Budgeting Unit

In this activity, students will be able to...

• Recognize and categorize common variable expenses
• Reflect on budgeting strategies for variable expenses

In this activity, students will be able to: 

• Move around the classroom to discover how prices change over time
• Consider how inflation impacts personal finance decisions

In this activity, students will be able to: 

• Move around the classroom to collaboratively build a basic budget including saving, student loans, housing, car payments, food, entertainment, and more
• Consider the tradeoffs that must be made in order to build a budget that meets your needs and reflects your values

Spanish Translations!

Spanish version(s) of student materials linked in the activity under "Materials & Prep".

In this activity, students will be able to: 

• Understand how the average American budget breaks down into different categories and expenses
• Compare four different budgets based on the same after-tax salary
• Move around the classroom in a fun budgeting-themed competition!

In this activity, students will be able to:

• Explain the concept of inflation
• Identify goods and services related to the Consumer Price Index (CPI)
• Analyze the CPI report
• Hypothesize how the CPI report will look in the future

In this activity, students will be able to:

• Demonstrate how consumers’ income and preferences, prices of substitutes, and number of consumers in a market can affect demand

In this activity, students will be able to:

• Discuss what makes a currency strong
• Demonstrate how an exchange rate between two currencies works
• Apply what they’ve learned to a real-life situation

In this activity, students will be able to:

• Discuss what inflation is
• Compare today’s purchasing power of the U.S. dollar to previous decades
• Learn how inflation relates to wages

In this activity, students will be able to:

• Demonstrate shortages and surpluses, analyze what happens when they occur
• Discuss how shortages and surpluses can impact our daily lives

In this activity, students will be able to:

• Discuss how shrinkflation affects consumers
• Create their own plan to downsize a product in hopes that consumers won’t notice the difference

In this activity, students will be able to:

• Get up and out of their seats to identify various budget expenses amongst different categories
• Discuss with classmates about their reasoning for their team's categorizations

In this activity, students will be able to: 

• Examine a number of cartoons about the challenge of identifying needs vs. wants and choose one to analyze in more depth
• Explain the cartoon's key message about needs vs. wants and how it depicts that message

In this activity students will be able to:

• Create a budget to meet a predetermined savings goal
• Manage tradeoffs when making purchasing decisions 

In this activity students will be able to:

• Simulate living for a month with a $1000 budget
• Make decisions between which expenses they can afford to pay and which to sacrifice
• Read information and facts about unemployed Americans living through poverty
• Available in English & Spanish

[This activity has no answer key]

In this activity, students will be able to: 

• Experience what it is like to use a budgeting and financial planning application using the Intuit Mint Education Simulation  

NGPF is pleased to share this online simulation created by Intuit Education. For tech questions regarding the simulation, please contact Education@intuit.com. To access Intuit Education's curriculum and other resources for the Mint Education Simulation, simply download the toolkit provided on the webpage linked below.

[This activity has no answer key]

In this activity, students will be able to:

• Identify which factors are most important to them when comparing options for three different products
• Conduct research on different options available to them from various vendors to find the best product for them
• Explain how comparison shopping can be a useful strategy when making a purchasing decision

In this activity, students will be able to:

• Determine an appropriate amount to budget for housing
• Find an apartment that balances affordability, amenities, and proximity to public transport in a city of their choice
• Avoid common pitfalls and hidden fees associated with renting an apartment

In this activity, students will be able to:

• Prioritize budget items to determine their needs vs. wants.
• Consider how their values and budget ultimately determine how they spend their income.
• Available in English & Spanish

In this activity, students will be able to:

• Choose a US city to compare cost of living and economic growth measurements.
• Compare data with classmates and choose which city would be best for them.

In this activity, students will be able to:

• Research the cost of utilities for an apartment in the city of their choosing.
• Prioritize to fit their budget.

In this activity, students will be able to:

• Follow multi-step directions to complete a full adult budget including housing, transportation, food, insurance, student loans, etc.
• Reflect on the adult budget they’ve completed and assess how their choices impact their lifestyle.

In this activity, students will be able to:

• Read an electricity bill
• Identify various elements of an electricity bill, such as year-to-year electricity use by month, taxes, and supplier billing details

In this activity, students will be able to:

• Read a residential lease
• Identify various elements of a residential lease, such as length of lease, rent, and utility details

In this activity, students will be able to:

• Assume the role of roommates deciding how to split costs of a shared apartment
• Focus on negotiation, clear communication, and budgeting with a spreadsheet
• Available in English & Spanish

In this activity, students will be able to:

• Plan a potluck Friendsgiving dinner
• Comparison shop for ingredients
• Create an expense report via spreadsheet to track their “spending"

[This activity has no answer key]

In this activity, students will be able to:

• Work in a group to plan a spring break college vacation
• Complete a budget and slideshow
• Present their vacation in competition with the other groups in the class for best trip

In this activity, students will be able to:

• Track their spending (using a spreadsheet) for a defined period of time
• Track their spending a second and third time using small interventions aimed and reducing their spending
• Reflect on their process as well as on spending habits as a whole
• Available in English & Spanish

In this activity, students will be able to:

• Take on the role of a character who is soon to be married
• Practice reconciling their finances with a partner on a variety of topics in their financial lifestyles, such as housing, debt, etc.
• Reflect on the importance of having a conversation about finances with a spouse or partner

In this activity, students will be able to:

• Explore how to adopt new financial strategies when you have a side gig.

In this activity, students will be able to:

• Do research on car costs such as purchase price, loan payment amount, insurance, fuel, and maintenance.
• Compare these costs to their estimated monthly take-home pay.

In this activity, students will be able to:

• Research various online tools and apps pertaining to payments, saving, budgeting, and robo-advising to discover and compare their features
• Identify the tools they would like to use in the future 
• Reflect on why online financial tools and apps have increased in popularity

[This activity has no answer key]

In this Case Study, students learn the basics of budgeting, from setting priorities, creating a savings goal, tracking spending and learning about tradeoffs required to achieve financial goals. They take on the role of a peer providing financial advice and learn to develop various strategies.

• Available in English & Spanish

In this case study, students will take on the role of a trusted friend helping to create a budget and make an important financial decision. Students will analyze current spending, assist in creating a budget, and offer suggestions for how to manage a variety of financial stressors.

In this activity, students will be able to:

• Calculate unit price for grocery and houssehold items.
• Consider the advantages and disadvantages of buying bulk items with a lower unit price.

In this activity, students will be able to:

• Graph a linear equation representing budget tradeoffs between different purchases.
• Write linear equations in standard form based on word problems using possible real-world budgets.

In this activity, students will be able to:

• Calculate percentages using a variety of real-world budgeting scenarios.

In this activity, students will be able to:

• Use composite functions to identify how to to get the best deal when shopping.
• Solve for the cost of item after applying specific coupons and discounts.

In this activity, students will be able to:

• Use the exponential change function to calculate the loss of purchasing power due to inflation over time.
• Write exponential functions from word problems.

In this activity, students will be able to:

• Use exponential functions to model the depreciation of a car’s value over time.
• Write exponential functions from word problems.

In this activity, students will be able to:

• Analyze stacked bar graphs
• Compare the number of households experiencing food insecurity across different income levels

In this activity, students will be able to:

• Analyze and interpret data regarding the increase in price of consumer goods compared to the increase of average wages

In this activity, students will be able to:

• Analyze and interpret data regarding the minimum and living wage of different states

In this activity, students will be able to:

• Analyze and interpret data regarding the USDA's lowest recommended food budget and compare it to other food plans

In this activity, students will be able to:

• Analyze a stacked bar graph comparing daily spending by age.

In this activity, students will be able to:

• Analyze the changes in different goods and services over the last 20 years.
• Compare the change in the price of different goods to overall inflation during the same time period.
• Categorize which types of goods have increased and decreased in price and hypothesize reasons for those changes.

In this activity, students will be able to:

• Analyze survey results on what income level people consider rich, poor, or neither.

In this activity, students will be able to:

• Analyze a pie chart of how the median household budget breaks down.