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Rent and Heat	               $58.00
Gas, Electricity, Telephone	13.00
Groceries	                52.00
Outside meals	                 6.00
Dry Goods and Clothing	         ----
Labor and Services	        22.00
Physician and Medicine	        10.00
Refrigerator payment	        10.00
Church and Charities	         1.00
Laundry	                         4.00
Amusements	                 ----
Insurance                       14.00
Water	                         1.60
Auto Repairs and Tires           ----	
Gasoline and Oil	         5.00
	                      -------
Total	                      $196.00

With me making $40 a week, it's evident this exceeded our income and couldn't go on indefinitely. Whenever Mother was with us, she helped out but I can't recall how much. I have a recollection of $20 but whether that was per week or per month I don‘t know; the former sounds like too much and the latter too little. There are a few shopping items in August that Willie had jotted down which are interesting compared to what we pay today, however: 

 

August 1st                August 2nd:
       Tea       10¢             Fruit   25¢
       Meat      64¢             Grocer. 1.20
       Groceries 39¢             Eggs    22¢

And so we struggled onward and the worst was yet to come in 1933.

MY GE WORK

My work varied from having almost too much to do to having almost nothing to occupy me, and my spirits rose and fell with my work load. The New York Central assignment looked like a good one when it was given to me in 1931 but the effects of the depression soon wiped that out except for odds and ends. It was a year of struggle to keep up my morale. However, it had its interesting aspects and I shall cover it quite thoroughly in order to bring them out. Besides that, I began to get more involved in the entertainment phase of my job, which produced some new experiences. For, despite the depression, customer entertainment had to go on so as to be in a favorable position when the time came again for buying. Entertainment wasn't lavish but it was fun if the right people got together, and the important point was to become one of those people.