Budgeting Activities

Activity 1
Diana Pender is a landscaper. Her
husband, Paul, is a radio
sportscaster. They completed the
budget sheet below, using records
of their past expenditures. Use the
budget sheet to answer the 10
questions below.

1. How much are the Penders total monthly living expenses?

$2,600
2. What is the total of their monthly fixed expenses?
?
3. What is the total of their annual expenses? (Listed in the middle of the 2nd column)
$17,200
4. What must they set aside each month for their annual expenses?
Life insurance
5. What are their total monthly expenses? (Add living, fixed and monthly share of annual)
$2600
6. Do the Penders live within their monthly net income?
yes
7. What individual expenses would the Penders find difficult to reduce?
Clothing, credit card, phone, tv
8. What percentage of the Penders total monthly net income are the monthly living
expenses and fixed expenses?
73%
9. What is the monthly share (%) of annual expenses? (annual expenses paid per month
divided by monthly income)
20%

10.Look at the Penders budget. Are they doing a good job budgeting? Do you have any
recommendations for them?
They should cook for themselves and stop using so much money on un-needed expenses.
They

Now its time for you to make your own budget

Instructions:
First, decide what period of time you are budgeting for. Look at your spending log!!
Next, estimate your income (from jobs, allowance, gifts, etc.) for that period of time. Write
these items in the Description column (A), and the amounts in the Income column (B).
After entering any income, add that amount to the total money you have available (D). That is
how much money you have available now.
Identify each of your expenses during that time period.
For each expense, ask yourself if its fixed or flexible. Is it a want or a need? Enter this in
column E when applicable.
After entering each expense (A and C), subtract that amount from the total money you have
available. That is how much money you have available now (D).
Decide how much money you will save during this time period. Enter this as an expense (C).
Consider what you will do with any extra money you have available after you have identified all
the items you will buy.
Decide what you will need to do if you dont have enough money available for all the items you
want.

Your Name

Column B

My Budget for:
(time period)

Week(s) of

Description (A)

Income (+)

Expense (-)

Available (D)

Expenses
only:
Fixed or
Flexible &
Want or Need