Dollars and Sense

Introduction

You have been surviving on meager funds for most of your life. You have been depending on parents and the generosity of others to support you. You may even have held a job in a fast food restaurant or a store. Times are about to change! Imagine you have just awoke from a deep sleep. You have been magically beamed 15 years into the future. You have survived high school and even have completed college if you so choose. Your life is now yours to create. Your mission is to make financial decisions that will allow you to live within a budget. However, there are some rules.

1) all decisions must be legal and ethical

2) your budget must be realistic

Task

Your task is to make household decisions regarding career choice, living arrangements, and monthly expenses. You must decide upon a career, where you are going to live, the car you are going to drive, and miscellaneous expenses. All of these choices must be made while keeping your monthly budget in mind. You will fill out a monthly budgeting worksheet and the choices worksheet and hand this in for a grade. This project is intended for beginning budgeters so do not fret if your budget does not balance at the end of the month. Quite often this happens when we are all starting out and we have to make adjustments to our budget. We are focusing on the process of making choices and determining how those choices affect us. Print the following worksheets to proceed with this project.

Monthly Budget Worksheet

Auto Procedures

Choices Worksheet

Housing Abbreviations

Have fun!

Process

Part I: Choosing a Hometown

You must decide upon a city and state within the US that you are going to live. Often we have to decide upon where we want to live based upon the size of the city or town, the climate, and activities that the city or town offers. Research the cities and towns from the choices listed below. Then decide which area you would like to live in based upon the information you have found. Click on the links below to retrieve information about your new hometown.

http://www.lachamber.org/aboutla/factsheet.html - Los Angeles, CA

http://www.chicagolandchamber.org/default.asp - Chicago, IL

http://www.nycp.org/ - New York City, NY

http://www.dcchamber.org/visiting/default.asp?whatpage=plan - Washington, D.C.

http://www.denverchamber.org/area/visitor/index.htm - Denver, CO

http://www.kcchamber.com/coming2kc/coming2kc.htm - Kansas City, KS

http://www.lvchamber.com/las_vegas/index.htm - Las Vegas, NV

http://www.phoenixchamber.com/out_Relocate.cfm - Phoenix, AZ

http://www.visitconnecticut.com/mystic.html - Mystic, CN

http://www.kodiak.org/explore.htm - Kodiak, AK

http://www.bigcanoe.com/ - Big Canoe, GA

http://www.kvcog.org/cambridge.html - Cambridge, MN

http://www.northmeck.com/ - Lake Norman, NC

http://www.southhavenmi.com/ - South Haven, MI

http://www.fortchamber.com/ - Fort Atkinson, WI

http://www.simplyfredericksburg.com/local.shtml - Fredericksburg, VA

http://www.el.com/to/hermiston/ - Hermiston, OR

http://www.seattlechamber.com/infocenter/visiting.cfm - Seattle, WA

http://www.fmchamber.com/areainfo/quality_of_life.htm - Fargo, ND

http://www.greatermiami.com/gmcc/home.asp - Miami, FL

Part 2: Choosing a Career

It is time for you to choose a career. Decide from the list below what field you will be entering. Research the career at the link given for the city you chose. You may also choose a career that is not listed below as long as it is realistic and legal/ethical. After you decide upon a career, fill out the career portion of the worksheet. You will need to find the job desciption and salary. Please remember that this is a one month project so you will need to divide your salary by 12 months to determine your monthly income because often the salaries are based on one year. If your salary is paid in hourly wages, please determine the amount of hours required for your position and multiply your hourly wage by the number of hours you will be expected to work. Also, remember the pesky tax man gets 25% of your salary/wages, so make sure that when you figure out your monthly income that you make this accomodation.

• Accounting
• Agriculture, Forestry, and Fishing
• Arts and Entertainment
• Automotive
• Construction and Installation
• Education
• Executive and Management
• Fire, Law Enforcement, and Security
• Government
• Health Care-Practitioners
• Media-Print
• Military
• Real Estate
• Skilled and Trades
• Sports and Recreation

http://salary.hotjobs.com

Part 3: Find A Place to Live

Since you have become accustomed to staying dry during a rainstorm and having a place to live, you must find shelter. Explore your local paper to find an apartment or a house to live in. Keep in mind the cost of your housing when deciding. While you may really like the idea of having a jacuzzi in you apartment, that may be out of your price range. A good measure: your housing should account for no more than 30% of your monthly income after taxes. Please fill out the housing section of your worksheet by describing what your housing looks like. Example: 2 bedrooms, living room, 1.5 bathrooms, and garage.

http://www.latimes.com/classified/realestate/rentals/ - Los Angeles, CA

http://realestate.post-newsclassified.com/- Denver, CO

http://classifiedhomes.ctnow.com/hartford/index_quicksrch.jhtml - Mystic, CN

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/realestate/?front - Washington, D.C.

http://www.miami.com/mld/miami/classifieds/real_estate/ - Miami, FL

http://www.azcentral.com/class/realestate.html - Phoenix, AZ

http://www.chicagotribune.com/classified/realestate/renting/- Chicago, IL

http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/classifieds/real_estate/ - Kansas City, KS

http://www.lasvegasnewspapers.com/realestate/ - Las Vegas, NV

http://realestate.nytimes.com/rentals/searchindex.asp- New York City, NY

http://www.in-forum.com/classifieds/ - Fargo, ND

http://classifieds2.nwsource.com/classified/rent/- Seattle, WA

http://www.madison.com/class/index.php?cat=3 - Fort Atkinson, WI

http://fredericksburg.com/Classifieds/searchReport?catgroup=101 - Fredericksburg, VA

http://www.hermistonherald.com/classifieds/classifieds.cfm - Hermiston, OR

http://www.ecm-inc.com/classifieds/ecmclass.html - Cambridge, MN

http://puffin.ptialaska.net/~aibi/rentals.html - Big Canoe, GA

http://www.northmeck.com/realestate.html - Lake Norman, NC

http://www.kodiak.org/bizdir/realtors.html - Kodiak, AK

http://www.southhavenmi.com/movingto.htm - South Haven, MI

Part 4: Buy A Vehicle

Your next job is to purchase your transportation. Choose a vehicle from below and by clicking on them you will be linked to pricing information. If you choose the Ford truck, within the website you must choose "Build and Price" and then the"Build Your Own" option to get a price. If you choose the BMW, choose a model from the top of the page and find the MSRP for that model. If you choose the Jeep, on the left hand side of the website, scroll over the model for the price. If you choose the Neon, in the website scroll over the model types on the right hand side of the site, under the picture. For this assignment we will assume that you will need to secure financing for the vehicle and that all participants will own their own vehicle not take the bus or a taxi cab. To determine your monthly car payment click on the link given below. Please fill in the Buy a Vehicle section of the worksheet. Determine the total cost of the vehicle as well as the monthly car payments and fill in the space given. Also, answer the questions on the worksheet that deal with the owning a vehicle.

http://1000bestlenders.com/bestlenders.html

Part 5: What Are My Miscellaneous Expenses?

In addition, to finding a place to live and buying a car, there are other expenses that come with living on your own. Some of the expenses listed are luxury expenses such as cable or a cell phone. Only you can determine whether it is worth it to have these extras. On your budget worksheet, be sure to enter in all necessities and all non-necessities you have chosen to get an accurate budget.

Cable (want) - $47 a month

Electricity/Energy (necessity) - if one bedroom, $20 a month; if two bedroom, $30 a month; if three bedroom, $50 a month; if house, $75 a month.

Home Phone (necessity) - $75 a month for local and long distance

Cell Phone (want) - $40 a month

Insurance(car and house)- $50 a month

Gasoline (necessity) - $60 a month

Food (necessity) - $100 a month

Personal Items (necessity) - $30 a month

Clothes (necessity) - $75-$200 a month

Internet Access (want) - $15 a month

Spending money (necessity) - $50-$200 a month

Evaluation

Your evaluation is to hand in the worksheets that you have been working on throughout this project. Your grade will be based on whether or not you have completed the worksheets. Also, let's hope that you do not lose points for not following the rules. Remember?....be realistic and be ethical/legal.

Conclusion

Congratulations you have just successfully made it through the first month on your own! While some of you had a perfectly balanced budget, most of you probably had a few (or many) snags along the way. That's OK, that is what real people deal with in real life. Did you purchase a car that you could not afford? Did you rent a three bedroom house rather than a one bedroom apartment? Did you spend too much money on clothes or things that were not necessary such as cable TV or a cell phone? These are issues that all self supporting people deal with everyday. Let's get into a group discussion and determine what you would change, what decisions were good, and what you would do over again.

WebQuest designed by Angela Ketter and Emily Bausman

University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, Fall 2002