The Real World Project

By: Aubrey Rupert and Faith Stempnik

1st Hour

15 December 2017
 Table of contents

Taxes, Savings, and Investments…………………………………………………………………1

Lodging…………………………………………………………………………………………..2

Furnishings……………………………………………………………………………………….6

Transportation………………………………………………………………………………….....8

Food……………………………………………………………………………………………...10

Clothing………………………………………………………………………………………….12

Personal Hygiene………………………………………………………………………………...14

Leisure and Miscellaneous………………………………………………………………………16

Summary Balance Sheet…………………………………………………………………………18

Reflection………………………………………………………………………………………...19
Taxes,savings, and Investments​:

Real World Taxes and Investment Sheet

Starting Annual Salary

Gross Income (Before Taxes) $28,000

FICA Taxes
Social Security (6.2%)
Multiply Salary Amount by 0.062 to get amount of
tax, then subtract that amount $1,736

Medicare (1.45%)
Multiply Salary Amount by 0.0145 to get amount of
tax, then subtract that amount $406

Federal Income Tax

Record Amount from tax form $2,258

State Income Tax

Record Amount from tax form $1,218

City Income Tax $0

Net Income (Income After Taxes) $22,382

Other Investments (Optional) $0

Disposable Income (Money Available for Living) $20,144

After taxes were completed for each partner, they each have $20,144 in disposable

income, making their total income $40,288 for the year. Although this does not seem like much,

it is above the poverty line for a household of two, meaning it is possible to survive. During this

project, they learned how to use this money in an effective way, budget, pay bills, and even how

to manage their time.

Lodging​:

Figure 1. Floor Plan

Figure 1 above shows the floor plan of the apartment that was chosen. This apartment

was chosen based off of size, number of bedrooms, location, and a monthly budget of $3,357.33

for all expenses. The rent each month for this apartment is $755, which includes water.

Figure 2. Electric Bill

The figure above shows an electric bill based off of a 1500 square foot house that has

four people living in it. To figure out the electricity bill for this apartment, the average daily
charge was divided by 2 because there is only half of the amount of people in the living space,

then divided by 1.57, which is 1,500/955, because the apartment is only 955 square feet. This

produced the average daily charge of $0.91, making the monthly payment approximately $27.68.

Figure 3. Gas Bill

Figure 3 shows a sample gas bill from a house that was 1500 square feet. The apartment

that was chosen is only 955 square feet, so the gas bill will be $70.82/1.57, which equals $45.12

per month. The 1.57 was calculated by taking 1500 and dividing it by 955.

Figure 4. Cable

The figure above shows the Netflix logo. This is because it was decided that cable was

unnecessary at this point, so $10 a month will be spent on Netflix instead.

Figure 5. Internet Plan

Figure 5 shows the internet plan that was chosen for our specific needs. XFINITY was

chosen due to its high ratings, the size of the apartment, price, and what we needed out of it. For

the internet, it is $24.99 a month, which is within our budget.

Figure 6. Phone Bill

Both partners have smartphones and would like an unlimited data plan. The cheapest and

best rated network that was found for these needs, was metroPCS at $60 per month.
Furnishings​:
Transportation​:
Food​:
Personal Hygiene​:
Clothing​:
Leisure, Miscellaneous​:
Aubrey Rupert

Mr. Karromi

Economics

15 December 2017

Reflection

The Real World Project is a very well thought out project. It taught students how to do

their own taxes, save money, create a budget, pay bills, manage their time, and how to determine

what the necessities in life are. Out of all the projects I have done in school, I can confidently say

that this one is one of the ones that I will remember. This is because it is an example of the

challenges I will face when I become a “big girl” and move on to the real world.

For this project, I decided to have a partner. I decided this for a few reasons. One reason

being, that in the real world sometimes you need a second opinion on certain things or just need

someone to help you make a decision, so I thought having a partner would accurately represent

this. Another reason was, we each had $28,000, so coming together we had $56,000 before taxes,

which made paying bills a little easier. The last reason is because this project was very large and

daunting, so having another person help with it made it slightly less stressful. Doing this project

with a partner was a very good decision.

Gathering data for this project was probably the most time consuming portion. We started

off finding an apartment to rent. Every month we had a budget of $3,357.33, so our apartment

had to be significantly less than this. We decided to not go over $1,000, and we eventually found

a two bedroom one bathroom apartment for $755 on a website called apartments.com , which
was perfect. After finding our apartment, we furnished it with only the necessities that we found

for very cheap prices on websites such as amazon and ebay. Next, we each found our cars. We

found cars that had around 100,000 miles, were around $2,000, and looked like they were in

decent shape. These parameters gave us two cars, a 2003 Ford Focus ZTS Sedan for $2,990, and

a 2003 Mitsubishi Eclipse GS for $2,950, both of which we will pay a monthly bill for. The

amount of gas we needed was determined by taking 12,000 miles for each car dividing by the

mileage of each car, then multiplying by the price of gas, which was $3.00. Then, we found

sample found bills from our parents for electricity, gas, and car insurance. These are explained in

Figure 2, Figure 3, and in the car insurance picture part of transportation. The other bills, cable,

internet, phone, etc. were found in various ways. Cable was deemed nt useful, so we purchased a

Netflix subscription for $10 a month. Internet is very important to my partner and I, so we

decided to go with XFINITY, which is a little more trustworthy than other providers. Phones are

very expensive, so we found the best deal for a two person plan. After this, we made a grocery

list with inexpensive “college food”, and all of our personal hygiene products. We tried sticking

to off brand products because they were cheaper, but for a few items such as goldfish, we went

with name brand. Clothing and leisure/miscellaneous were the last two categories that we had.

We had a lot of money left over, so we found items that were more expensive and higher quality.

Clothing is very expensive, but my partner and I both love shopping, so we allowed for a very

large budget. Leisure/miscellaneous was probably the most fun section. Concerts, vacations,

presents, and other activities and expenses are important to us, and we had approximately $5,000

dollars left, but we wanted to save around $2,000, so we planned everything with a budget of
$3,000. At the end of the project, we ended up having $1,435.01 left, which will be put into a

savings account.

The Real World project was a great project, but I feel as though it could be better. I think

that instead of having the students do it mostly at home, we should have done it more in class so

that way we could ask more questions and maybe have help with budgeting certain factors. Also,

maybe we could learn how to actually pay bills instead of just theoretically paying them. Other

than that, I learned a lot from this project that will stick with me forever.