CitizenshipEveryday money: where yours goes25 min★ difficulty

Where your money actually goes

Most people are surprised by their own spending. Not by the big things they planned, but by the small ones they forgot: a £1.20 drink, a £2 bag of sweets, a £4 in-game skin. This lesson tracks a real week and finds the leaks.

Lesson overview

What you'll learn in this lesson

Understand income, spending, saving and the choices involved in managing personal finances

Key learning points

• Savannah's week
• Adding up honestly
• Spotting the leak
• Income is not just pocket money

This lesson at a glance

25 minutes
19 parts to scroll through
4 quick checks
Marked quiz at the end
Gentle pace: short sittings with pauses

Words to know

incomespendingsavingchoicesinvolved

Scroll down — the lesson carries on below

Part 1 of 19 · Discover5%

Watch & discover

Part 1 of 19

Watch first

Where your money actually goes

An English teaching video on this topic from Learn Bright. Watch it, then scroll down for the lesson.

In a nutshell

Understand income, spending, saving and the choices involved in managing personal finances

What you already know

Part 2 of 19

Before we start

What you already know

You have spent your own money on something in the last month.

Key words

Part 3 of 19

Key words

Words you'll need today

Income: Money coming in: pocket money, birthday money, pay from a job.
Spending: Money going out, whatever it was for.
Balance: What is left after spending is taken from income.
Tracking: Writing down what you spend, so you can see the pattern.
Leak: Small repeated spending that adds up to much more than you expect.

Learning cycle

Part 4 of 19

Learning cycle 1 of 2

Tracking a real week

A short piece of teaching, then a check to make sure it has landed.

Explore the idea

Part 5 of 19

Learn

Savannah's week

Savannah gets £10 a week pocket money and had £6 left over from before, so her income for the week is £16. She writes down every single thing: Monday a £1.20 drink, Tuesday £2.50 on sweets shared with a friend, Wednesday £1.20 drink again, Thursday £4 on a game skin, Friday £1.20 drink, Saturday £3 at the cinema kiosk. Total spent: £13.10. Balance left: £2.90. She had planned to keep £5 back.

Explore the idea

Part 6 of 19

Learn

Adding up honestly

The trick is to include everything, even things someone else started. Three £1.20 drinks is £3.60 — more than the cinema kiosk and almost as much as the game skin, and Savannah would not have named the drinks if you had asked her where her money went. Write the list first, add it up second, judge it third. Guessing always undercounts.

Quick check

Part 7 of 19

Quick check

Savannah had £6 left over and got £10 pocket money. Her income for the week is

Quick check

Part 8 of 19

Quick check

She spent £13.10 from £16. What is her balance?

Reset break

Part 9 of 19

Pause

That's sitting 1 of 2 done

Stretch, get a drink, look out of the window. There is no timer and nothing is counting down — your place is saved, so you can come back in five minutes or tomorrow.

Stop here for now

Learning cycle

Part 10 of 19

Learning cycle 2 of 2

Finding the leaks

A short piece of teaching, then a check to make sure it has landed.

Explore the idea

Part 11 of 19

Learn

Spotting the leak

A leak is small, repeated and invisible. £1.20 a day sounds like nothing; five school days is £6, and a term of twelve weeks is £72. Plugging one leak is usually easier than cutting something you love. Savannah kept the cinema and the game skin, took a bottle from home instead, and freed up £6 a week without feeling deprived.

Explore the idea

Part 12 of 19

Learn

Income is not just pocket money

Income is everything coming in. Savannah's £16 included £6 carried over, which matters: if you count only this week's £10 you think you overspent by £3.10 when you did not. Later, income means wages, and the same rule holds — count what actually arrived, not what you hoped would.

Quick check

Part 13 of 19

Quick check

Three drinks at £1.20 cost

Quick check

Part 14 of 19

Quick check

£1.20 a day for five school days over a twelve-week term comes to

Common mix-ups

Part 15 of 19

Common mix-ups

Things people often get wrong

Guessing at spending instead of writing it down. Almost everyone underestimates by a third or more.
Ignoring small amounts because they feel too tiny to matter. Repetition is what makes them matter.
Forgetting money carried over from last week, which makes the maths look worse than it is.
Treating money spent on friends as not really yours. If it left your account, it was your spending.

Challenge round

Part 16 of 19

Game · Sort it

Which of these are true?

Drag each card into the right column. Tap a card first if dragging is fiddly.

True

Not true

Challenge round

Part 17 of 19

Game · Fill the gaps

Finish the sentences

Choose the word that belongs in each gap.

Savannah gets £10 a week pocket money and had £6 left over from before, so her ____ for the week is £16.

Mastery quiz

Part 18 of 19

Marked quiz

End of lesson quiz: Where your money actually goes

6 questions, marked with the reasoning shown. No timer.

1. The most reliable way to find out where your money goes is to
2. A 'leak' in spending is
3. Which is the better first move if you overspend every week?
4. Balance means
5. Savannah spends £2.50 on sweets shared with a friend. She should record
6. If she takes a bottle from home instead of buying a drink, she saves about

Lesson round-up

Part 19 of 19

Lesson round-up

Ready when you are

Quiz score

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Games

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Points this lesson

Best run

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Luna: 0 out of 4 on the practice checks. Only if you feel up to it — one more?

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Do the work

Your written work for this lesson

This is the part you'd do in your book at school. Pick the pieces below, write here or on paper, and photograph anything you draw or work out.

Case study

Should the town centre have a curfew for under-16s?

After a rise in reported vandalism, Harbrook council proposed that under-16s should not be in the town centre after 9 pm without an adult. Police recorded 62 incidents last year, most between 9 pm and midnight. Shopkeepers signed a petition supporting the plan.

A youth council objected. They pointed out that most young people in town at night were going home from sports clubs or work, that the plan punishes a whole group for the acts of a few, and that the library and the bus interchange are in the town centre. They asked instead for a late bus and a youth space.

The council voted to trial the curfew for six months and to publish the crime figures at the end.

Written for Good Learning Co.

Reading questions

Give the strongest point on each side of the argument, using a fact from the case.
Whose rights and whose responsibilities are involved here? Explain both.
Write your own view on the curfew with reasons and one example.

Reading and response
Reading
Read the case in the lesson again and write what you think should happen, and why it is fair. Use one fact from the case as evidence.
2 paragraphs (PEE)
Extended writing
Writing
Write your answer to the lesson's big question in full: the strongest point on each side, then your own view with reasons and an example.
250–350 words
Reading log
Reading
Find one news story this week that links to this lesson. Note the headline, where you read it, and how it connects.
1 story, 4–5 sentences
Two sides of the argument
Writing
Write the strongest point for, the strongest point against, and then your own view with a reason.
3 paragraphs
Poster or leaflet plan
Diagram
Plan a leaflet that explains this right or responsibility to someone your age, then photograph it.
1 planned page

Write your answer, notes or working here

Saved as you type.

Photos of paper work, diagrams or working outHow many minutes did the written work take?

Part 1 of 19 · Watch & discover

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