Rule No. 8： If necessary， make a little extra money off yourkitchen stove.
If after you budget your expenses wisely you still find thatyou don’t have enough to make ends meet， you can then do oneof two things： you can either scold， fret， worry， and complain， oryou can plan to make a little additional money on the side. How?
Well， all you have to do to make money is to fill an urgent needthat isn’t being adequately filled now. That is what Mrs. NellieSpeer， 37-09 83rd Street， Jackson Heights， New York， did. In1932， she found herself living alone in a three-room apartment.
Her husband had died， and both of her children were married.
One day， while having some ice-cream at a drug-store sodafountain， she noticed that the fountain was also selling bakerypies that looked sad and dreary. She asked the proprietor if hewould buy some real home-made pies from her. He orderedtwo. “Although I was a good cook，” Mrs. Speer said， as shetold me the story， “I had always had servants when we lived inGeorgia， and I had never baked more than a dozen pies in mylife. After getting that order for two pies， I asked a neighbourwoman how to cook an apple-pie. The sodafountain customerswere delighted with my first two home-baked pies， one apple，one lemon. The drugstore ordered five the next day. Then ordersgradually came in from other fountains and luncheonettes.
Within two years， I was baking five thousand pies a year—Iwas doing all the work myself in my own tiny kitchen， and Iwas making a thousand dollars a year clear， without a penny’sexpense except the ingredients that went into the pies.”
The demand for Mrs. Speer’s home-baked pastry became sogreat that she had to move out of her kitchen into a shop and hiretwo girls to bake for her： pies， cakes， bread， and rolls. During thewar， people stood in line for an hour at a time to buy her homebaked foods.
“I have never been happier in my life，” Mrs. Speer said. “Iwork in the shop twelve to fourteen hours a day， but I don’t gettired because it isn’t work to me. It is an adventure in living. I amdoing my part to make people a little happier. I am too busy tobe lonesome or worried. My work has filled a gap in my life leftvacant by the passing of my mother and husband and my home.”
When I asked Mrs. Speer if she felt that other women whowere good cooks could make money in their spare time in asimilar way， in towns of ten thousand and up， she replied： “Yes—ofcourse they can！”
Mrs. Ora Snyder will tell you the same thing. She lives ina town of thirty thousand—Maywood， Illinois. Yet she startedin business with the kitchen stove and ten cents’ worth ofingredients. Her husband fell ill. She had to earn money. Buthow? No experience. No skill. No capital. Just a housewife. Shetook the white of an egg and sugar and made some candy on theback of the kitchen stove; then she took her pan of candy andstood near the school and sold it to the children for a penny apiece as they went home. “Bring more pennies tomorrow，” shesaid. “I’ll be here every day with my home-made candy.” Duringthe first week， she not only made a profit， but had also put a new zest into living. She was making both herself and the childrenhappy. No time now for worry.
This quiet little housewife from Maywood， Illinois， was soambitious that she decided to branch out—to have an agent sellher kitchen-made candy in roaring， thundering Chicago. Shetimidly approached an Italian selling peanuts on the street. Heshrugged his shoulders. His customers wanted peanuts， not candy.
She gave him a sample. He liked it， began selling her candy， andmade a good profit for Mrs.
Snyder on the first day. Four years later， she opened her firststore in Chicago. It was only eight feet wide. She made her candy atnight and sold it in the daytime. This erstwhile timid housewife， whostarted her candy factory on her kitchen stove， now has seventeenstores-fifteen of them in the busy Loop district of Chicago.
Here is the point I am trying to make. Nellie Speer， in JacksonHeights， New York， and Mrs. Ora Snyder， in May-wood， Illinois，instead of worrying about finances， did something positive.
They started in an extremely small way to make money off thekitchen stove-no overhead， no rent， no advertising， no salaries.
Under these conditions， it is almost impossible for a woman to bedefeated by financial worries.