Lifestyle and Expenditures of a Public Servant's Family in Berlin (1889)

page 3 of 4    print version    return to list

previous document      next document

The following is an excerpt from the annual budget (1889):

	Marks
Income including interest from 9,000 marks	5,450
Expenses:
Apartment (incl. rent)	1,225
Heating	140
Lighting	45
Food (170 marks per month)	2040
Laundry	45
Maid-of-all-work (10 marks a month, is always hired in the countryside)	120
Servants’ health insurance	6
Clothing and shoes:
-for the lady of the house	85.50
-for the head of the house	17
-for the boys	95
School fees	240
School books, exercise books, nibs, etc.	24.75
Pocket money:
-50 pennies a month for each boy	12
-10 marks a month for the lady of the house	120
-15 marks a month for the head of the house	180
Taxes as well as widow’s insurance	254
New purchase of dishes, etc.	28.75
For improvement of damaged household utensils, broken locks, etc.	16.20
Sewing supplies, etc.	31.85
Christmas and birthdays	152.50
Associations	40
Newspapers	26
Postage	9.15
Physician and pharmacy (incl. 6 bottles of wine containing quinine and iron)	76.30
Some legal works	27
Charity expenses (associations, collections)	46
Savings deposits, 5 marks quarterly for each child since birth	60
Reserve of 5 marks deposited every month	60
Horse-drawn trolley	82.50
Amusement (once to Potsdam, once to Erkner, twice to the zoo, sums for boys for school outings, one visit to the theater)	62
Annual party	82.50
Total in marks	5,450

Der nationale Publizist Ernst Moritz Arndt (1769-1860) studierte Geschichte und Theologie. Er war Professor in Greifswald, mußte dann wegen seines Aufrufs gegen Napoleon I. 1806 vor den Franzosen nach Schweden fliehen. Arndt wurde im Zuge der Demagogenverfolgung von seiner