Introduction
Do you ever wonder where money goes??
During your explore class, you will discover where money goes and learn to balance a budget!
Task
Your task is to balance a budget! You will randomly choose a profession, salary & family. You will research homes and cars to "purchase". You will also need to budget in the
cost of bills such as: tv, phone, electic, water, groceries, and more. You get the chance to see what it is like to be
an adult.
Process
Randomly choose a card for your career, salary, and family. Record your personal information on your recording sheet.
Calculate your total monthly income.
Housing Expense: Remeber you house needs to be big enough for your whole family. (2 adults can share a room but children need their own room.)
- Search zillow.com to find a house you would like to purchase
- Describe the house you chose.
- Calulate the monthly house payment.
- Look at the chart for your expenses and record them on your recording sheet.
- Calculate the total housing cost.
Car Expense : You must by at least one car and cars must have gas and insurance.
- Search autotrader.com to find a car you would like to purchase. (Do you need 2??)
- Describe the car your chose.
- Calculate the monlthly car payment.
- Look at the chart for your car expenses and record them on your recording sheet.
- Caclulate the total car expense.
Bills: You must pay for gas, electric, water, and phone. TV is optional.
- Look at the chart for your monthly bills.
- If you want to look up timewarnercable.com, verizonwireless.com, at&t.com, directtv.com, etc you can find "real" prices for bills.
- Add up the cost for all of your bills.
Groceries: You must pay for groceries but going out to eat expenses are optional.
Look at the chart for your monthly groceries.- If you want to go "go out to eat" add $10 per person per time you want to go out to eat.
- Add up the cost for food.
Surprise!
- Choose a surprise card.
- Add or subtract the cost from your monthly budget.
Evaluation
You will be evaluated on the following criteria...
- Did you follow the directions and complete all parts of your task?
- Did you accuratley budget your money for a month?
- Did you "live" within your budget... do you have money left over?
Conclusion
Write what you learned about making a budget. Do you think it is more challenging than you thought to be an adult? How is math so important to making a budget?
Remember to think about your parent's budget when you are asking them to buy you a new toy!