Archive Showcase: Your Budget in Wartime

Financial budgeting advice straight from 1943 & 1945.

1943

If you’re like me, you’re one of those people who seem to be in constant conflict with numbers. Or maybe I’m allergic. lol

Budgeting. Ick.

Budgeting is something that I’ve had to work hard at (or have ignored which doesn’t work). I’m still trying to find a system that works for and makes sense to me. So, awhile ago I decided to see how they budgeted in wartime. Budgeting in today’s economy and era of internet shopping and bill paying feels so complicated. I wanted to see how my great-grandparents might have tackled it. They didn’t have fancy budgeting software like we do now which is oddly comforting.

Wartime Budgeting Advice to the Rescue?

In my searching, I found two fascinating budgeting books from wartime with two different approaches. The first one is pictured above. This was part of a series “3 Timely Wartime Guides”: Home Canning in Wartime by Elsie Clarke, The Wartime Cook Book by Alice Bradley, and this book, Your Budget in Wartime by Ethel Laney. It was published in 1943 by The World Publishing Company.

The introduction is fantastic. I love reading how they frame their current situation in the midst of war.

Check out that cute budget soldier!

Inside they feature various budgets for different types of households and income brackets.

Here are a few I thought I’d highlight. Keep in mind these are 1943 dollars. Use an inflation calculator like this one to better see what the money means in our current time.