The Private Household

Abstract

When it comes to money management, then I cannot approve of the approach taken by most men of standing, who give their spouse a certain sum which they must get by on in running the home. This creates a conflict of interest; the wife is placed in the category of servants, is tempted to act out of self-interest, seeks to make savings, finds that the husband is too fond of his food, pulls a face if he invites a good friend home to dine; the husband, if he is not noble-minded, always thinks he is not dining well enough for his hard-earned money, or, if on the other hand he exercises excessive sensitivity of thought, does not dare occasionally to request a further modest repast, for fear of embarrassing his spouse. So give your wife… a sum of money appropriate to your circumstances for her expenditures! If she has spent this money, she should come to you and ask for more! If you find that too much has been spent, then ask to be shown the bills! Consider together with her where economies might be made! Do not make any secret of your financial circumstances; but also set aside a small sum for her innocent pleasures, for her toilet, for modest acts of charity, and do not ask for any account to be made for these!1 How should we imagine the division of economic roles in the private household today, two centuries on from Knigge?KeywordsCurrent AccountFinancial AssetPrivate HouseholdSaving BankPrecautionary SavingThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.