Lifestyle and Expenditures of a Skilled Worker’s Family in Berlin (1890)

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The average of the two numbers is 2.58 marks, which thus corresponds to the amount allotted per day; but since it is not reached every day, the result is a surplus, which is used for lighting and a number of minor expenses. Nothing is purchased on credit; indeed, that is one of the main requirements for keeping a small household in order. If more substantial expenses are necessary, a certain amount of money is set aside each week so that the item can be purchased in cash.

In the morning, the husband takes a tin container of coffee along with him; in the evenings and at lunch he drinks two glasses of beer, three at the most, at a cost of 10 pfennigs per glass (he does not drink any schnapps); on weekdays he smokes two cigars, three on Sundays, at a cost of three pfennigs each; he goes to the pub perhaps once a week but returns home by 10:30 p.m. at the latest.

In the following, I will list the figures I was able to collect:

		Marks
Income		1,700,–
Expenses:
Apartment		259,–
Household		924,–
Taxes		30,–
Health insurance and other contributions		13,–
Heating, on average		45,–
Winter clothing for husband		30,–
Hat		2.50
Boots for husband		16,–
Boots for wide		11,–
Boots for children		10,–
Clothing purchases for wife and children		23,–
Physician and pharmacy for wife		20,–
Newspaper, shared with someone else, totaling 6 marks, thus		3,–
Miscellaneous (mending, linens, entertainment)		64,–
Husband (beverages, tobacco, coin collections, etc.)		162,–
	marks	1,612.50

In 1889, the savings amounted to 82 marks. [ . . . ] Entertainment involving money is very rare; there is just enough money for outings to the Zoological Park on “cheap Sundays” (the picnic basket is brought along) or to the Hasenheide; once in a blue moon, the family goes to a cheap “smoke” or variety theater. Basically, that is the extent of the entertainment outside the home. The husband manages by borrowing books from public libraries and reading in the evening if he is not too tired; the wife is content with a novel and the local news in the paper, or she talks with the ladies next door as soon as she has put the children to bed.



Source: Otto von Leixner, 1888 bis 1891. Soziale Briefe aus Berlin. Mit besonderer Berücksichtigung der sozialdemokratischen Strömungen [1888 to 1891: Letters on Society Sent from Berlin. With Particular Consideration Being Given to Social Democratic Currents]. Berlin, 1891, pp. 183-88.

Original German text reprinted in Gerhard A. Ritter and Jürgen Kocka, eds., Deutsche Sozialgeschichte 1870-1914. Dokumente und Skizzen [German Social History 1870-1914. Documents and Sketches]. 3rd ed. Munich: Beck, 1982, pp. 276-78.

Translation: Erwin Fink