So I went to work in Allen street (Manhattan) in what they call a sweatshop, making skirts by machine. I was new at the work and the foreman scolded me a great deal. I lived at this time with a girl named Ella, who worked in the same factory and made $5 a week. We had the room all to ourselves, paying $1.50 a week for it, and doing light housekeeping.
We did our cooking on an oil stove, and lived well, as this list of our expenses for one week will show:
ELLA AND SADIE FOR FOOD (ONE WEEK)
Tea $0.06 Cocoa .10 Bread and rolls .40 Canned vegetables .20 Potatoes .10 Milk .21 Fruit .20 Butter .15 Meat .60 Fish .15 Laundry .25
Total $2.42
Add rent 1.50
Grand total $3.92
Of course, we could have lived cheaper, but we are both fond of good things and felt that we could afford them.
Some people who buy at the last of the market, when the men with the carts want to go home, can get things very cheap, but they are likely to be stale, and we did not often do that with fish, fresh vegetables, fruit, milk or meat. Things that kept well we did buy that way and got good bargains, and we found a factory where we could buy the finest broken crackers for 3 cents a pound, and another place where we got broken candy for 10 cents a pound.
It cost me $2 a week to live, and I had a dollar a week to spend on clothing and pleasure, and saved the other dollar.
Hopefully this helps! If you have any other questions comment or message me!
These acts affected the lives of colonists because they were being treated as if they were still under the king’s rule. They had to house soldiers and pay taxes that went to the king although they weren’t living there anymore.
