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4.4 Budgeting Tools

By Jennifer Pariseau
Last updated about 2 months ago
25 Questions
Note from the author:
OBJECTIVES & STANDARDS
Math Objectives
  • Write equations that represent real life scenarios
Common Core Math Standards
  • Link to all CCSS Math
  • CCSS.PRACTICE.MP4
  • CCSS.HSA.CED.A.1
  • CCSS.7.EE.B.4
  • CCSS.HSM
Personal Finance Objectives
  • Explore different budgeting apps
  • Create your own budget using a spreadsheet
National Standards for Personal Financial Education
Spending
  • 1b: Develop a budget to allocate current income to necessary and desired spending, including estimates for both fixed and variable expenses.
  • 1d: Evaluate the advantages of using budgeting tools, such as spreadsheets or apps
  • 9a: Explain how having a system for financial record-keeping can make it easier to make financial decisions.
DISTRIBUTION & PLANNING
Distribute to students
  • Student Activity Packet
  • Application Problems
OBJECTIVES & STANDARDS
Math Objectives
  • Write equations that represent real life scenarios
Common Core Math Standards
  • Link to all CCSS Math
  • CCSS.PRACTICE.MP4
  • CCSS.HSA.CED.A.1
  • CCSS.7.EE.B.4
  • CCSS.HSM
Personal Finance Objectives
  • Explore different budgeting apps
  • Create your own budget using a spreadsheet
National Standards for Personal Financial Education
Spending
  • 1b: Develop a budget to allocate current income to necessary and desired spending, including estimates for both fixed and variable expenses.
  • 1d: Evaluate the advantages of using budgeting tools, such as spreadsheets or apps
  • 9a: Explain how having a system for financial record-keeping can make it easier to make financial decisions.
DISTRIBUTION & PLANNING
Distribute to students
  • Student Activity Packet
  • Application Problems
Intro-Warm-Up
QUESTION OF THE DAY: What are the top 3 types of products/services Gen Z is most likely to splurge on?
Answer the Question of the Day then compare your answer to the chart on the second slide. Finally, answer the follow-up questions below.

What are the top 3 categories that Gen Z splurges on?

Do you know what your own budget breakdown is without estimating or guessing?

What strategies would you use to track your expenses?

Learn It
ARTICLE: The 6 Best Budgeting Apps
In the previous lesson, you were exposed to a number of strategies to create a budget. In this article, you’ll read about several different budgeting apps and how they can help you maintain your budget.

Imagine that you just graduated college and moved into your first apartment. Complete the table below to highlight which feature of each app would be most beneficial to you in this situation and the reason that you made that choice. When stating the budgeting method, you can choose from 50/30/20, Zero-Based, Cash Envelope, or Other.*Mint closed as of Jan 24*

Which app do you think would be best suited for your own personal budget right now? Explain why you made that choice.

Practice It
Writing Equations
Apps are a convenient way to keep track of your budget. However, they often cost money, they are not customizable to your needs and you are sharing your financial information with a third party. Spreadsheets are a great way to build a custom budget without running into these issues.
Let’s start by reviewing an essential math skill that we’ll need when we use spreadsheets to build a budget: Writing equations to describe a situation.
For each scenario, write an equation that uses the given variables.
Housing, food, and clothing are three major expenses. If they are represented by h, f, and c, write an equation that represents the total of all of your expenses, E._______
If your total expenses are represented by E and your income is represented by I, write an equation that represents the money that you have left over for saving and debt reduction, S._______
If you have 4 expenses w, x, y, z, write an equation to find the average of the expenses, A._______
You know that your total expenses are represented by t. If your clothes are represented by c, write an equation that calculates the percentage of your total expenses spent on clothes, P_______
Learn It
VIDEO: Creating a Budget in Google Sheets
Watch the video on creating a custom budget in Google Sheets. Follow along and pause the video as needed

Create your own version of this custom budgeting spreadsheet and paste a link to the budget below. (and include a screen shot in the show your work) *Start from scratch using a google sheet*

Practice It
ACTIVITY: Comparing Budgets
Raffi and Lily have been saving receipts from all of their recent purchases. They also saved their most recent pay stubs. Below is a list of their receipts for the most recent month.

With a partner, you will be comparing their spending by making a zero-based budget for Raffi and Lily. One person should make a budget for Raffi while the other makes a budget for Lily. Remember that in a zero-based budget, every dollar should be assigned to a category. You can add new categories or change existing ones if needed, but both budgets should have the same list of categories to make comparison easier. Use the budgets to answer the questions below. *Add a screen shot of your budget below*

Who spent more money on food costs this month?

Raffi received a birthday gift of $200. Should this be included in his monthly budget? Why or why not?

Who was able to assign more money to savings?

The 50/30/20 budget rule says that you should try to assign 20% of your net income to savings, debt reduction and retirement goals. Did either have enough money left after paying their wants and needs to meet this 20% goal? (Calculate this by dividing any savings money by total monthly income and multiplying by 100)

Application
Level 1:
Finishing Farah’s Budget
Farah started her budget spreadsheet but needs your help. She entered all of her expenses and income but needs help with a couple of final tasks.
  1. Click on this budget and make a copy, then
  2. Add a row after Utilities and add an expense category for Homeowners Insurance at $109.
  3. Add a column to the left of Column E to create space between Expenses and Income
  4. Format the Expenses and Income columns to look like currency instead of plain numbers
  5. Add equations for:
-Expences Total in cell D17_______
-Income Total in cell H17 _______
-Difference in cell D20 _______
6. Submit a link to YOUR copy in messages below (make sure to share with anyone) AND Screen Shot in Show your Work.
What is the difference between Farrah’s Income and Expenses?_______

Give Farrah 2 suggestions about expenses that she could change that would help bring her budget out of the negative.

Farrah forgot to add her Hulu subscription to her budget! Which category would be most appropriate to put this money in?

Level 2:
Entering Eric’s Data
Eric is transferring his budget from a budgeting app to his own custom spreadsheet and needs help entering data and finishing his calculations.
Click on this budget and make a copy, then enter the information into the appropriate location.
  • Rent - $1950
  • Monthly Train Pass - $84
  • Health Insurance - $395
  • Streaming Subscriptions - $47
  • Renters Insurance - $12
  • Groceries - $613
  • Uber Rides - $71
  • Student Loans - $211
  • Doordash and Grubhub Orders - $110
  • Paychecks (after taxes) - $4300
  • Concert Tickets - $86
  • Gas/Water/Electric Bills - $306
  • Doctor Visit Copay - $25
  • New Clothes - $183
*Show your work you can mark off as you enter the data into the spread sheet.
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Once all of the data is entered in appropriate categories:
  1. Format Expenses and Income columns to look like currency instead of plain numbers
  2. Add equations to calculate Expenses Total_______ , Income Total_______ and Difference between income and expenses_______ .
  3. *Put a Link to your copy here _______ **make sure to share with anyone** AND screen shot into "show your work PUT LINK COPY IN MESSAGES

Looking at Eric’s final budget, it looks like he has extra money left over. Make a suggestion about where he can assign that money so that he meets the criteria of a zero-based budget.

If Eric wanted to figure out what % of his total expenses were being spent on Food, what spreadsheet equation would he type in (use cell references like B2 or H3 to write your equation)?_______
**Bonus**Extra 25 Formative Points for Uploading Spreadsheet & answering these three questions.
Level 3
Creating Caleb’s Budget
  1. Caleb needs your help making a zero-based budget.  He has his box of receipts and asks you to make a budget spreadsheet that meets the following criteria:
  2. Contains appropriate categories for expenses and income
  3. Formats all currency appropriately with $ and two decimal places
  4. Calculates the sum of all Income and Expense items
  5. Calculates the difference between total income and total expenses
  6. Calculates the % of total income that each expense category uses.  (Tip:  To calculate percent of net income, divide the expense by net income, then multiply by 100)
  7. Categorize each expense as NEED, WANT, or SAVING/DEBT REDUCTION
  8. Adds up all expense percentages into appropriate NEED, WANT and SAVINGS/DEBT REDUCTION categories
List of Receipts for one month:
  • Gym Membership - $40
  • Health Insurance with Dental and Vision Coverage - $516
  • Eating at Restaurants - $64
  • Money Made Delivering for GrubHub - $550
  • Car Insurance - $112
  • Hotel Room - $89
  • Student Loan Payment - $190
  • Coffee Shops - $93
  • Hair Cut - $22
  • Homeowners Insurance - $120
  • Music and Streaming Subscriptions - $88
  • Cable and Internet - $84
  • Groceries - $512
  • Full Time Job paychecks - $5,115
  • Gas for Car - $92
  • Cell Phone - $41
  • Mortgage - $2.215
  • Airline Flight - $245
  • Car Payment - $300
  • Concert Tickets - $40
  • Water/Electricity/Gas - $202

Upload Link to Spreadsheet & Screen Shot

The 50/30/20 budget rules says that about 50% of total net income should be spent on needs, 30% should be spent on wants and 20% should be spent on saving and debt reduction. What percentage of Caleb’s total income is spent on needs_______ , wants_______ , and saving/debt reduction_______ ?

Make suggestions about how Caleb can adjust his expenses to meet the criteria of 50/30/20.