Consumer Education Project

Consumer Education Project

• Worth 65 project/tests/quiz points
• All sheets must be completed
• All information/prices need to be supported with website or
where you got information.
• Keep track of resources on either a powerpoint or word
document incase I have any questions.
 Upcoming Schedule
•Monday (Today) – Employment & Work clothes
•Tuesday – Housing
•Wednesday – Transportation
•Thursday – Personal Items and Groceries
•Friday – Catch-up day/ summary
Next Week
•Monday – Summary/ Reflection
•Tuesday – Turn Project In
 Discussion Question 1:

•What does it mean to “budget” your

money? How can it help you save more
money/ use it more effectively?
Day 1
•Goal: Finish “Employment” and “Work
Clothes sheet”
 Employment
• Need to pick realistic position that you could obtain after graduating high
school.
• If you have any questions about if the job is “realistic” raise your hand.
• Must find position online using job search websites (such as
www.monster.com or careerbuilder, or indeed.com)
• Keep in account the “qualifications” needed. You will not have much work
experience.
• Stay away from commission based positions (ones which you rely on commission
from sales to support yourself).
• What level of education do you need?
• If position requires college you will have to calculate student debt payments with
your project.
Employment
• Field / Title – Example: Education / Teacher, Business / Manager
• Special training – Example: Truck driver, need special driver license.
Administrative Assistant, need basic computer skills and familiarity with
Microsoft Office (Word, Powerpoint, excel). Most job postings include this
in “skills” or “special skills”
• Level of education: High School Diploma? Associate Degree? Bachelor
Degree?
• Gross monthly salary = How much do you make before taxes
• If hourly wage is given and it is full time you take that hourly pay and multiply it by
40 (full time hours). You then take that number and multiply it by 4 (weeks in a
month)
• If yearly salary is given, divide that number by 12 (months in year)
Employment
• 6. What is 20% of your gross monthly salary?
• For this take your gross monthly salary and multiply it by .2
• Example:
• $3,000 gross monthly salary
• 3,000 x .2 = 600
• 20% of your gross monthly salary is $600. This is to simulate around how much you
would pay on income tax.
• 7. What is your average net monthly salary? (how much you would actually
take home each month).
• Gross monthly salary = $3,000
• 20% of gross monthly salary = $600
• $3,000 - $600 = $2,400
• $2,400 would be your net monthly salary. This is the figure you will use for Income: A
on the back of your packet (on the Summary sheet). Fill this in when you complete the
number
Employment
• 10. Will you be required to fulfill any other duties in
conjunction with this position?
• What extra responsibilities will you have?
• You will likely find this information in the “job summary” or
“professional/key responsibilities” in job postings.
• 9. Dress code for job
• Formal, Professional = Suits
• Business casual = Dress shirts, work pants (khakis, slacks)
Employment Continued
• Figure out the dress code for your job.
• Will you need suits? Khakis? Dress shirts? Dresses? Skirts?
• Do not forget about ties, belts, socks, makeup, dress shoes, etc.
• Look up cost of each item and add them up
• Must also include cost for washing or laundering your work clothes.
• If you only have a few work outfits you will have to do laundry more
frequently
• MUST wash/launder clothes, not optional
• If you wash them weekly, multiply that weekly price by 4 to get a monthly
cost.
Business Casual
Dress for Success (example)

• Total = $193 for one outfit

• Try and be cost conscious!
Discussion Question 2:
•Predict: What are some of the
biggest expenses you have to
pay when living on your own?
Day 2
• Goal:
• Finish Housing and Utilities

• If you have not finished employment and work clothes finish those
too! Do not let yourself get behind.
 Housing
• Choose where you will live, be realistic
• How long is lease?
• What type of housing will you choose?
• Monthly rent. This must be found using a website, such as
www.apartments.com or rent.com
• How much is the “security deposit”? (How much do you have to put down
to live there)
• Include utilities
• Gas
• Electric
• Telephone (this should be cell phone bill cost. You will NOT be staying on someone
else’s cell phone play, you need to get your own.
• Water (is this included in rent or a separate payment?)
• Cable/ Netflix/ Hulu/ Spotify/ Apple Music/ etc.
• http://www.apartments.com/
• Important to find an apartment or place to rent that fits in your
budget.
Utilities

•Cable – Average = $100

•Sling TV - $20 a month
•Netflix - $10 a month
•Hulu - $8 a month
•Spotify Premium - $10
•Apple Music - $10
• Electricity
• https://secure.comed.com/MyAccount/MyService/CustomerChoice/P
ages/BillEstimatorTool.aspx
Day 3 - Transportation
• Goal: Finish Transportation section.
Transportation
• Decide on the type of transportation you will use
• If you choose to use a car you must calculate all expenses with a car.
• Monthly payment on loan
• Insurance (https://www.nerdwallet.com/insurance/compare-car-insurance-rates
)
• Gasoline
• Repairs
• Maintenance (oil changes)
• Be cost conscious!
• Must find car on reputable website (ex. www.Cars.com )
Transportation
• Public transportation can help you save money
• Must calculate cost for total trip (is it one train ride, a train ride and
bus, what?)

• http://www.transitchicago.com/fares/
(using Cars.com) Click on “Calculate Payments”
• Use these calculations to
get your monthly car
payment.
• Use the number at the
top in your monthly “car
payment” spot
• http://www.ezcommute.net/calculator.htm
Day 4 – Personal Items and Groceries
• Goal: Finish Personal Items and Groceries sheets
Food/ Personal Items
• Need to make a menu of what you are eating weekly.
• Calculate cost of each meal and each day. All boxes of meal planning
should be included. Don’t forget about beverages, snacks etc. (If you buy
cereal you need milk, etc.)
• #2 on Food/ Personal Items include toiletries, kitchen products, etc.
• Need to buy all toiletries you use (shampoo, soap, conditioner, tooth brush,
toothpaste)
• What do you need for kitchen? Dish detergent, sponges, soap, etc.
• Additional Laundry costs, detergent, dryer sheets, etc.
• These can be found on websites such as www.amazon.com or
https://www.peapod.com/index.jhtml
 Groceries and Toiletries
•Groceries
•On average Americans spend around $250 a month
on groceries alone
•Toiletries add another $50.
•Laundry costs on average $20 a month
Day 5 - Totaling
• Goal: Add up all your totals and fill out your “summary sheet”
Totaling
• Include costs for “miscellaneous” items
• When finished with researching you should begin to add
all your “expenditures”.
• Be very careful with this step. Do the math a couple times to
make sure you have everything correct.
• Find the difference between income (how much you make)
and expenditures (how much you spend).
• You will be writing a brief reflection about the project
when you are finished.
 Day 6 – Make- Up Day/ Summary/ Reflection
• This is your final workday! Use today to ask any questions you
may have or to finish up any missing parts of your project.

• Goal: Turn in project!

• If you finish, write a reflection on the prompts you are given.

Reflection
•What has been most surprising about making
your own budget? (Were things more/less
expensive than you thought?, was there more
that goes into a budget than you expected?, etc.)
 Reflection
• When finished with project you will write a summary that
addresses the following questions:
• What did you learn? What was surprising?
• Did things end up costing more than you expected or were they
about what you thought?
• Did you end up having money left over when you totaled
everything up? What would you do with that money? (save it,
invest it, etc.)
• Did you end up having more expenditures than income? What
could you do to bring your expenditures down? (Live somewhere
less expensive, buy a cheaper car, use public transportation, etc.)
 Grading Criteria
• Total of 65 project points
• Project will be graded for accuracy both thoroughness.
• All pages should be filled out and double checked.
• Make sure you do each part and total everything up, making sure everything
is accurate.
• This can be a GREAT way to help improve your grade in this class.
Final Exam
•There will be a final exam for this class. It will
count for 20% of grade. A study guide will be
given later this week and we will spend time
reviewing for it Friday and Monday. Take this
seriously!
Other Reminders
•Any tests, quizzes, projects that are missing
need to be made up or turned in this week.
•You can makeup quiz during one of project
workdays.