TEN DOLLARS ENOUGH
KEEPING HOUSE WELL ON TEN DOLLARS
A WEEK; HOW IT HAS BEEN DONE;
HOW IT MAY BE DONE AGAIN
BY
BOSTON AND NEW YORK
HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN AND COMPANY
The Riverside Press, Cambridge
1888
Copyright, 1886,
By HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN & CO.
All rights reserved.
SEVENTH EDITION.
The Riverside Press, Cambridge:
Electrotyped and Printed by H. O. Houghton & Co.
PREFACE.
The success of “Ten Dollars Enough,” as it appearedserially in the pages of “Good Housekeeping,” and thenumerous letters received by the editor of that magazineasking for it in more convenient shape, has led to itspublication in its present form.
It is very pleasant to learn from these same lettersthat the writers have tried Molly’s recipes with suchsuccess, there being, I am assured by the same gentleman,but two exceptions (and one of these candidly saysthe fault might be her own) among the large numberwho expressed satisfaction.
This testimony is especially gratifying, showing, as itdoes, how earnest and faithful my readers have been;for, although the directions were minutely given andevery effort made to meet difficulties, all my care wouldnot have sufficed to produce success, had there not beenfaithful coöperation on the part of those who followedthem. I take this opportunity to make clear two matterswhich, I found early in the course of the story, werelost sight of by two or three readers, perhaps others.
I allude to the prices of provisions and the amount ofcooking accomplished in a given time.
To those who questioned the cost of articles I wouldsay: they forgot, reading in December, when they weredoubtless paying higher prices, that the prices quotedwere for September. To another who quotes the high[iv]price she has to pay for certain things, I only say:Molly was keeping house with some luxury, on thesame amount of table-money as many require to livevery plainly. This could not be done except by buyingeverything only in its season; if beyond a certain price,she waited for it to get lower.
This brings me to what is after all the gist of thematter. “Ten Dollars Enough” was intended for readersin widely different parts of the country. It wouldhave readers where the meat and poultry prices wouldseem very