If possible, put the monthly household budget form on an overhead transparency. Together with students, complete a household budget for one or more imaginary persons or families. Discuss each item as you fill in the
budget. This will take the pressure off students to use their own income as
examples. If they choose, they can then go home and make a budget based on their own personal finances. Make plenty of copies of the budget form for student practice.
Note: You may be surprised just how well some students have developed their own system for budgeting
“in their heads,” because they are experienced with living with less.

Here are a few additional details about the items on the chart.

Housing expenses
1. There may be additional utilities you pay in your area (e.g., in some areas a charge for waste disposal is included with the water bill).

Nonhousing expenses
1. Students may want to separate food into two categories — groceries and restaurant food. Some people include eating out under their entertainment category, and others include it under food.

2. For several items in this list, students may have to make a yearly estimate of costs and then divide by 12 to get a monthly figure. This may be true for clothing, car loans, car insurance, car repair bills, and other insurance.

3. Many people have health care insurance deducted from their
paycheck. In that case, the amount on the chart would cover deductibles, co-payments, and other medical costs not covered.

4. Bring up again the importance of having an emergency fund in place before making other kinds of savings plans.

5. Other loan payments may include student loans, boat loans, furniture loans, computer purchase loans, and personal loans.

6. Other insurance may include life insurance, self-employment insurance, and insurance of other valuable items.

Income
1. Students should be reminded to count any income that is received, from money earned by holding a garage sale to income from stocks and bonds.

Savings Goals
1. Take some time with students to think about their priorities for saving. They may have both long-term and short-term goals. Buying a house is
usually a long-term goal. Sometimes it must be put on the back burner until other goals are met, such as completing a vocational school program or taking care of a health problem. It still may be useful to put a little away toward the long-term goal on an ongoing basis. Those savings will earn interest and grow over time.