Assignment

Have you ever wondered what it is like to be an adult, have a job with a salary, own a car and a home, and have a family? Well, here's your chance. You can buy the car you've always dreamed, own a home, and spend money on the things you'd like to do, BUT you must stay within your budget.

In this project you will put together a real-life budget. You will also be using the Internet searching skills you have learned to find a car, home, and other expenses. Finally, you will learn how to use Microsoft Excel to organize information into a spreadsheet and create graphs.

1. You will pick 2 salary cards from your teacher. These will be the salary of yourself and your spouse. Make sure to write these down on your copy of the Expense Worksheet.
2. Using the salary amounts you received, you will decide on occupations for yourself and your spouse. Use the website for finding salaries in the resources section.
3. Spin the "child wheel", and record the number of children you will have on your worksheet.
4. To begin, use the calculations section to determine your budget for each of the following expenses:

• taxes
• housing
• auto
• medical
• food
• utilities
• clothing
• personal
• savings
  
  

5. Next, use the resources section of this Web site to put together your actual budget. Make sure to record your expenses on the Budget Expenses Worksheet. This should be completed by the end of Week One.

6. Then you will need to create an Excel spreadsheet. This needs to be completed by the end of Week Two.

7. Next you will create 3 graphs using the numbers in your spreadsheet.

8. Finally, compose a summary. Your entire project is due at the end of Week Three.

You will be graded according to this grading rubric.

Click here to download a copy of the Budget Project Checksheet (PDF file)