My Spending Plan

A good spending plan has three basic characteristics:

1. It lists all of your sources of income.
2. It lists all of your expenditures, or expenses, and how much money you plan to spend on each expense.
3. It’s realistic. This quality is the most important. Your spending plan must be realistic in order to work.

Now that you’ve learned about the parts of a spending plan, it’s time to create one. To create your plan, start by listing your monthly income and expenses. Remember, these totals must match! Keep working on them until they do. 

Spending plan worksheet

Monthly Income	Amount
Allowance	$
Job (take-home pay, after taxes)	$
Gifts	$
Tips or bonuses	$
Chores or work at home	$
Chores or work for others (babysitting, mowing, pet sitting, etc.)	$
Interest (money the bank pays you for keeping your money there)	$
Other income	$
Total monthly income	$

Monthly Expenses	Amount
Savings	$
Personal (cosmetics, haircuts, clothing)	$
Eating out/snacks	$
School functions (activities, prom)	$
Sports fees and hobbies	$
School fees and supplies	$
Transportation (bus or subway fare, parking, gas, car payment)	$
Car insurance	$
Cell phone or pager	$
Other expense:	$
Other expense:	$
Investments	$
Donations (charitable giving)	$
Total monthly expenses	$

Discussion questions:

1. Why should your income and expenditures balance?
2. If your expenses are greater than your income, what are your choices?
3. If your expenses are less than your income, what are your choices?
4. Why is it important to budget money in the first place?
5. What happens to some people who make poor choices about budgeting?
6. Why might saving and investments be listed separately on the expense worksheet?
7. What are the best ways for teenagers to really learn how to budget money?
8. Why don’t more teenagers take saving and investing seriously?