THEBUDGETS

Most American families keep more or less detailed household accounts showing their income and expenses in an attempt to furnish a sound balance with money to spare. Garé and Carl Barks were no exceptions. In fact, Carl - who did the family's budgets - was very careful registering every detail. Since childhood he had been used to a hard financial life, and this stuck with him even in the economically secure years towards the end of his life. In the family's budget books he would even produce lengthy diagrams containing annual summaries and average percentage columns as well as speculative scenarios type 'what if...?'. This page will give you an example of just one month's entries from the Barks couple's budget books. The year is 1961. The month is April.

Although this page concerns personal matters, more sensitive financial information such as detailed figures of investments is not specified. That type of information has no bearing on the page's main subject, which is to present Garé and Carl Barks as they were - ordinary American citizens.

The Barks couple used this type of budget book which was printed by Whitman Publishing Company, a subsidiary of Carl's employer Western Publishing. The book came formatted with all needed columns for 12 months as well as memo pages to be used for more detailed information. Carl would normally use these pages to their fullest ability. The book ended with a calendar spanning 6 years.

INCOME RECORD

Salary:
Throughout his comic book career Barks worked for Western Publishing, first as a freelancer from 1942 to 1957, and then as an employee. This meant that he went from a very unsteady and varied income situation to steady salaries paid every two weeks. Barks started with 700 dollars per month, but this salary was increased to 900 dollars per month from February, 1960.

Bonusses:
Barks was also given irregular bonusses which came partly from Western and partly from other sources.

Dividends:
Barks was always very particular in handling surplus money. He would invest in investment funds like the Madison Fund and in stocks like Philip Morris, that all paid regular dividends.

Paintings:
At the time this was Garé's department! Her paintings sold for up to 120 dollars a piece providing a fine source of income. You may compare this to Carl who managed to sell one of his early paintings depicting a local church in November 1960 for 8.40 dollars. Imagine how proud he must have felt being able to register this income...

SAVINGS RECORD

The records show no sign of the couple having life insurances, but they frequently invested in both funds and real estate. Their biggest purchase was 'a bare lot' (as Barks booked it) at Gig Harbor in Washington State, which they bought in August 1961 for 4,960 dollars. It was their intention to move there when they retired, but that never happened.

MONTHLY ALLOWANCE FOR SPECIAL ITEMS

Taxes:
Barks normally paid federal income taxes on a half-yearly basis (circa 400 dollars per payment), and the couple's annual taxes and expenses (federal taxes, state taxes, and social security) amounted to circa 1,600 dollars per year.

Alimony:
Since Carl and his former wife, Clara, were divorced in 1951, he paid her 250 dollars alimony per month until she died in 1964.

AUTOMOBILE

Barks was always very fond of automobiles and he owned a string of them through his adult years. The couple's transportation needs can be illustrated by Barks' account from 1960, where he owned an older car that clocked 7,400 miles (12.000 kilometers) at the end of the year.

SHELTER

Rent:
In those years the couple lived in various rented houses in California's San Jacinto area, but the monthly rent of 90 dollars (equals circa 12% of the budget) was pretty fixed in the individual dwellings. In those days it was much more common to relocate, and the couple had been living at the present address since March 1960. Deposits were 4 months rent.

Miscellaneous:
The couple paid the normal, official expenses connected with running a household (electricity, gas, heat, water, and so on).

CLOTHING

New clothing:
The couple had a normal budget allowing them to buy what they needed. Not surprisingly Garé's budget was larger than that of Carl's (some things never change, eh?)...

Cleaning, repairs:
Held at a minimum as Garé was a whiz with both a flatiron and a sewing needle despite the fact that she only had one hand!

FOOD

The entries follow a fairly straight line, in which the couple shopped regularly for groceries. Two sets of recurring entries are perhaps a little more interesting:
The couple often took time out to go to 'Café' as Barks puts it. The term probably includes restaurant visits especially as some of the entries involve large amounts of money.
They also shopped repeatedly for birdseed indicating that they kept birds - and more than one judging from the amounts and the frequency of purchase. Maybe it was Garé's half-dozen, yellow-billed magpies which she had named The Beagle Boys, that were fed this way? Although magpies are omnivorous in nature they may very well have had most of their diet from 'Birdseed'.

OPERATING EXPENSES

Maid:
Obviously, the couple kept a maid for a number of years, because a monthly salary of 5 dollars is registered month after month.

Professional materials:
Garé used materials such as boards, frames, brushes, and paint, while Carl used pencils and ink (his drawing paper was supplied by Western). Apparently, Barks was not always sure where to book the materials; he would alternately place them in the next column as well...

OTHER EXPENSES

Haircut:
In those days men went to their barber more often than it is the case today. Barks went about twice a month.

Drugs:
Presumably, Barks' entry 'Drugs' cover a lot of ground. Still, the expenses seem remarkably high...

Newspapers:
Judging from the price of a typical newspaper in those days (15 cents) the couple did not subscribe to any. Barks' newspaper entries come every month without a date (or dates) attached indicating that they bought a newspaper at irregular intervals and that the monthly amount of 2.25 dollars was merely educated guesswork.

Postage:
Judging from the steady purchase of 'Postage' (mail stamps), the couple must have been dedicated and frequent letter writers. And this was even before Carl was discovered by his fans!

THE ABSENT EXPENSE

When one browses through the budget books it is striking to notice one expense that is hardly ever present - Vacation! In interviews Barks said it repeatedly; they never felt the need - or had the time - to wind down and leave everything for a couple of weeks.
One of the few vacations was held back in 1955 (see more on the stressful days that went ahead HERE, second paragraph), but it was first later in 1961 the couple ventured out again. They toured around, and visited friends and family from mid-July to mid-August, and they bought a lot for their retirement years (see more under SAVINGS RECORD). Total expenses for the trip: 775 dollars not including the lot...

POSTSCRIPT

If you would like to dig in deeper into the couple's expenses and compare them to today's prices the Internet has an abundance of sites in which you can do just that. http://www.westegg.com/inflation is one of the most simple to use. But notice that you will be searching American facts which may very well be different from those of your country if you are not an American.

Judging from each year's budget books up to this point it is fair to conclude that Garé's and Carl's incomes as well as their expenses were rather typical for a small American family. They led financially quiet lives with no excesses, and they were able to save money.