Single vs Dual Income Budget: High School Financial Literacy Budgeting

This high school financial literacy project lets your students tackle a real-world budgeting decision families make: should both parents work, or should one stay home to do childcare?

Students will use critical-thinking and problem-solving skills as they work with these realistic budgets (single income budget vs dual income budget).

This task can show your students in 9th, 10th, 11th, or 12th grade how financial literacy and math skills can be incredibly useful in everyday life!

How to Use:

1. Print five pages for each student.

2. Go through the first page together and introduce the family in the simulation. Students use the income and income tax information to calculate the net income.

3. Give students time to add up the monthly expenses in each budget (single-income vs dual-income). Discuss what expenses change when both parents work and if those seem reasonable or not.

4. Have students complete the calculations to compare the two budgets on the fourth page. NOTE: In this simulation, there is almost no difference in money left over if both parents work since the extra income is used to pay for childcare, a second car, a cleaner, etc. That does not mean this is always the case!

5. Use the prompts on the fifth page to have a class discussion about this topic. Then, students write their final opinion in a paragraph to sum up their learning. They may have ideas for how to change this budget or scenario to make having both parents work be more financially beneficial.

6. I have included blank spreadsheets as well if you want your students to create their own budgets using salaries and expenses from your geographical area.

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

• Teacher Instructions

• Introduction to Kat and Alex and their family

• Single-Income Budget Spreadsheet (with expenses included)

• Dual-Income Budget Spreadsheet (with expenses included)

• Comparison of the Budgets Worksheet

• Reflection (with discussion prompts)

• Two Blank Budget Spreadsheets (single and dual income)

• Complete Answer Key

Grades to Use With:

Grades 9-12 General Studies or Grades 11-12 Special Ed

• Family and Consumer Sciences/Family Studies

• Life Skills

• Applied Math or Consumer Math

• Career and Personal Planning

• Financial Literacy

Math Skills Required:

Only intermediate math skills are required to complete this project:

• Adding & subtracting money amounts to the hundred thousands (salaries)

• Dividing by 12 to find monthly amounts (with decimals)

• An understanding of integers