Determine your weekly income and expenses

  1. ​​​​​​​​​​​Set ​​Goals completed
  2. Determine ​​Income
  3. Fixed & ​Variable not completed
  4. Savings Plan not completed
  5. Reach Your ​Goals not completed

Now that Sam knows what he wants, he needs to know how much money he really has.

Sam first makes a chart like the one below, it has two ​columns, one that says "Income" a​nd one that says "Expenses"

IncomeExpenses
   
   
   

"Income" is any money that Sam earns this week. am gets $20 every week for his allowance, he also had a birthday and his aunt Mary gave him $15, and his mom gave him an extra $5 for helping Sam’s neighbor to carry in her groceries. These things are all listed under "Income" and Sam writes a note next to each one, so he knows what they are later.

IncomeExpenses
Allowance $20
Birthday Money $15
Helping Out $5

Next, Sam writes out his "Expenses," expenses are any money that Billy has spent during the past week. On Monday Sam bought a candy bar for $1; Wednesday he paid $3 to ride the bus to the zoo; and on Thursday Sam bought the latest video​ game he wanted for $35, which he thought was a good deal since it was on sale.

IncomeExpenses
Allowance $20 Candy $1
Birthday Money $15 Bus Ride $3
Helping Out $5 Video Game $35

Sam looks at his chart, and he adds up both columns separately to get ​his total "Income" and total "Expenses"

IncomeExpenses
Allowance $20 Candy $1
Birthday Money $15 Bus Ride $3
Helping Out $5 Video Game $35
Total$40 Total$39

Sam had a total income of $40 dollars this ​week, and total expenses of $39; that ​means ​he has $1 left.

Make a list of your weekly income and expenses. How much did you have ​​left over?


Continue on to Step 3:
Determine what is "Fixed" and what is "Variable"