Budgeting

Summary

Students will learn about marriage and family financial goals and developing budget strategies. They will also define budgeting terms and develop a realistic monthly family budget.

Materials

• Vocabulary worksheet
• Construction papers
• Magazines
• Newspapers
• Glue
• Scissors
• M & Ms
• Budgeting Overview teacher information
• Understanding Debt teacher information
• Making a Budget teacher information
• Methods of Budgeting Interview sheet
• Budget for a Married Couple teacher information
• Managing Money teacher information
• Utah Bankers Association lesson outline
• Utah Bankers Association Budget Module overheads
• Budget Module student handout
• Budget Module teacher guide

Instructional Procedures

Vocabulary
Use the vocabulary worksheet (pdf) with students.

Primary Vocabulary

• Budget
• Fixed expense
• Flexible/Variable expenses
• Net Income
• Gross Income

FCCLA Activity Option
STAR Event : Financial Planning, STAR Event Manual, page 134.

See information from national program at http://www.fcclainc.org/content/financial-fitness/

Financial Fitness:

• Banking Basics - Conquer bank accounts, credit, and investments
• Cash Control - Track and plan personal spending
• Making Money - Sharpen on-the-job financial fitness
• Consumer Clout - Become a savvy spender
• Financing Your Future - Apply financial skills to real life.

Introduction/Motivator/Pre-Assessment
Option 1: Have students complete the follow Budget Busters activity:

1. Give yourself five points if you have a budget.
2. Give yourself five points if you have a checkbook.
3. Deduct a point if you have ever bounced a check.
4. Deduct a point if you bought something this week without comparison shopping.
5. Give yourself a point if you bought a store brand, rather than a name brand item this week.
6. Give yourself five points if you have a savings account.
7. Give yourself five points if you added any money to your savings account this week.
8. Give yourself five points if you pay your own car insurance (or part of it).
9. Deduct five points if you routinely carry more than $10.00 in your purse or wallet.
10. Give yourself five points if you have a method of recording what you spend.

The students should total their points. The winner is the person with the most points. Discuss this activity as a class.

Option 2: Story
Barbara was tired. She had no idea that merging wants, needs and desires in marriage would be such a challenge. She and her husband had overcome many challenges, but their greatest ongoing problems surrounded money. Her spouse was a spender, she was a saver; she liked to balance the checkbook to the last penny, her husband hadn't entered anything in the register in years.

The result was numerous volatile eruptions and conflict that both she and her spouse wanted to avoid. It shouldn't have been a surprise. Experts agree that finances can be the number one cause of marital strain.

It's understandable that financial struggles can cause strain because how people spend money is never just about the money--it reveals attitudes about what you value most; it reveals deeper character issues. These are some of the reasons blending financial habits can be very challenging.

But there is hope! What would you do??

Content Outline, Activities and Teaching Strategies
(All options do not necessarily need to be taught. Select ones to cover standards and objectives and according to your district policies.)

Option 1: Collage
Make a collage using clippings from newspapers and magazines which reflect your values about money. Discuss the following:

1. How are values (the money you spend, the car you drive, the activities you enjoy, the clothes you wear, the friends you choose) expressed in your home?
2. What is the predominant theme in the clippings you chose: health, friends, family, material comforts, beauty, church, education, etc.?
3. Why are these values and goals important to you?

Option 2: M&M Savings
For this activity you will need a large bowl of M&Ms available. As you carry on the class discussion walk around the room, giving each student a few M&Ms. If they ask you what they are for or if they can eat them, simply tell them that they can do whatever they want with them. Distribute lots of candies, a few at a time, throughout the class period, but reserving some in the bowl. At the end of your discussion on savings, tell them that just as saving money earns interest, so do the M&Ms. Give every student that saved their M&Ms the interest they have earned (more M&Ms)

Option 3: Budgeting Overview
Using the Budgeting Overview Teacher Information (pdf) discuss methods of establishing a budget. Discuss Understanding Debt (pdf).

Option 4: Making a Budget
For this activity you will use the transparency and information Making a Budget Teacher Information (pdf). This is to help the students understand that budgeting must be flexible because there are always unexpected expenses that occur. Have each student write three numbers between one and fourteen on a sheet of paper. Place the transparency on the overhead projector. Each student must then complete the worksheet SURPRISE using the experiences that correlate with the numbers they wrote down.

Option 5: Methods of Budgeting
Using the Methods of Budgeting Interview sheet (pdf) each student will interview three different people to discuss their personal methods of budgeting. On the following day they should share the ideas with the class.

Option 6: Budget for a Young Married Couple
Have students complete this budgeting activity. Refer to Budget for a Married couple teacher information. (pdf)

Option 7: Discussion on Managing Money
Using the Managing Teacher Information (pdf) discuss ways to manage your money. Where does your money go? If you do not keep track of your expenses, you won't whether you are spending your money wisely. When you know where your money goes, you feel more in control. Take time to think about your spending. After assessing how you manage your money, you might want to change your spending and saving habits. Being able to better manage your money will help you prepare for the future. Eight Steps to Better Money Management, Creating a Budget, and Managing a Checking Account.

Option 8: FEFE Checking Simulation
Family Economics and Financial Education (FEFE) Lesson Plan - Students are introduced to the basics of checking accounts. They learn how to open a checking account, make deposits, write checks, use a check register, read monthly statements, and reconcile a checkbook. Students complete a three month scenario to practice all elements of a using checking account.

Step #1: Go to: http://www.fefe.arizona.edu/lessonplans/checking-account-simulation (You will need to register and log in to this website prior to use)

Step #2: Click on: Educational Resources then click on Curriculum then click on 7.0 Financial Institutions.

Step #3: Click on 1.7.1 Checking Simulation and download the lesson plan and resources.

Option 9: FEFE Debit Card Simulation
Family Economics and Financial Education (FEFE) Lesson Plan Upon completion of this lesson, students will be able to: identify the functions of a checking account, describe the procedure of using checks and a debit card, and demonstrate how to use all elements of a checking account.

Step #1: Go to : http://www.fefe.arizona.edu/download-lessons. (You will need to register and log in to this website prior to use)

Step #2: Click on: Educational Resources then click on Curriculum then click on 7.0 Financial Institutions.

Step #3: Click on 2.7.3 Debit Card Simulation and download the lesson plan and resources.

Option 10: Budgeting for a High School Student
Have students complete the assignment of budgeting for a high school student. Use the Utah Bankers Association Lesson Outline (pdf), Budget Module Overheads (pdf), and Instructor's Guide  (pdf) for instructions for students to practice budgeting. Use the Student Budgeting Exercises (pdf) as the students' assignment.

FEFE Contactless Payment
Family Economics and Financial Education (FEFE) Lesson Plan Upon completion of this lesson, students will be able to: Define contactless payment, Identify various forms of contactless payment, Explore the past and potential growth of contactless payment, Apply safety features of contactless payment use.

Step #1: Go to : http://www.fefe.arizona.edu/download-lessons (You will need to register and log in to this website prior to use)

Step #2: Click on: Educational Resources then click on Curriculum then click on 7.0 Financial Institutions.

Step #3: Click on 1.7.5 Contactless Payment and download the lesson plan and resources.

Summary/Evaluation
It is very important that you know about budgeting and have discussed it before you get married. Money is a subject many couples avoid discussing, especially if they are having financial problems. It is important to remember that a budget must be flexible in order to work. A budget that is not flexible causes many problems. The budget is a good starting point from which a couple can manage their money.