Balancing Your Checkbook

Once you finish school, you will have to get a job so that you can earn money. Most companies pay their employees on either a weekly, biweekly or monthly basis. Many youngsters think that they will be able to spend all of the money that is in their paycheck. This is not true however. Each month a person has expenses that need to be taken care of. For example, when you begin living on your own you will need to pay for food, rent, insurance (health, life, car), gas, electricity, telephone and etc. The activities on this page are going to help you learn how to balance your checkbook each month and to find out how much of your paycheck you will really be able to spend each month.

 What we are going to do is pretend that you really are living on your own now. You have a job and you live in an apartment of your own so you have many expenses. I am going to tell you what your checking account balance is at the beginning of one month. I will also tell you how much your paycheck is for (remember it probably will not be as much as you were expecting because taxes are taken out), and I will also give you a list of bills that need to be paid. What you have to do is figure out what your checking account balance is after all the bills are paid and find out how much of your paycheck you really will be able to spend.

(In the activities below, you can find out if the answer you have found is right by clicking on the question.)

 So let's get started. First, let's talk about your paycheck. Your salary is $25,000 a year.  How much money do you earn each month?

So now you know how much you earn each month, but that is not actually how much money your paycheck is made out for. Each month, 15% of your paycheck is given to the government for taxes.  How much money are you actually being paid each month?

Each month, you have bills to pay. Here is a list of your bills for this month:
 

•  Rent: $600.00
•  Electricity: $42.33
•  Water: $15.92
•  Phone: $31.46
•  Car Insurance: $36.89
•  Gas (for car): $54.32
•  Food: $343.96

 After all of your bills are paid, how much money do you have left?

Each month, you try to put $200.00 in your savings account, just in case you should need it for an emergency. After you have put $200.00 into your savings account, how much money do you have left to use as spending money for the month? What percentage is this of your original salary?