Your budget for teenager worksheet should be a place to teach about financial responsibility and it should inspire your teenagers to make wise choices. It is not an excuse to give up and allow your teenager to skip the day care.
Many children and teens can be troubled by a lack of financial responsibility. The fact that money is tight and the bills are mounting, it can be difficult for a child to understand how much money is available in a month and what needs to be done with it. This may include debt or even simply meeting their basic needs.
Any financial responsibilities must be put into place before the finances start. This includes recognizing the amount of money needed for food, clothing, books, activities, etc. if a child is in need, then the parents need to put forth a plan and implement that plan for the child. Once the plan is implemented the responsibility to keep the money in the family tree should be shared.
A teen-budget worksheet is a great tool to help determine the child’s needs and establish the amount of money available in the household budget. These worksheets should be used as a guideline and not a rule book. It should encourage responsibility but also never be an excuse to ignore bills or pay for things that are not necessary. They should help the child to feel good about being in charge of their own financial future.
They should have some questions on each page so that the parents can get the budget down to the bare bones so that they can make a comparison and see which necessities are out of the question. These needs should include clothing, meals, entertainment, school supplies, etc. A few questions will help with the determination of the funds needed. For example, “What can I do with this extra money?”
This question should prompt the parent to see if there is enough to cover the minimum amount of each item. This helps the child understand that they should try to get more for things that they really need. If not, they can begin to shop around for things that may meet their needs.
This might include buying a sweater that was on sale because it had the shirt on the dress code list as certain needs that were met. Parents will want to look at each budget for a teenager worksheet to determine what items they can eliminate or cut back on. Perhaps the budget for a teenager worksheet does not include enough clothing for the school year, so parents may need to go to the local thrift store to find the school clothes for next year. This can help get the entire family moving in the right direction.
A budget worksheet is a great tool to teach children about the different areas in life that they need to be responsible for. It can show them what they need to watch and also what they need to know how to do.
