitely not the torture they used to be... That probably has a lot to do with the stretching I've been doing after my walks, the water I've been drinking on a daily basis, and that blessed iPod. Having something to keep my mind occupied has made such a difference! No longer am I stuck going over my lengthy mental to-do lists and worrying about this or that. I can listen to new radio, vintage radio, music. It's been such a help - especially during my new fifth lap around the track on my weekend walks.

I bought some new exercise pants yesterday. It's getting hot enough even at 6:30 in the morning that I needed something lighter to wear. They're stretchy and black and flare out a bit at the knees. In fact, they're probably the most fitted item I've worn in public in years. I felt a wee bit self-conscious in them this morning, but that soon gave way to relief that I felt so much cooler than I had the day before in track pants!

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette's Antoinette Donnelly wrote an article on reducing in October 1940 and stresses how important walking (and water!) can be to the woman who needs to lose any pesky weight gained during summer vacation:

Walk almost as much every day as you did when you were tripping along over mountain roads, through shady woods, along the ocean front. If you can walk all the way, or part way to your office, or if after your evening meal you have to say good-by to family or friends who don't feel like joining you for your evening "constitutional," do it! Walk briskly and take longer than usual steps. A loafing walk does not do you much good.

Include in your diet bran, figs, prunes, fruits with their skins, and use mineral oil to make salad dressings. Drink plenty of water, all you comfortably can. Make it a habit to chew your food slowly so you will not eat so much. Don't eat between meals. If you feel hungry, drink unsweetened fruit juice. Stay away from alcoholic drinks, for there is nothing that puts on pounds quite so quickly. Don't be tempted by the delicious hors d'oeuvres, for they're full of calories.

Miss Donnelly's advice about leaving reluctant family and friends behind is just as valid today as it was in 1940. (I'm not so sure about the mineral oil!) We can't always wait for the people we'd like to exercise with to have the same motivation as we do at the same time. Sometimes you just have to go it alone.

Displacement

39 ounces down, 25 to go!

You know, one of the side benefits to drinking all this water on a daily basis is that I'm going to be drinking less of the other things I'd normally drink to quench my thirst. Like Vitamin Water. I love this stuff, and - truth be told - it's not nearly as bad for me as some of the other things I used to drink. Like Pepsi or Gatorade or Coffee Coolattas. Vitamin Water contains 125 calories to a 20-ounce bottle, and I'd guess I was drinking about 1 1/2 bottles per day before I started on the water. I haven't sworn off Vitamin Water, but I do have a quota when it comes to the real stuff and that competitive edge in me feels driven to make that quota every day. So it's water first - and by the time I make my quota it's bedtime and I'm not thirsty any longer. That's 185-190 calories a day I'm turning away. Hey, that's gonna add up --- more than 1,300 calories a week, more than 5,200 calories per month. YIKES!!! I'd better stop. I'm freaking myself out!

The weather is really heating up here in the American Southwest and, with it, my routine is adapting a bit. I can only keep the windows open from about 11 p.m. 'til 7:00 a.m. Which puts a crimp on all the fresh air I'm used to putting to work for me when it comes to housework. I can't open the windows to air out my mattress when I'm changing the bed linens on Thursday evenings. I just hung my quilt and blanket and pillows outside to air on the landing, but it's still in the high 80s, so I know they won't feel quite as fresh and crisp afterwards as they used to... On the plus side, if I put a freshly washed garbage can or wet bucket out there on a sizzling Saturday afternoon, it's dry in a flash!

Now I understand how housewives in four-season climates must have felt when after being cooped up indoors all winter they threw open the windows and dragged everything outdoors for a breath of fresh air. Beating the dust out of carpets, cleaning out fireplaces, letting the sun shine in on even the darkest corners of the house. Things just work a little backwards here. Think how happy I'll be come December!

The biggest change with these temperatures is that I've taken part of my weekday walk indoors. There's a basketball stadium about a ten-minute walk from where I work and the building is open during the day to walkers. You can walk laps around the stadium on one of the upper tiers and savor that lovely air conditioning. What it means is that I'm spending about 20 minutes in the broiling hot sun in order to get to and from the stadium - where I only have time to spend about 10 minutes! - but even taking 10 minutes off the time I have to spend in the noonday sun is worth it. I'm not sure how long I'll be able to make this work. Maybe a month. But what matters is getting it done now. I'll let next month worry about itself for a change.

"...one more glass to the good"

You know something I love about the 21st century? We've learned that you don't have to beat your vegetables into submission by boiling them to a pulp and smothering them in white sauce, bread crumbs, and cheese!

Parsley Potatoes
Baked Broccoli
Lettuce and Tomato Salad
Coconut Blanc Mange
Cherry Sauce

I guess the good thing about a dish like Baked Broccoli is that it makes a simpler broccoli recipe look absolutely lovely in comparison. There are so many lighter and more flavorful things you can do with an easygoing veggie like this one. The Parsley Potatoes were tasty as always. The Lettuce and Tomato Salad was a surprise! I had only glanced at the recipe before Sunday and didn't get a full picture of what was in store for me. Very Art Deco... like shiny, little, red domes on the salad plate...

**********

Lettuce and Tomato Salad

3 Tomatoes
Lettuce leaves
6 tablespoons French dressing

Scald the tomatoes, remove the skins and chill the tomatoes. Just before serving time, cut them in halves, crosswise, and place one piece, with the outside upward, on each serving-plate with one or two leaves of white, crisp lettuce underneath. Pour over each portion a tablespoon of French dressing.

**********

The Coconut Blanc Mange was, well, meh. Kind of a soft, bland pudding with the coconut doing must of the job at holding it all together. It might've been a little better if made with whole milk. Or maybe a dash of coconut extract. My Cherry Sauce was a miserable failure. It never really thickened and the ingredients didn't meld. Well, it's probably for the best that I'm not discovering fabulous new desserts these days!

Today marks the second day of my new water regime. I set the goal for this mission at eight 8-ounce glasses per day as that seems to be the gold standard when it comes to H2O. Apparently, that rule of thumb has been around for awhile. Dr. Walter H. Eddy, a professor of physiological chemistry, was interviewed for a newspaper article in July 1940 and advised that adults drink two quarts of water per day to maintain optimum health. What do you know, two quarts = 64 ounces!

After using a measuring cup marked with ounces to determine how much water the various glasses in my cabinet held, I figure I was probably drinking about 40 ounces per day before this mission. I downed 64 ounces yesterday without much difficulty, but I'm not there yet today and the day is short. I think I've just got to remind myself --- when I'm thirsty, reach for water first.

The Evening Independent's Alicia Hart weighed in on this very topic in December 1943:

Few of us ever drink the eight glasses of water a day which are recommended for health and a clear complexion. Maybe it's the idea of eight glasses all together that appalls us. But properly spaced throughout the day, eight glasses are not as many as you imagine.

For instance, petal-skinned film star Gene Tierney, who has just kept a date with the stork but will be back at the studios very shortly, makes a habit of having a tall glass of warm water with a half lemon squeezed in it before breakfast each morning.

If you like, add a teaspoonful of mineral honey - clover or alfalfa - to make it more palatable. It's a marvelous morning pick-up and a boon to clearer, smoother complexions.

And when you feel hungry in the middle of the day, yet you know very well that you ate a substantial enough lunch, drink a tumbler of water. It'll fill the void and you'll be just one more glass to the good.

Also, if you've been trying to lose weight, drink a glass before lunch or dinner and you won't want to eat so much. No, actually, eight glasses a day aren't too hard to take at all.

One Big Glass

So far, so good.

I drank a glass of water first thing this morning. (How big is "big" in 1946 standards? I drank eight ounces.) At noon, I walked for 24 minutes. I was bummed that the route I plotted didn't end up taking a full half-hour, but I'll make it a little longer tomorrow and see if I can solve that problem. While I wait for my mattress, bed covers, and pillows to air, I thought I'd pop online and celebrate a successful first day - of many, I hope!

Many of you asked for more on the grooming routine in the 1946 issue of Good Housekeeping. Here it is in full:

GOOD-MORNING!

Out of bed and into the bathroom -

1. Drink one big glass of water.

2. Brush teeth carefully.

3. Wash face gently but thoroughly with a clean washcloth, a good mild soap, and plenty of warm water. Splash on cold to tone your skin - and open your eyes!

4. Pat on a bit of powder to take away that soap-and-water shine.

5. Put on some bright, pretty lipstick, making the edges neat and blotting away the excess.

6. Brush all the nighttime tangles from hair, and comb carefully into place, pinning securely.

7. Take a last look, to be sure you are impeccable from top to toe.

GOOD-NIGHT!

Out of your clothes and into the tub -

1. Coat yourself thoroughly with a susdy lather, and don't spare the elbow grease. Rinse well, doing face separately with water from the faucet.

2. Rub yourself dry, so that you tingle all over and chest and back turn a healthy pink.

3. Don't forget the deodorant under your arms.

4. Give your crowning glory a good swishing with the brush, dampen ends and pin up curls.

5. Brush teeth carefully.

6. Down with a nice, long glass of water - and so to bed.

ONCE A WEEK WITHOUT FAIL

1. Shampoo hair, and rinse six or seven times until it squeaks "clean." Perhaps you might need a little vinegar or lemon juice or a special rinse to bring out some "sunlit" luster.

2. Clip toenails.

3. File fingernails, push back cuticle, and apply a polish to go with your lipstick.

4. Defuzz legs and underarms.

5. Pluck scraggly eyebrows.

6. Go over clothes, and mend, clean, and brush as necessary.

The article is designed for high school-aged girls, so the routine is much more basic than a grown woman might have followed --- but it's a good place to start. I think. Some of this sounds a bit scary to me, but I'll just take it one step at a time for now.

There's nothing wrong with a glass of water first thing in the a.m., but I'm curious about the timing. Was it thought to be an aid to the digestive system? Something to perk up the appetite for breakfast? Or was it meant to benefit the skin? Roxanne mentioned in her comment on yesterday's post that our bodies are quite dehydrated when we wake up in the morning. Today in 2009 we know all kinds of benefits that water can have - from making our insides run more smoothly to flushing toxins from our bodies - but I wonder what it was in 1946 that prompted the woman writing this article to recommend drinking a glass of water first thing in the morning and last thing at night. Is it because people weren't prone to drinking very much water during the day, so she tried to squeeze a little in by making it part of a grooming ritual?

Rinso White, Rinso Bright

Rinso white, Rinso bright,

Happy little washday song!

Did you know the Rinso label has been sold by its longtime owners, and you can buy Rinso bleach now in 99 Cents Only stores? Of course, Rinso used to be a detergent rather than a bleach, but it's awful neat to see the power of 1940s marketing still in play.

I'm taking a sick day today because of my cold, so had lots of extra time to do my wash - including my handwashing. Not exactly a true test based on a typical Monday schedule, but I guess it's a good chance to work up getting the wash done on a regular weekly workday. I did three loads at the laundromat this morning. The whites went in with a dash of Rinso bleach. I was mistaken when I said yesterday that the washers in my laundromat don't have a delicates cycle. They do, but I think it'd probably take me two months just to accumulate a load of delicates!

I pulled the two rayon items after washing them at the laundromat and followed the instructions in my manual for drying rayons (as best I can understand, "turkish towels" are terry bath towels):

Roll garments in turkish towels to remove excess moisture, then unroll immediately and iron when ready... It is safer to allow prints and spun rayons to dry until barely damp, before ironing.

I did my handwashables this afternoon and was surprised by how much water I ended up using... which here, in the desert, is very uncool. It took four rinses to get the suds out of my nylon top, two rinses to get the suds out of my bras, and, well, I gave up after four rinses in trying to get the suds out of my acrylic sweater. Now it could be that the soap I used - a "gentle" gel hand soap - created a richer suds than the soaps recommended for handwashing in the '40s. I'm not sure. The authors of the manual fully expected their readers to have to rinse any handwashables "several times" until they could get a nice suds-free water. I think in the future that I'll follow the modern instructions on the label for garments like these and wash them in a machine with the rest of my laundry if at all possible. My bathroom sink may have gotten a great cleansing along the way, but the water usage was super guilt inducing. And my hands are so dry and raw.

It wasn't such a "happy little washday" here at the Jitterbug residence, but it was educational!