"Managing money: income, expenses, and budgeting"

Classify each item in Nora's piggy bank money as income or expenditure, and within expenditure, as fixed (the same every month) or variable (changes): (a) weekly allowance; (b) monthly bus pass; (c) a comic book; (d) birthday money from her grandparents; (e) chess club membership fee; (f) popcorn at the movie theater.

The figure shows Emma's income and expenditure over the four weeks of a month: each green bar shows her income for that week and each amber bar shows her expenditure.

1. a) Read the total income and total expenditure for the month from the graph, and calculate how much Emma saved.
2. b) In week $3$, she earned more than usual (she was paid for babysitting her cousin). Explain what would happen to her savings if Emma spent that extra income as soon as she received it.

Explain the difference between income and expenses, and between a necessary expense and a non-essential one. Classify these expenses from one week: the bus fare to school, a movie ticket, the daily afternoon snack, a $\$3$ phone game and the materials for a required school field trip.

Define what a budget is and name its three basic parts (expected income, expected expenses, the difference). Explain why a budget is made BEFORE the month and not after, and what is done with it at the end of the month.

A crêpe stand has these transactions on the day of the fair: buying ingredients $\$45$, selling crêpes $\$130$, stand permit $\$15$, starting cash drawer money put in and taken back $\$20$. Calculate the day's result (income minus expenses) and explain why the starting cash drawer money counts neither as an expense nor as income.

The school's charity market handles $\$800$ in cash in a single day. Design the cash register control system: how much initial float and who signs for it, how each sale is recorded (or each withdrawal of excess cash), who looks after the money in shifts, how the register is closed out by two people, and what is done if the count doesn't match the sales recorded. Explain why these controls also protect whoever handles the money.

Explain what saving is and the rule "pay yourself first" (setting the savings aside when you receive your allowance, not at the end of the month). With an allowance of $\$25$ a week and a saving goal of $20\ \%$, calculate how much you set aside each week and how much you will have in $10$ weeks.

A simple budgeting rule splits income as follows: $50\ \%$ for needs, $30\ \%$ for wants, and $20\ \%$ for savings. Apply it to an allowance of $\$60$ per month and calculate each portion. Then classify these real monthly expenses into the three categories and state whether the month aligns with the rule: bus pass $\$20$, movies and going out $\$15$, school supplies $\$8$, headphones (want) $\$10$, savings in the piggy bank $\$7$.

Mateo receives $\$50$ a month. Set up his March budget with these items: transportation $\$15$, eating out $\$12$, entertainment $\$10$, saving for a scooter $\$8$ and unexpected expenses $\$5$.

1. a) Check that the budget balances and explain what a "zero-sum budget" means (every dollars has an assigned mission).
2. b) The scooter costs $\$120$ and he already has $\$40$ saved. Calculate how many months he has left at the current pace and propose two tweaks to the budget to get it two months earlier, stating what each one sacrifices.

The school market team made its budget, and the actual results turned out like this:

1. a) Calculate the variance of each item and the expected profit versus the actual profit.
2. b) Analyze the two main causes of the variance and write two decisions for the next budget (estimating prices using a real invoice, a pessimistic sales cushion).

The end-of-year school trip has a budget of $\$150$ per person. The proposed costs are: bus $\$40$, hostel $\$60$, activities $\$45$, and trip T-shirt $\$20$.

1. a) Calculate how much they go over budget and what percentage this excess represents.
2. b) Prioritize the costs (essential, important, non-essential) and propose two specific cuts to keep the trip at $\$150$, justifying what is lost with each cut.

The end-of-year trip budgeted $\$45$ per student for $35$ students. When closing the accounts: the bus went up $\$80$ because of fuel, $3$ students pulled out (no longer refundable: $\$135$ of their places lost) and the hostel discounted $\$50$ for being a large group.

1. a) Calculate the initial total budget and the total actual spending, and the deviation in dollars and percentage.
2. b) Decide how to share out the deviation (absorbing it with the class fund, charging a supplement, cutting a $\$60$ activity) and defend your option both to those who pulled out and to those going.