21st Century Skills
Choosing My Lifestyle
California CareerZone Student Account Setup
Follow these steps to set up your CareerZone account:
1. Go to CareerZone, http://www.cacareerzone.org/index
2. Select “Sign In”—the button is at the upper right hand corner of the page
3. Select “Create an Account”
4. Enter the required information:

Username

Password

Zip code (of your school)

First and last names (Suggest you do not use your full name.)

E-mail

School name

Answer the dropdown menu questions
5. Select “Create account”
California Career Resource Network, California Department of Education
21st Century Skills
Choosing My Lifestyle
Make Money Choices
This handout will guide you through the “Make Money Choices” budget process.
Use the chart below to keep track of your lifestyle choices and career exploration
discoveries. You will be selecting the “Choose Your Lifestyle” option to start
building your budget.
Choose Your Lifestyle
“Choose Your Lifestyle” lets you imagine what kind of lifestyle you want when you are
an adult. You can choose to have a lavish lifestyle, a minimalist lifestyle, or any lifestyle
in between.
This is your opportunity to make decisions without suffering the real-life consequences.
After you have made your lifestyle choices, you can explore occupations that support
that lifestyle. Selecting an occupation will take you to the occupational profile which is a
summary of the essential information you need to know about an occupation.
Step 1: Go to the California CareerZone home page (www.cacareerzone.org). Under
“Make Money Choices” click on “Get Started.”
Step 2: Select “Choose Your Lifestyle.” Click on the picture or on the “Budget how
much money you’ll need” button.
Step 3: Choose a California county where you plan to live. Keep in mind that costs vary
substantially from county to county and so does the labor market. You will also want to
keep in mind the characteristics of the county—its environment, proximity to important
services, attractions, etc.
Step 4: Start making your lifestyle choices beginning with housing. Make your selection
then click on the “Next Section” green button underneath the “Monthly Cost” textbox. As
you work your way through your lifestyle choices, use the chart on the next page to write
down your choices and monthly costs.
Each time you make a selection, the cost is added to the “Monthly Cost” textbox. If you
know exactly what you will be paying for something, you can enter the dollar amount in
the “Monthly Cost” textbox—just type over any numbers already in the box. After making
your choice(s) from a category, click on the “Next Section” green button.
NOTE: The navigation bar at the bottom of the page allows you to skip around
from category to category and you can easily see where you are by the
highlighted category. There is also a running total showing you the cost of the
choices you have made thus far.
California Career Resource Network, California Department of Education
21st Century Skills
Choosing My Lifestyle
Make Money Choices
Track Your Choices:
Category
Options You Chose
Monthly Cost
Housing
Utilities
Food
Entertainment
Clothing
Transportation
Health Insurance
Education
Savings
Additional Expenses
Total Monthly Spending
Taxes
Annual Salary Needed
Step 5: When you are finished with the last category, click on the “Show Summary”
button underneath the “Monthly Cost” textbox. This shows you how much money you
need to earn to have the lifestyle you chose. You can also get to the summary page by
clicking on the “Total” icon in the bottom navigation bar. Write your totals into the chart
above.
California Career Resource Network, California Department of Education
21st Century Skills
Choosing My Lifestyle
Make Money Choices
Step 6: From the budget summary page, click on the green “View Occupations” button.
You may see a lot of occupations or no occupations depending on the budget you
created. To change the list of occupations, revise your budget. Use your Web browser’s
“Back” arrow to return to the budget summary page. Change any category you wish
then go back to your summary sheet and click on “View Occupations” again. You will
see a new list of occupations.
Select up to four occupations that interest you. Click on each occupation to view details
for comparison. Use this chart to record your occupational information:
Occupations
Educational
Requirements
Wages/Salary Job Outlook
California Career Resource Network, California Department of Education