The Game of Life: Living within Your Means

Finances. Budgeting. BORING.

It doesn't have to be though!  I was asked this last week to teach the young women in the Charlottesville 2nd ward about budgeting. Immediately I was inspired with the idea to play, what I call, "The Game of Life".

The point of this activity was to just get the girls to practice budgeting and living within their means in a fun, interactive way. Budgeting is difficult. My husband and I have been practicing for almost three years now and still sometimes struggle to stay within the limited amount we have each month. The best way to learn how to budget is to just do it. To just practice.

We began the activity in the Relief Society room where the Young Women hold opening exercises each week. It was great to start the activity somewhere else where I didn't already have all of the tables set up so that I could keep the girls' attention while explaining what we were going to do.

First things first. I printed out "Career/Budget Cards" with different careers and their monthly incomes on them. Each of these monthly incomes is accurate (within degree) of what a person with the corresponding job would really make. I flipped the cards over and let each young woman draw which career she would have for the evening. These included jobs like waitress, animal trainer, crime scene cleaner, call center rep, and 16 others.

 Once the girls had their careers, I explained the game. They were going to go into the young women's room where I had set up tables with different costs the girls would need to pay in any given month. There would be a housing table, a utilities, table, a transportation table, an entertainment table, etc. I suggested the girls think about their own personal future plans. Did they want to go to college after high school, a mission, get married? Whatever there individual plans were, they should make their budgeting decisions off of that goal. So if one girl wanted to go to college, she might find a one bedroom apartment for rent, get a bike, and eat inexpensive groceries. But if she wanted to get married, a two bedroom place might be better, a car (maybe two), and healthy groceries.

The girls needed to stop at each table and select an item and subtract the cost from their budget cards. They also took with them whatever item they "purchased" since after they purchased it, it became off the market.

For example, if they wanted to lease the 2015 Honda Accord, they would subtract the monthly payment from their total monthly income on their career card. They would then take the Honda Accord representation with them so another girl could not purchase the same one (since it's already been purchased). 

The girls could begin at any table they wanted, but needed to be careful because if they started at the vehicle table they might get the least expensive vehicle but be left with the most expensive housing listing. If they began at the entertainment table, they might have lots of fun entertainment, but not enough money to purchase groceries. But ultimately it was up to them where they wanted to begin. 

After the intro we headed to the YW room and the girls were off! There was a surprise waiting for them though...

I gave each of the leaders a small pile of chance cards and instructed that they randomly hand out these cards to the girls. Some of the chance cards were good - you received a $400 bonus at work -- and others were not so good - you had to pay to unclog a sink drain, lose $150. Each time the girls received one of the chance cards they either had to subtract (bad) or add (good!) to their budget.

We had a lot of fun and the young women really got into it! We had seven stations for them to stop between and the leaders were each assigned to a station with some instructions for them to know how to man their fort.

The Price is Right: Housing

At this station I had created a bunch of different housing listings that I had spread out across the table. Everything was for rent and were real properties and prices I'd found online. Each listing included the address, monthly cost, and additional items included (garage, pets OK, washer/dryer, etc.). The girls could pick their housing options here.

You can find the template and instructions for the table here.

Luck of the Draw: Utilities

This table was full of paper bags stapled shut and labeled in bright colors "Utilities". Since a lot of times you don't really get a say in what utilities are included in your apartment or home for rent, this station made the girls blindly choose a bag which listed their utilities. They were not allowed to return these. Each bag contained four strips of paper labeled "Water/Sewer", "Electric", "Gas", and "Internet". Next to each one of these titles was a price. In some bags, there was a price next to each utility. Others had everything "included". The rest were a mix.

You can find the template and instructions for this table here.

Pick a Car any Car!: Transportation
This station was really fun! I researched different cars for either lease or sell on dealer websites and local ads. I found the monthly cost of each of these vehicles, estimated insurance, and put an average gas price on each one and then created these beauties:

Each car photo was hooked onto a toilet paper tube (I've been saving them knowing they'd come in handy at some point!). On the back of each tube was a description including the year, make, and model of the car along with monthly payment, monthly insurance payment, and monthly gas spent. The girls could lease or buy whichever one they wanted but they had to include the additional insurance and gas payments to their budget too.

The cars that came from local ads and were "used" cars had a special surprise in them too. Not all of them, but some had a note taped inside the tube. After the girls chose a used car to purchase, the leader manning the booth would tell her to look inside for an incidental charge. Inside was a "Repair" sticker with a cost next to it because although used cars are cheaper, you often have to pay for more in repairs.

Once the girls purchased a car, they took it with them. You can find the template and instructions for this table here.

Food, Glorious Food!: Groceries
The grocery tables only had two papers on it- two grocery lists. One included healthier alternatives (fresh fruit, Special K cereal, etc.) and was more expensive, the other included not so healthy items (top ramen, freezer pizzas, etc.) and was cheaper. Most of our girls had enough money to buy the healthy groceries, but some either chose not to so they could save more money for entertainment or because their monthly income was getting a little low.

The girls just subtracted the cost from their budget but left the lists on the table for others to use. In the end, I had all of the girls who had purchased the cheaper list subtract another $50 from their budget because what you save when buying unhealthy groceries, you pay for in doctor bills.

You can find the template and instructions for this table here.

A Night Out on Town: Entertainment
Most of our girls left this as the last table... smart girls! And they would spend their extra income on fun adventures. We had a lot of options for them to choose fun and they were all set up as "tickets" or "vouchers" for the girls to take. I didn't think they'd sit and try to decide what they wanted more as long as they did.

You can find the entertainment tickets and ideas here.

Shop 'til You Drop: Shopping Centers

The girls do not have to stop at this table but it was a fun one to have out, especially for those girls going on a mission and needed to get more skirts and stuff. I had four storefronts that I had scrapbooked together in varying degrees of priciness: Goodwill, Target, Sister Missionary Mall, and Nordstroms.

If the young women wanted to shop, they could choose their store, but not their receipt. Once they choose their store, the leader watching the table, would pull a receipt out from under the store (held in a little envelope attached to the back) and give to the girl. This was how much she spent while shopping. Sometimes it was a lot more than she was expecting! But then again, that happens to the best of us!

You can find the template for the receipts here. Each of the receipts includes real items and prices and tax as per the store's websites.

Building the Lord's Kingdom: Tithing
The last table in the room was the tithing table. It was very simple next to all of the other extravagantly displayed tables and had one piece of paper on it:

The first six girls who came to this table absolutely first before spending their money on anything received a Blessing Chance Card that read, "Blessing for paying your tithing: Save $50." because when we pay our tithing first, we are always blessed.

I'd made the mistake, however, to not tell the girls there was a tithing table. I would recommend at least mentioning that there's a tithing table (but saying nothing about the blessing) at the beginning so the girls know it's included.

Once the girls were all finished, we gathered together to talk about what we had just done. I asked how many of the girls stayed above budget and most of them did! I explained how every single cost they add to their budgets was real. I didn't make up numbers, I researched them all. All of the good and bad things that happened in the chance cards were also real. Every single one of them have happened to my husband and I since we moved out here last Fall.

We talked about the importance of budgeting and then I gave them the following handout:

First, there's a 100 Grand because the more you save, the more you get along with the quote, "Do today what other's won't so you can do tomorrow what other's can't."

This had two ideas for how I saved my money growing up - taking out a portion in cash each paycheck and only spent cash. Anything not cash was saved. And another idea for how my husband saved money - 10% to God, 50% to self, 40% to everything else. We love budgeting and have a huge testimony of living within your means.

We had lived very frugally our first year and a half of marriage (and all through our teens) and so when my husband was accepted into UVA's grad program, we were able to uproot our lives in Utah and move across the country to Virginia where we suddenly had double the rent, a car payment, a car insurance payment, more gas than we'd thought, health insurance, huge student loans, and on top of all that, no income! Because we had lived frugally and within our means, we were able to feel safe and secure out here for a month while I found a job. But had it taken me longer to find one, we still would have been fine because we had prepared.

We had so much fun with this activity and I know your girls will too! To make it easier on you, I've compiled all of my templates here so hopefully you can use these.

Let me know your thoughts!