BDA1
Budgeting quiz
1. At the grocery store, you can save money by buying:
A. Pre-seasoned meat
B. Pre-cubed meat
C. Plain cuts of meat
2. Will having a loyalty card get you in debt?
A. Yes
B. No
3. Which of the following is not a smart way to stay on budget?
A. Delay paying off credit card debt
B. Make a grocery list
C. Use cash
4. Pay as You Go mobiles are cheaper than Contracts.
A. True
B. False
5. What is a discretionary expense?
A. An expense that you may or may not need depending on your
situation
B. An expense you want but don't need
C. An expense you need but don't want
6. De-icing your freezer reduces electricity bill?
A. Yes
B. No
7. In case you lose your job tomorrow, about how much should you have
saved in your emergency fund?
A. Enough to live comfortably for 2 – 3 days?
B. Enough to live comfortably for 2 – 3 weeks?
C. Enough to live comfortably for 2 – 3 months?
8. It’s easier to budget if I pay my utility as and when, rather than bothering
with a Direct Debit.
A. Yes
B. No
©2015 Citizens Advice
Basic budgeting handouts/Sep16/v2
Citizens Advice financial capability
Weekly spending diary
Outgoings
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
Saturday
Sunday
Item and
Amount (£)
Item and
Amount (£)
Item and
Amount (£)
Item and
Amount (£)
Item and
Amount (£)
Item and
Amount (£)
Total
©2015 Citizens Advice
Basic budgeting handouts/Sep15/v1
Citizens Advice financial capability
BDA2
Attitudes to cash
Read each situation below and mark which option, A to E, most applies to you.
Situation
A
B
Some friends are
coming around in
the evening: do
you…
Get a takeaway?
Buy some
ready meals?
Cook a
complete
meal?
Cook a basic
meal?
Get them
all to bring
something
What do you
think about
money?
You never
think about
it
You get by
You feel that
you should
manage it
better
You’re pretty
good at
managing it
People ask
you for
advice
Saving money
is…
Something
others do
Impossible
Something
you aim to
do
An important
part of looking
after your
money
The whole
point to life
Your attitude to
retirement
savings is
You’re not
saving you’re too
young
You keep
thinking
about it but
don’t start
You have
started a
pension
You’ve worked
out how much
you need to
save
You try to
save as
much as
you can
How often do you
borrow money
from friends and
relatives?
You always
seem to
owe them
money
From time to
time
Rarely
Never
They
always
borrow
from you
Buy what
you fancy
Have an idea
of what you
want but get
side tracked
Make a list
but don’t
stick to it
Make a list and
stick to it
Buy
whatever is
cheapest
Spending
makes it
feel worse
When shopping,
you like to...
C
D
E
When something
goes wrong in
life, what does
shopping do for
you?
Makes it all
better
Takes your
mind off it
Does not
really help
I don’t go
shopping just
because I’m
upset
What is your
main aim in life
when it comes to
money?
Don’t really
have one
Buy whatever
you want
Have enough
to treat
yourself
regularly
Know what’s
coming in and
going out
regularly
Save as
much as
possible
No idea
what you
have spent
Added to
your
overdraft
credit cards
or loans
Spent what
you have
earned or
claimed in
benefits
Worked out
next week’s
income and
out goings
Saved as
much as
possible
At the end of the
week you have...
©2015 Citizens Advice
Basic budgeting handouts/Sep15/v1
Citizens Advice financial capability
BDA4
Money Personality Quiz
1. Do you know how much money you have in your
purse or wallet?
A. Yes – to the nearest penny.
B. Yes – to the nearest pound.
C. I have a vague idea.
2. Do you know how much money you have coming in
each week or each month?
A. Yes, I know exactly.
B. Yes, to the nearest £10.
C. Yes, to the nearest £50.
3. At the end of the week or the month have you:
A. Spent most of your money but have a bit put aside in case of
emergency?
B. Spent all of your money and sometimes just a little bit more than you
can really afford to?
C. No idea how much money you have spent?
4. If you lost your job, you could live independently for:
A. 6 months.
B. A couple of months.
C. A couple of weeks, tops.
5. You inherit £10,000. What do you do with the
money?
A. Invest and save.
B. Pay off all your debt.
C. Buy something you really want.
6. When you get your income do you:
A. Put a little aside, and budget the rest to pay for priorities.
B. Spend it on things that you need to pay, and spend the rest on things that
you want.
C. Take it all out and spend it, but usually there is not much left to last you
until your next money.
©2015 Citizens Advice
Basic budgeting handouts/Sep15/v1
Citizens Advice financial capability
7. Do you save money:
A. Every week, even if it’s just a little bit.
B. When you have spare cash.
C. Never.
8. When it comes to saving money:
A. I really enjoy saving. In fact, I spend a lot of time and
energy thinking about how to save.
B. I have trouble saving money, and l worry about it sometimes.
C. I know I ought to be saving, but I never seem to be able to.
9. When I’m feeling down in the dumps:
A. Thinking of ways to make more money makes me feel better.
B. Spending money does not cheer me up.
C. l always spend money to cheer me up.
10. If I won a million pounds in the lottery, l would be:
A. Very happy. I would start thinking about how to invest
my winnings.
B. Wildly excited. From now on I could buy anything I
wanted.
C. Totally overwhelmed. I would have no idea how to
handle it.
©2015 Citizens Advice
Basic budgeting handouts/Sep15/v1
Citizens Advice financial capability
Spending
Diary
Saturday
t
a
h
W
What
nt
a
W
I
I Ow
What
e
Total
I Need
Sunday
t
a
h
W
What
nt
a
W
I
I Ow
What
e
Total
I Need
Monday
t
a
h
W
What
nt
a
W
I
I Ow
What
e
Total
I Need
Tuesday
t
a
h
W
What
nt
a
W
I
I Ow
What
e
Total
I Need
Wednesday
t
a
h
W
What
nt
a
W
I
I Ow
What
e
Total
I Need
Thursday
t
a
h
W
What
nt
a
W
I
I Ow
What
e
Total
I Need
Friday
t
a
h
W
What
nt
a
W
I
I Ow
What
e
Total
I Need
Total spent...
On What I Need:
On What I owe:
On what I want:
Total spent
this week:
1. Take advantage of cashback and reward credit cards.
Barclaycard's Freedom Rewards card is giving £30 worth of vouchers when you
spend £300 on the card in the first three months. Santander's 123 credit card
offers account holders 3% cashback on fuel, 2% cashback in department stores
and 1% cashback at supermarkets.
2. Recycle old mobile phones, DVDs, CDs and clothes.
3. Use comparison sites to find the cheapest supermarket prices.
4. Use balance transfer credit cards to transfer debt from your current
credit card that charges a high rate of interest, to one that charges 0%
interest.
5. Buy own-brand goods at the supermarket.
6. Cancel your gym membership and opt for pay-as-you-go if there is a
strong likelihood that you will stop going.
7. Bulk-buy foods that don't go off, particularly if they are on offer.
An open or unopened bottle of tomato ketchup can last up to a year in your
cupboard, so if you go through a lot of it, bulk-buying would save you money.
8. Switch energy suppliers.
Households could save up to £300 if they switch energy suppliers, but millions
don't. In fact, only 14% of homes change their gas and energy tariff each year
even though the process is simple.
9. Use discount websites to save on days out.
Sites like groupon.co.uk, vouchercodes.co.uk and wowcher.co.uk, to name a few,
offer daily deals and discounts on events, activities, travel and restaurants.
10. Cycle/walk to work (if possible) rather than drive or take the tube.
Factsheet
Did you know these 50 tips to save money?
11. Grow your own herbs.
Keeping pots of herbs in your kitchen can save you money on having to repeat
purchase packs of herbs. Growing from seed can be even more cost effective.
12. Pay less for your holiday in 2015.
13. Find cheap flights for your holidays next year.
14. Rent a new dress rather than buy one.
If you have a big event coming up but don't want to fork out for a new outfit
you'll only wear once, there are a number of websites you can go to hire a new
dress, for a fraction of the cost of a brand new one. GirlMeetsDress.com has
hundreds of dresses to search through, and for around £50 you can rent a
designer dress (often retailing for hundreds of pounds) for two nights, or pay
slightly more for seven nights.
15. Share travel to cut costs.
You can join websites like liftshare.com or GoCarShare.com to meet other
people who wish to share long-distance travel in order to cut costs. Drivers and
passengers can benefit from travelling together, with the driver getting
contributions for petrol costs, and the passengers saving on expensive train
fares.
16. Open a savings account.
17. Go without a TV licence.
A TV licence costs £145.50, but do you need one? If you watch catch-up TV you
do not need a licence, so BBC iPlayer, Channel 4 on Demand and ITV Player are
all free to use if you are watching shows that have already been broadcast.
There are concessions in place for those aged over 74 and for partially sighted
people.
18. Use a slow-cooker for cooking stews.
Using a slow cooker to make a stew is both easier, you can leave it to stew while
you're at work all day, and cheaper. It costs around 10p to use a slow cooker for
around eight hours, while using an oven will cost far more at 30p for one hour.
19. Do online surveys in your spare time and earn money.
MoneySavingExpert.com lists the 20 best survey sites on the web. Number one
is Ipsos and number two is Swagbucks. Both are free to join.
20. Check to see if your children are entitled to any benefits, including free
school meals and school uniform.
21. Make sure your child isn't paying tax on their savings account.
22. Don't buy bottled water, fill up a re-usable bottle with tap water.
23. Make your own drinks.
Making your own juices and smoothies with a blender or juicer will save you the
expense of buying these drinks in the shops.
24. Find the cheapest way to spend abroad.
If you go on holiday in 2015 make sure you are careful with your overseas
spending. Pick a credit card that doesn't charge an ATM fee for withdrawing cash
abroad.
25. Stock up on Christmas decorations now.
Christmas themed wrapping paper and decorations went on sale around
Christmas Eve/Boxing Day, so stock up now and save on the cost next year.
26. Have a dry January.
If, according to recent figures from the Office for National Statistics, you are an
average UK household that spends £15.20 a week on alcohol, by not drinking for
the entire month of January, you could save over £60.
27. Use supermarket loyalty cards.
People are using their loyalty cards less, according to research conducted in
August, but using a supermarket loyalty scheme could save you money on your
weekly shop.
28. Patch up worn clothes instead of throwing them out
29. Use a spreadsheet to budget your household finances.
Make a spreadsheet on Microsoft Excel adding up every household expense you
will have to pay, including mortgage/rent, groceries, transport, utility bills,
insurance, phone bills and everything else to ensure you don't overspend.
Google "house budget template" for more help.
30. Turn electrical appliances off when not in use.
31. Use energy-saving gadgets to cut costs.
32. Swap books rather than buy new ones.
Once you've read a book, you can swap it with someone else for a book of theirs
that you haven't read yet, rather than paying for a new one.
33. Pay your children to do jobs around the house.
Get your children to earn their pocket money by doing their bit around the
house. Cleaning the house/car, taking the bins out, ironing some clothes or
walking the dog will save you money on professional help, and will teach your
children the value of money.
34. Make your own meals rather than buy takeaways.
Save money on buying takeaways, which you can make yourself or buy from the
supermarket much cheaper.
35. Avoid the January sales.
Even though you might feel like you're getting a bargain, it is likely you are
buying something you never really needed, and would never have bought in the
first place had it not been on sale.
36. Check out websites for freebies.
Go to websites like Gumtree.co.uk or Freecycle.org for free bits of furniture, old
electronics, books, clothes and other unwanted items.
37. Shop at discount supermarkets rather than higher-end ones.
38. Use coupons.
A teenager from Essex found fame for "Extreme Couponing" which saw him pay
4p for a £600 shop at Tesco.
39. Rent out a spare room.
40. Cut down on the cost of car insurance.
Comparing premiums is easy on online comparison sites.
41. Try and rope your neighbours into a "sharing economy".
Families can save hundreds of pounds a year by being part of the “sharing
economy” which embraces everything from recycling second-hand goods
through to hiring them out to other families on your street or hosting parties
where guests bring a range of items to swap.
42. Sell old comics, postcards and other investment pieces.
If you have annuals hidden away in your attic, old toys stashed under your bed
or music memorabilia tucked away in your garage, you could be sitting on a lot
of money. Old Beano and Dandy annuals have recently sold for up to £20,000 at
auction, retro postcards could be worth up to £400 if you're lucky.
43. Buy a 'passive' fund over an 'active' one.
If you are an investor, buying a "passive" or "tracker" fund is typically much
cheaper than buying traditional funds, as there is no need to pay a professional
to manage your money.
44. Collect loose change and pennies in a jar and cash them in at the end of
the year.
Without even realising you could have saved £40 or £50.
45. Get cashback for shopping online.
Cashback sites like Quidco.com or Topcashback.co.uk give you cashback on your
purchases once you have created an account with the respective site. You can
browse high street and online retailers using the websites and once you buy an
item, you will receive a percentage of the value of your shopping as cashback
which will be paid into your account.
46. Follow retailers on social networking sites like Twitter.
Amazon, ASOS, eBay and Debenhams are some of the retailers who tweet about
their latest deals or sales on their website and in store.
47. Pay attention to your smart meter.
48. Don't waste food.
The average UK household wastes £470 worth of food each year, or £700 for a
family with children. This is equivalent to around £60 each month.
49.
50.
BDA9
Sales Jargon
Do you understand what the following common retail terms mean? What do you
need to be wary of?
Limited editions
Unlimited texts/minutes/internet
Buy One Get One Free
Free Warranty
Free Guarantee
Lifetime Guarantee
No hassle refund
Interest free credit
Loyalty card
Store card
Price match
Up to 50% off
©2015 Citizens Advice
Basic budgeting handouts/Sep15/v1
Citizens Advice financial capability