Spending Wisely Assignment 

Using the previous criteria list developed in class as well as other criteria for justifying purchases such as: getting 4 quotes from different stores online, specials vs. normal price, low/no shipping charges, money back guarantee, no tax, special gifts with order, etc., work the following scenario:

 Scenario

 You have been given $4000 dollars for your winter semester(6 months) at school, you must spend as close as possible to $4000 dollars without going over. You are renting a small room for $100 every two weeks. Each article bought must be justified using criteria learned during this lesson. You must purchase articles in each of the following categories: clothing, entertainment, food, health, school materials (notebooks, pens, pencils, etc.) and transportation. Remember to maintain a category for rent. Keep an Excel spreadsheet checkbook of all transactions made. Log all your transactions in Word and provide at least one criteria as to why you made your purchase as well as what category that purchase belongs to. Before making your purchases, create a sample budget of how you plan to distribute your money before you actually make a purchase. 

First,  submit the following: a planned budget with the different categories mentioned:

Example

Categories	Amount Budgeted
Rent	$1,200.00
School Items	$300.00
Food	$1,400.00
Personal Items	$200.00
Emergency	$200.00
Transportation	$100.00
Clothing	$250.00
Health	$200.00
Entertainment	$150.00
Total =====>	$4,000.00

Second, you must maintain an  Excel checkbook (Check#, Date, Description, Debit, Credit, Balance) with all fictitious transactions made and the final balance highlighted and bold, remember to include taxes and shipping & handling charges (if applicable).

Third, remember to keep a running list of all your transactions in Word with their criteria next to it. Example: 

 

Description	Category	Criteria
1/21 Purchased a pair of sneakers at Footlocker online http://footlocker.com for $69.99.	Clothing	Regular price of the sneaker is $89.99.
1/26 Purchased a pack of pens at Office Depot online http://officedepot.com   for $0.89	School Materials	List price is $3.71 and the price at Staples is $1.19.

   For Extra Credit: Create your own checks using Microsoft Word. Use the following sites to assist you while making your checks. Include the 10 parts of a check listed at the following site Parts of a check page http://lane.k12.or.us/~aallen/checkparts.html 

As a resource for your project, use the following web sites: 

Consumer Reports Page http://consumerreports.org/main/home.jsp .

Household Budget Management - http://dacomp.com/budget1.html  

The Dollar Stretcher Page- http://stretcher.com/index.cfm

Kid's Consumer Corner Thinkquest Page(This site gives a lot of tips with regards to smart buying and savings.)- http://tqjunior.thinkquest.org/3643/

Click on the bag of money to return to the Main Menu

Last modified 2/26/02 by Anthony Salcedo

TGBTG