Fannie Mae Foundation: How to Buy a Home

Writing
Refer the class to the household budget form on this page. You may want to review the expenses listed and talk in general about costs. Encourage learners to take the budget home and use it to plan their monthly expenses. To answer the last question, learners may want to call different savings institutions for current rates on saving accounts, money market accounts, and certificates of deposit.

Unit 4 : Lesson 2: Planning for monthly expenses in your new home

Writing

If you want to buy a house in the future, start saving today. Make a budget.

1. List your monthly income.

2. List your monthly expenses.

3. Subtract your monthly expenses from your monthly income to see how much money remains.

4. Decide how much of that amount you can put into a savings account.

Since this is very personal information, you may want to plan your household budget at home.

A Household Budget

Monthly Expenses	Average Monthly Payment
Rent	$____________________________
Utilities	$____________________________
Food	$____________________________
Clothing	$____________________________
Telephone	$____________________________
Transportation	$____________________________
Entertainment	$____________________________
Other
_________________________	$____________________________
_________________________	$____________________________
_________________________	$____________________________
Total monthly expenses	$____________________________
Total monthly income – total monthly expenses =	$____________________________
Monthly savings	$____________________________

How much will you save in 1 year? In 5 years? In 10 years?

How much interest can you get on your savings?

Previous Page | Next Page