You will create your own budget. First, you’ll need to determine the cost of housing in your community. For this exercise, don’t pick the least or most expensive house; instead, try and determine the average cost of a home to rent or to buy. You may want to use a Website that displays the sale and rental values of most homes, even those that aren’t for sale, in your area.
After you determine the average cost of a home, use the same methods to find a car you'd be interested in buying. Try and keep the cost of the car reasonable. After you've researched the car you're most interested in, use an online calculator to determine what the monthly payment would be to finance the vehicle. Most new vehicle finances are for a five year term or 60 month term.
All vehicles must be insured. You can find insurance rates by calling an insurance carrier or by using an online site and filling out some basic information. DO NOT provide sensitive and personal information on these sites. You are only looking for a quote to determine the cost of insurance. To do this, you may need to determine the minimum insurance coverage required by law in your state.
Next, determine the cost of gas. You can do this by researching the MPG of the car you wish to buy and determining the number of miles you believe you’ll drive each month. To perform the calculation, divide the number of miles you will drive each month by the miles-per-gallon (MPG) of the car you wish to purchase. Then multiply that total by the current cost of a gallon of gasoline. On average, people drive approximately 1,000 miles per month.
You’ll also need to determine the amount of money you want to save each month, the cost of groceries, clothing, gifts, incidentals, and extra expenses. You can use an online budget calculator to help you.
This exercise will help you to determine how much money you'll need to make each month to live within your means.
Finally, use the Story tool to list your expenses and determine a monthly total. Then describe some things you would have to do to make sure you lived within your budget. How would you control your spending? How would you decide what is important to buy and what is not?
When you’ve completed your own Project, search for Projects other students have completed about your topic and comment on their work. If you find a Project on a topic that you’ve researched, you may want to engage in a discussion about that topic with other students. Check your own Project often and reply to students that have commented on your topic.