QS1-4
Quantitative
Problem Solving
Cutting Expenses
Multiplication, addition, subtraction
Mary spends €180 more per month and €2160 per year than her budget
allowed. How can Mary cut her expenses?
Example: Mary needs to cut her expenses.
Problem: Mary spends €2.50 per day during the week on a coffee.
How much would she save if she stopped getting her coffee at the coffee
shop?
Solution: €2.50 x 5 days x 52 weeks = €650
Mary would save €650 per year.
Calculate how much each person would save by cutting back on the following
expenses.
1. Michelle pays €85 per month for a fitness membership that she rarely uses.
How much money can she save in one year if she quits the fitness centre?
2. Luke buys about 3 packs of cigarettes per week. Cigarettes are €10.50 per
pack. How much money can he save in one year if he quits?
3. Anne goes out to lunch every Friday. On average she spends around €18
each time. How much money can she save in one year if she stops going out
for lunch each week?
4. Joe buys his son a Powerade each time his son plays soccer. The Powerade
costs €2.
His son usually plays 3 times a week for a half year. How much money can Joe
save if he brings water from home for his son instead of buying Powerade?
5. Jackie usually downloads at least 4 movies a week. Each movie costs €5.
How much money would she save in one year if she decided to rent only 2
movies per week?
6. Lisa likes to go to one movie per week. She usually spends €8 on her ticket
and €10 on a drink and popcorn. How much money would she save in one year
if she went before 6pm when the price of a ticket was €7 and she didn’t have
any snacks?
7. Ken really likes his lattes, but they are costing him a fortune. He spends
€2.75 each work-day for a large latte. Ken works 5 days a week. Ken really
needs to cut back on spending so he has decided to only get a small latte at the
cost of €2.20. How much money will Ken save over the course of one year?
8. Alice likes to have wine with her dinner on Friday and Saturday night. She
usually buys two bottles of wine for the weekend. She really needs to cut back
on spending. She decides to buy only one bottle per week. On average a bottle
of wine costs €10.
How much does she save in one year?
9. Lori often takes a taxi instead of taking the bus. On average she takes 3 taxis
a week at a cost of €25. The bus would cost her only €6 a week. How much
money would she save in one week?
One year?
PDM2-5
Decision Making
Choice
10. What can you cut back on in your life to save money? Choose one thing
and calculate how much money you can save.