College and Career Readiness
Cost of Living Project
Name ______Date ______Period ______
Okay, so you have graduated from high school and now you’re an “adult” so you have to find a job because you’ve moved into an apartment with your best friend and now you have to pay for your own life. Let’s figure out how much money you actually have every month ;) Take out your calculator or you can do the math on a scratch sheet of paper.
The following were popular jobs mentioned in class.
Fast Food / Starbucks / Target / Stater Brothers(Cashier) / Home Depot / Red Robin
Hourly Income
Monthly Income
Yearly
Income
Now, you’re going to highlight the job that you have chosen from the above choices (except for Red Robin).
- How much money do you make an hour? ______A week? ______A month? ______A year? ______
- The amount of money you make before taxes is called ______
We will be working on a monthly budget, so use that number. Be prepared – there are a lot of deductions, but this is reality.
- Take your monthly income of $ ______and subtract the following amounts.
- Federal Taxes ______
- State Taxes ______
- Social Security ______
- Medicare ______
- Health Insurance ______
- Total = ______
- The amount of money you make after taxes is called ______
And now we’re going to take out even MORE deductions…YEA!
5. New Total $ ______
Using your new total, subtract the expenses below. Remember that you’re sharing an apartment so your expenses for this section have been cut in half already.
- Rent ______
- Electric/Gas ______
- Water ______
- Trash ______
- Total = ______
Total from previous page $ ______
6. The following deductions are all yours.
- Car ______
- Car Insurance ______
- Gas (for your car) ______
- Food ______
- Clothes ______
- Fun ______
- Cell phone ______
- Total = ______
7. After everything is paid, I have $ ______left over every month.
8. Yearly, I have $ ______left over.
9. What might “fun” refer to in #6? Think about what you buy that doesn’t fall into other categories. ______
10. “Savings” was not a category above, why would you need to have a “savings” if everything is already paid for? Give examples. ______
11. How do you feel about having that amount of money left over every month? Explain. ______
______
12. Is there something you could do to adjust your income or expenses? ______
______
13. What does this project tell you about life (money, spending, responsibilities, etc.)? ______
______
______
14. What would you add or change about this activity? Give at least two examples. ______
______