Money Management

I really don't mean to monopolize this blog, but we had a fun activity on Wednesday night that was a good way to help the young women understand the importance of budgeting their money so I wanted to share it.

One of the last lessons in the manual is on Money Management and we aren't going to get that far before the end of the year.  It's an important concept and so we decided to teach it at a midweek activity instead.   I used this activity idea 2 or 3 years ago with my kids and adapted it a little for the young women.

In a nutshell, I gave them this scenario:  You are married with two kids.  Only one of you works.  You have two cars and a mortgage.  You make $40,200 per year which is $3,350 per month.  Then I gave them (as a group) $3,350 in Monopoly money.  From there, I had them choose slips of paper out of a little basket.  The slips each contained one typical expense.  As the girls took turns drawing the slips, they would pay me the amount of money indicated.

To start, there was one slip colored yellow that said, "Pick me first."  I made sure they started with that one:

A few of the girls wondered what this first one would be.  They decided it must be taxes.  When they opened it and read, "Tithing:  $335," their reaction was, "Oh, of course!"  We had a brief discussion about paying tithing first.  Then they took turns pulling slips from the basket and paying the required amount of money.

The other slips contained the following categories:  fast offerings; savings; Federal and State income taxes;  auto registration, fuel, insurance, and service; electricity/gas; trash; telephone, internet, cell phone(s); water/sewer; groceries; household expenses (non-food); housing (mortgage); property taxes; homeowners insurance; health insurance.

When we got done with these, they were at $0.  (I didn't plan it that way, that's just how it happened to work out.)  I then threw a few more slips in the basket that just contained categories (no dollar amounts) of the things they wouldn't be able to afford - at least this month - and we read through those:  other charitable donations; magazine subscriptions; Christmas; Birthdays; clothings; hobbies/crafts; education; entertainment; memberships (clubs, gym, etc.); music, dance, sports; vacation.

It was eye opening. I told them that I didn't do this to scare them. They initially thought that $3350 a month sounded pretty good but now they weren't so sure! (For the record, I assured them that I know from personal experience during our lean graduate school days that it's possible to live happily on much less and stay out of debt!) I pulled out my scriptures and we read 3 Nephi 13:32:  For your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. (Isn't that a great verse?)  Then we backed up and read vs. 31-33. Again, we discussed tithing and the importance of putting the Lord first and the blessings associated with that. Sister Swensen shared a powerful testimony of tithing from her days as a single parent.  We also discussed Jacob 2:18-19 and the message contained there. I think it was effective and hopefully will help the girls to be realistic and wise as they plan for the future. I hope they will learn to trust in the Lord and to know that He is aware of their needs and that His promises are sure!