Budget Project Econ H

Personal Budget Project

Due the day of the Final

(3rd & 6th Period: June 5,  1st Period: June 6, 2nd Period: June 7)

This is a research project designed to prepare you to support yourself economically.  The assumption is that you have just graduated from TOHS, and are now out on your own and completely without outside financial support.  You have some clothes, some furniture, and enough cash for your share of a deposit on an apartment and two weeks of groceries (that's right - you have no car).  For each item you present in your budget you need to provide specific support & documentation (web page printouts, copies of ads, contact info for people you talked to, etc.).  In other words, show me something that proves that your car payment will be $119.50 a month; your cell phone will cost $59 a month, and so on.  Make sure you hold on to all of work related to this project.  Everything you turn in should be neat, word processed and/or spreadsheeted.

If you want to prepare the budget as if you are in college, here are the assumptions you must use:

• a combination of financial aid and loans are paying for your tuition, so you have no immediate tuition costs
• you must either pay the cost of room and board at your school of choice (likely to be ~$1,000) or calculate the costs of living independently
• you still need to calculate the costs of owning a car, even if you don't ultimately use one
  

Major Budget Categories

Income: The first step is to find a job that you can hold with your current skills – calculate monthly pay ($/hour x hours per week x 4.3) then multiply by 0.8 to allow for taxes.  These calculations will give you your total income. From your income you will subtract the following:

• Housing* (roommates/solo, house/apartment/spare room)
• Utilities* (phone, cable, internet, electricity($20/month))
• Transportation (must calculate car payments, insurance ($115/month), maintenance, gas, after you have figured that you can go with a non-car option (e.g. bike & bus) to save money)
• Food – you will develop a bi-weekly menu (nutritionally balanced, can’t have same thing more than 3x in one week), price it out at the grocery store & restaurants, multiply cost by 2.15
• Activities & Entertainment – you will develop a month-long activity calendar to help determine the costs of your life style

*the housing and utilities research may be done with your roommates

You will turn in:

A spreadsheet that details your income and expenses.  You can use the sample above or create your own.

All of your research in the following order:

1. Your menu and grocery list (with prices)
2. Your activity calendar (with mileage and activity costs)
3. Job advertisement & resume or confirmation letter
4. Housing information
5. Utilities information
6. Transportation information and a paragraph discussing whether or not you decided to buy and use a car
7. Information on your Miscellaneous Costs (Clothing/Grooming, Health Insurance, Savings, Charity, etc.)

The easiest way to do your research is to take a screen shot (screen shot instructions for Mac and for Windows) of the information when you find it on the web.  Paste the screen shot into a word document, and then write 2-3 sentences describing why you chose that particular option.  Here is an example of what your research should look like.

To simplify things a bit, here are some numbers you can use in your budget:

• Healthcare insurance is available from SwansonCare for $85
• Car Insurance is available from SwansonAuto for $115
• You can plug in $20 for your monthly share of the electric bill
• Basic home phone service can be $20/mo split between your roommates
  

Activity Calendar Example - this is for just two weeks, yours needs to be a full month.

Menu Example:

Sample Documents & Templates

If you don't have Microsoft Office, you can download the file and then open it in Google Docs

Click here for the sample spreadsheet

Click here for the sample research document

Click here for the Sample Prezi