Budgeting - Creating a Successful Budget

Budgeting

Creating a Successful Budget

Student Assignment

In this assignment, you will create two budgets and answer questions about how your budgets have successfully met a long-term goal.

Directions

1. Gather materials and necessary information.

Ask your teacher which word-processing software you will be using.

Keep your lesson and assignment open in case you need to review what you have learned.

2. Read and follow each set of instructions carefully.

a) To create the budgets, type an amount of money into each cell of the tables you have been given. Be sure to ask your teacher for help if you are not sure how to do this.

b) Make sure you complete the questions on each page.

Section 1: Creating a Two-Month Budget

Imagine that you are a college student who lives away from home. You have a work-study job at your college library, and you earn about $600 each month. You have one major long-term goal: you want to save up money to visit your family soon, and you need at least $100 for your train tickets.

1. Create a budget that will allow you to save at least $100 by the end of October. (10 points)

Make sure your budget includes these fixed expenses:

· The cost of rent ($250 each month for your shared apartment)

· The cost of your bus pass ($40 each month)

· The cost of books ($150, but only in September, at the beginning of the school year)

Make sure your budget considers these variable expense categories:

· The cost of food

· The cost of clothing

· Discretionary spending (money to spend freely)

 

	Personal Budget
	Income and Expenses	September	October
Income
	Total income
Fixed expenses
	Total fixed expenses
Variable expenses
	Total variable expenses
Total	Total savings

4. If changes happen during September or October, which expenses will you be able to change most easily? Give an example of how you could make a change. (5 points)

5. In which month did you save more money? (5 points)

Section 2: Adapting to Changes

Throughout your life, you will need to adapt your budget to respond to changes in your income and expenses. Now, it is time to practice making changes to a budget.

6. Change your previous budget to reflect these new factors. (10 points)

· Your school announced that you will not have to pay for a bus pass to get to classes, because a new school program will cover this expense for all students.

· You just found out that your books will cost more than you had expected. You will now need to spend an additional $100 on books in October.

· You got an unexpected raise at work; you will now be making $650 each month.

· Make sure that you are still meeting your overall goal of saving $100 by the end of October.

	Personal Budget
	Income and Expenses	September	October
Income
	Total income
Fixed expenses
	Total fixed expenses
Variable expenses
	Total variable expenses
Total	Total savings

7. After your budget changed, which month had greater fixed expenses? (5 points)

8. Which variable expenses did you change in order to maintain your goal of saving at least $100 by the end of October? (5 points)