Creating a Budget
Before you can make a spending plan that works for your particular situation, you'll need to understand your spending priorities. What must you spend money on, and what items do you simply want? First, make sure you understand the following terms:
budget: a plan for saving and spending
expenditure: the amount of money spent
necessity: an item that a person must have, such as housing, clothing, or food
luxury: an item that offers physical comfort or enjoyment but is not necessary for life and health.
1. Classify each of the following expenditures as a necessity or a luxury. If any item can be considered either a necessity or a luxury, depending on the situation, classify it as either.
Expenditure Necessity Luxury Either
a. Auto insurance
b. Clothing for school
c. Concert tickets
d. Dinner for two at the newest
e. restaurant in town Groceries
f. Music downloads
g. Medical treatment for strep throat
h. Theme park tickets
i. New car
j. Rent
k. School lunches
I. School ski trip
m. Cell phone service
2. For those items that you indicated could be either necessities or luxuries, describe when you would consider them necessities and when you would view them as luxuries.
MAKING A BUDGET
3. Income First, write down your weekly income: $______.
4. Expenditures For one week, keep track of all of your expenditures. At the end of the week, put the totals in the table below.
Weekly Expenditure Current Amount
Clothing $
Debt repayment (monthly payment + 4) $
Entertainment $
Food (including groceries, meals
out, and snacks) $
Rent and utilities (monthly payment = 4) $
Transportation (own car, ridesharing, public
transportation, etc.) $
Personal care items $
Other $
Total Weekly Expenditures $
5. Subtract your total expenditures from your weekly income.
6. Revised budget
At the end of the week, did you have any money left? Or did you spend more than you earned? If you want to make better use of your money, take a look at how you're spending it and decide where you can trim expenditures. You may find that you could be spending your money on something you really want.
Weekly Expenditure New Budget Actual Spending
Clothing $ $
Debt repayment (monthly payment + 4) $ $
Entertainment $ $
Food (including groceries, meals out,
and snacks) $ $
Rent and utilities (monthly payment + 4) $ $
Transportation (own car, ridesharing,
public transportation, etc.) $ $
Personal care items $ $
Other $ $
Total Weekly Expenditures $ $
7. Using your revised budget as a guide, record your income and expenses for another week. How much money were you able to save?