How to Graph a Simple Household Budget

A household budget can be an effective way to control your expenses. Seeing exactly where your money is going every month can assist you with developing---and sticking to---a budget. A simple bar chart can be an effective visual tool to see instantly which expenditures are the greatest, and which are the smallest.

Things You'll Need

• Bank statements, receipts, copies of bills, and other expense information
• Graph paper
• Ruler
• Colored Pencils

Instructions

1. Gather your data. You'll need bank statements, receipts, copies of bills---anything that you think will help you see where your money is going. If you can't find every receipt, don't worry. You can estimate.

2. Draw a 10-inch horizontal line on your graph paper with the ruler. Label this line "Budget Items."

3. Draw a tick mark every inch on your horizontal line. In between the ticks, write 10 categories that you regularly spend money on. For example: "Mortgage, Gas, Groceries, Electric, Cable, Cell Phone, Tuition, Insurance, Daycare, Veterinarian."

4. Draw a 6-inch vertical line, starting at the far left hand edge of the horizontal line. Label this line "Amount(dollars)".

5. Draw tick marks every 1/2 inch. Label these tick marks (starting at the very bottom and working up): 0,100,200,300,400,500,600,700,800,900,1,000,1,100,1,200.

6. Start with the first receipt or bill. In the column that is labeled with the correct category, color in the square(s) that represent the amount on the bill. For example, if you have a $200 grocery bill, color in the first two squares upward in the "Grocery" category of your graph.

7. Continue until all receipts and bills have been accounted for.

Tips & Warnings

• You can make the horizontal line longer and add more tick marks if you spend money in more categories.

• Extend the vertical line upward if you spend more than $1,200 in any category, or make the increments larger (0,200,400...).

References

• Household Budget Lesson Plan