Bell Ringer Activity

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Bell Ringer Activity
Turn to the Bell Ringer section of your notebook
and answer the following questions
How do you earn money?
On what do you spend your money?
Do you have enough money to do everything youd
like?
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Personal Spending Records and Budgets
February 6, 2006
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Too Much Debt Its a Bad Thing
America is a heavily indebted society. The Gross
National Debt is currently over 8 TRILLION and
increases 1.62 BILLION per day.
For every dollar America collects in taxes,
FIFTEEN CENTS goes towards paying the interest on
that debt.
Presently, every American residents share of
the governments debt is approximately 27,000.
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Its Not Just the Government
Individual consumer debt has recently passed 2
TRILLION.
The average household share of that debt is
over 18,500.
Credit card debt, the debt with the greatest
interest rates, accounts for 8,400 of the
average households debt.
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Why So Much Personal Debt?
Americans are spending more than they are earning.
For every dollar coming in, Americans spend 1.22.
Look at the math if you earn 50,000 per year,
your annual deficit is 11,000. Add compound
interest thats a lot of money to owe!
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How Can We Get Rid of Debt?
We need to know what we are buying.
We need to budget our income.
We need to stick to our budgets.
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Personal Spending Records
A spending record tells us what we have spent our
money on.
Good spending records are detailed, honest, and
accurate.
Spending records are best managed on a monthly
basis.
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Activity Time! Spending Records
Get out John Smiths October 2005 Expenses.
Get out the Spending Record Worksheet.
File Johns expenses in the proper columns. Add
up the column totals.
What do you notice in particular? What strikes
you as being out of the ordinary?
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Weekly Assignment 3

• Starting today (Monday, February 06, 2006), I
  want you to record every item you buy, how much
  it costs, and then total by categories you find
  appropriate. For example say you go to the
  movies, this could either be under a specific
  movies category or a general entertainment
  category.
• This assignment is due one week from today, Feb.
  13th

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Personal Budgets
A personal budget is a future spending estimate.
A personal budget is based on personal income.
Combined with the personal spending record, the
personal budget makes an excellent spending guide.
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Activity Time! Personal Budgets
Get out John Smiths November 2005 Expenses.
Get out the Budgeting Record Worksheet.
File Johns expenses in the proper columns. Add
up the column totals.
How are Johns expenses tracking? Is he over
budget or under budget?
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Remember, Budgeting is Like a Diet
Sometimes, we want to cheat our diets and eat
that extra piece of cake.
If we dont burn that extra piece of cake off, or
eat less of something else, we gain weight.
Eating too much can lead to obesity, heart
disease, and high blood pressure.
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For Homework
Build an accurate personal budget for the
upcoming week. Base it on your actual income.
Write a three-page reflective essay describing
your spending habits. What surprised you the
most? What do you want to change?
Your budget and essay are all due on Monday
February 20, 2006
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