Name: _______________________________
Class Period: _________________________
Life Skills
Eighth Grade
PERSONAL BUDGET WORKSHEET – ROUGH DRAFT
DIRECTIONS: After you completed the Career Quiz and decided on a profession, now
it is time to research the salary of the 3 professions you chose. Using the website
www.payscale.com/research/US you will enter your profession in the search box and
choose the lower end of the salary (years 0-4). Once you are done finding your
starting salary, use the website www.bls.gov/ooh to answer questions #1-4. This
information will be more specific and allow you to answer the questions completely.
(16) Find a Career This will be an ENTRY LEVEL position. (0-4 years).
(You have already found your career on the in-class quiz you took).
Which occupation did you choose? ____________________________________
How much money will you make? _______________________ Gross income/salary
This amount must be initialed by Ms. Fink _____________________________
1. How much education, training, or other qualifications will you need?
2. What will you do on the job? What are your daily job responsibilities?
3. What is the work setting and/or work conditions (what will it look like, feel like, be like)?
(Be specific)
4. What is the future of this job (is there a growth in this career)? (Job Outlook/Prospects)
5. Why did you choose this occupation? Why does this career interest you?
(This is your opinion).
6. What is the best part of the job? What is the worst part? (This is your
opinion).
(26) Calculate Your Budget
How much money will you need to live? Calculate your budget.
STEP 1: Determine your NET income. Net income is sometimes called take
home pay. To calculate your net income you need to calculate your taxes.
Open up the budget spreadsheet (found in Ms. Fink’s class projects). Look at
the tabs in the lower left corner and click on the corner labeled Budget.
a. In cell C4, type your yearly gross income from page 1. (This is also your
total salary).
b. You will pay 28% of your income to the government in taxes. To
calculate your yearly tax amount in cell D4 type =C4*.28 remember that
.28 is the decimal equivalent of 28%.
c. Now, you will determine your net income (take home pay). Net income is
equal to Gross Income minus Annual Taxes. In Cell E4 Type =C4-D4 to
get your yearly net income.
d. Now you have figured these 3#’s, you will now need to figure out your
yearly and monthly expenses. MOVE onto STEP 2.
e.
STEP 2: Below are some guidelines/mathematical equations that should be
used to help you with budgeting. Use the given percentages to determine
your budget for each of these categories. Multiply your NET income by these
percentages:
a. To calculate your housing budget, you need to find 30% of your yearly
net income. In cell B13 type the following =E4*. 30
b. To calculate your automobile in cell B14, type =E4*.20
c. To calculate your food budget in cell B15, type =E4*.15
d. Complete the rest of your computations for budget items.
Utilities = .10 (10%)
Entertainment - .05 (5%)
Savings = .05 (5%)
Clothing = .04 (4%)
Miscellaneous = .05 (5%)
Health Care = .06 (6%)
e. Lastly, you need to make sure you typed the correct formulas in. In cell
B23 type the following equation… =sum(B13:B21) This will add all your
individual budgets. The number in the total expenses column should
equal (or be pretty close) your monthly net income. If it doesn’t, go
back and check your formulas.
f. MOVE onto STEP 3
STEP 3: Now you need to figure out your monthly expenditures so you can
figure out how much money you will have to spend on your monthly items
such as the apartment, car, and food. (Compute ALL #’s before you find an
apartment.
a. In cell C13, type in the following equation =B13/12 in cell C13.
b. For the rest of the monthly dollar amounts, go to that specific row (14,
15, 16, etc) and divide the number by 12. For example, =B14/12
=B15/12 and so on.
c. NOW you can LOCATE an APARTMENT
(3) Find an Apartment Go to www.apartments.com
Where is your apartment located? ____________________________________________
How much does it cost per month? __________________________________________
Will you be SHARING with another classmate? If yes, please list who you are
sharing with _______________________________
If you are sharing, your portion must be 50%. How much will your portion of
the rent be? __________________________________________
NOW, go back to your budget spreadsheet. Once you have located an
apartment record your actual $ amount in cell D13. Any difference you need
to record in column E. You can use it on your car, food or move it somewhere
you would like.
(7) Find a Car Go to www.carmax.com
YOU WILL BUY A USED CAR, THE CAR MAY BE NO OLDER THAN 3 YEARS.
YOU WILL BE FINANCING YOUR CAR – WHICH MEANS YOU ARE MAKING
MONTHLY PAYMENTS.
What type of car did you buy? Make, model, and year.
How much does it cost? This is the RETAIL PRICE. (MSRP)
To calculate the amount of the loan, go to the websites I have provided above
and look for the FINANCE, THEN TOOLS & CALCULATORS & enter the
following information. 1) Vehicle Price 2) Sales Tax=7 3) Interest rate=5
These numbers will allow you to calculate the monthly payments.
What are your monthly payments? __________________________________________
For how many months will you be paying these? _____________________________
What is the total cost of payments = your monthly payments * months you
will be paying? __________________________________________
How much money will you pay in INTEREST for the loan? ____________________
(HINT: This number is the TOTAL COST of all monthly payments MINUS
RETAIL PRICE = INTEREST).
NOW go back to your budget spreadsheet. Once you have found a car and
figured the monthly payments record your actual $ amount in cell D14. Any
difference you need to record in column E. You can put this extra money
anywhere you would like.
(32) Food Budget.
In the lower left corner of your budget spreadsheet, click on the meal plan tab.
Create a sample menu for the week. What will you eat/drink for each meal?
Will you make your own meal or eat out?
When you are finished, click on the grocery list tab make a grocery list of all
the items you will need to make that food. At this point you need to go grocery
shopping. Use a shopping website like www.peapod.com While peapod is
convenient, it is a little more expensive. Once you find the price of each item,
type the price on the Grocery List spreadsheet.
When you’ve completed the dollar listing of each food item you need to find the
total of your grocery shopping experience. Start by clicking in the cell below all
of your prices (Should be different for everyone). Type this =sum(). Now click
in between the parentheses. Then click on the first price and highlight down to
the final price. Push enter. This is the amount of your grocery bill for a week.
Write your weekly grocery bill amount here _______________. To estimate your
monthly grocery bill, multiply your weekly grocery bill by 2.5. Write that
amount here _______________. Now click on the budget tab. Enter the amount
of your monthly grocery bill on the spreadsheet in cell D15. Is your grocery
bill within the budget you determined on the budget page?
THE LAST TWO PAGES ATTACHED ARE A FINAL DRAFT. THIS DRAFT
SHOULD BE NEAT AND CLEARLY WRITTEN.
IN ADDITION, YOU WILL NEED TO WRITE A ONE-PAGE SUMMARY, SEE
THE QUESTIONS TO ANSWER ON THE FINAL PAGE OF THE PACKET.
Name ____________________________________
Class period _______________
PERSONAL BUDGET – FINAL DRAFT
19 POINTS
(3) Part A: Finding a Career
Occupation __________________________________
Salary _________________
Education/training needed __________________________________________________
(9) Part B: Calculate your Budget
Step 1:
Gross Income __________________________ Taxes _____________________________
Net Income ____________________________
Step 2:
How much money is budgeted for these categories:
Housing
Food
Automobile
Utilities
Entertainment
Savings
Clothing
Miscellaneous
Health Care
30%
15%
20%
10%
5%
5%
4%
5%
6%
______________________ ____________/actual monthly amount
______________________ ____________/actual monthly amount
______________________ ____________/actual monthly amount
__________________________
__________________________
__________________________
__________________________
__________________________
__________________________
(3) Part C: Finding an Apartment
Where are you living? (City/state) _________________________________________
How much is your rent monthly? __________________________________________
How much is your rent annually? _________________________________________
(4) Part D: Finding a Car
Make, model, and year of the car _____________________________________________
Cost __________________________ Monthly payments ___________________________
Length of payments _____________________ Interest on the loan ________________
SUMMARY
17 points
On a separate sheet of paper, write about your experiences. Your ONE PAGE
MINIMUM paper should be typed, 12-point font, and double-spaced.
Answer the following questions:
Why did you choose this career and lifestyle? EXPLAIN
Can you afford to live on this income? Explain why or why not. (What are you
doing to be able to live on this budget)?
What did you learn about choosing a career? Finding an apartment? Buying a
car?
What changes would you make if you could? Why?
Explain what you thought was the most valuable part of this assignment?
TURN IN THE BUDGET WORKSHEET AND FINAL DRAFT. YOUR PAPER
SHOULD ALSO BE STAPLED TO THESE PAGES THAT YOU HAVE BEEN
WORKING ON FOR THE PAST WEEK.
(6) Quality of Work
Effort displayed – YOU’VE DONE YOUR BEST
Neat and legible
High quality of work
PRINT & TURN in THE FOLLOWING:
THIS 6-page budget project
Each of the 3 spreadsheets (budget,
meal plan, & cost list)
1-page summary
(10-12 pages total)