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Making Your First Budget

  • Grades 3-5
  • Life Skills & Career Paths
  • JS:FD-3
  • Money & Banking
  • Free lesson

Aligned to JS:FD-3 — Jump$tart National Standards in K-12 Personal Finance Education & Advance CTE Career Clusters.

What this lesson teaches

A budget is a plan for money you expect to have, written down before it arrives. It has two sides: what comes in and what goes out. If the out side is bigger than the in side, the plan does not work, and it is much better to find that out on paper.

Worked examples

Example 1

In: $20 allowance for the month. Out: $8 for a game, $5 for snacks, $5 to save. That leaves $2 unplanned, which is a working budget.

Example 2

If your out column adds to $25 against $20 in, you have to cut something. The paper caught it before the money ran out.

Example 3

Leave a little unplanned on purpose. Something always comes up, and a budget with no slack breaks the first week.

Practice questions

  1. Write a one-month budget for $30 of income.
  2. Your expenses total more than your income. Name two things you could cut.
  3. Why is it useful to leave some money unplanned?

Watch the lesson

Every lesson comes with a video taught in English and Spanish — the same video the QR code in the printed workbook opens.

▶ Watch this lesson

En español

Tu primer presupuesto

Un presupuesto es un plan para el dinero que esperas tener, escrito antes de que llegue. Tiene dos lados: lo que entra y lo que sale. Si el lado de lo que sale es mayor, el plan no funciona, y es mucho mejor descubrirlo en papel.

Ejemplo 1: Entra: $20 de mesada al mes. Sale: $8 para un juego, $5 para botanas, $5 para ahorrar. Quedan $2 sin planear, y ese presupuesto funciona.

Ejemplo 2: Si tu columna de salidas suma $25 contra $20 de entradas, tienes que recortar algo. El papel lo atrapó antes de que se acabara el dinero.

Ejemplo 3: Deja un poco sin planear a propósito. Siempre surge algo, y un presupuesto sin holgura se rompe la primera semana.

More Money & Banking lessons

Save, Spend, Give: Splitting Your MoneyJS:SS-1What a Bank Is and What a Savings Account DoesJS:SS-2

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