Budget Dilemmas: Middle or High School Financial Literacy & Budgeting

This engaging middle or high school personal financial literacy lesson lets your students in 7th through 12th grade work with 3 realistic budgets. In each budget scenario, they will find a budget dilemma (ranging from overspending to paying for house repairs to a getting a bill for a health problem) and use their math skills to balance the budget.

What’s Included: 9-Page PDF: Ready to Print and Use!

6 budgeting worksheets for 3 realistic situations:

• A single employee who is overspending each month

• A family of 3 who have an unplanned home repair

• A university student who is facing a health issue

A complete answer key is also included so there is no guesswork!

How to Use:

1. Print six pages of worksheets for your students.

2. Go through the budget included on the first page. Have your students total the spending (by hand or with a calculator).

3. On page two, students will determine if the person is spending more than they make or saving extra money each month, and how much.

4. Then, students will work to try to balance the budget. They will have to reduce spending in some categories. A new budget spreadsheet is provided to be used. This task is open-ended as there are endless ways to make the budget balance. You can provide constraints if you wish, such as reducing the spending in at least two different spending categories.

5. After the final dilemma, students can write a reflection about what they learned about budgeting by completing these activities.

6. A complete answer key is provided with two different ideas for how students can balance each of the 3 budgets.

Classes to Use With: This financial literacy task is designed for students in grades 7 to 12 in General Studies or Grades 11 to 12 in Special Education in a variety of classes:

• Family and Consumer Sciences

• Applied Math or Consumer Math

• Financial Literacy

• Life Skills

• Career and Personal Planning

Math Skills Required:

Grade 6 and 7 math skills are required to complete these tasks:

• Adding money amounts to the thousands of dollars (with decimals)

• Dividing by single-digit numbers

• An understanding of integers for balancing a budget