CitizenshipSaving up for something you actually want30 min★★ difficulty

Phone contracts, subscriptions and things that keep charging

The most expensive purchases a teenager makes are usually small monthly ones. £7.99 a month feels free. Over two years it is £191.76, and most people forget it is running at all.

Lesson overview

What you'll learn in this lesson

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

Key learning points

• Monthly to total
• Comparing two real deals
• The subscriptions nobody remembers
• Committing versus staying flexible

This lesson at a glance

30 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

Phone contracts, subscriptions and things that keep charging

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 can build a simple weekly budget and work out monthly totals.

Recap: Your first weekly budget

Key words

Part 3 of 19

Key words

Words you'll need today

Subscription: A payment that repeats automatically until you cancel it.
Contract term: How long you are committed to pay, often 12 or 24 months.
Total cost of ownership: Everything a thing costs over its life, not just the monthly figure.
Rolling monthly: A deal you can cancel each month, usually costing a bit more.
Free trial: A trial that starts charging automatically at the end.

Learning cycle

Part 4 of 19

Learning cycle 1 of 2

Working out the real total

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

Explore the idea

Part 5 of 19

Learn

Monthly to total

A phone deal is £18 a month for 24 months. The real number is 18 × 24 = £432, and that is what you are agreeing to, not £18. A £7.99 streaming subscription is £95.88 a year. Two of those plus a £4.99 game pass is £155.76 a year, which is nearly a whole bike. Always multiply before agreeing.

Explore the idea

Part 6 of 19

Learn

Comparing two real deals

Deal A: phone included, £22 a month for 24 months = £528. Deal B: buy a refurbished handset for £120, then a £7 a month SIM-only rolling deal = £120 + (7 × 24) = £288 over the same two years, and you can leave any month. Deal A is £240 more expensive for the convenience of not paying up front. That is the sort of gap monthly pricing hides.

Quick check

Part 7 of 19

Quick check

£18 a month for 24 months costs

Quick check

Part 8 of 19

Quick check

A £7.99 monthly subscription costs per year

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

Cancelling and choosing well

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

Explore the idea

Part 11 of 19

Learn

The subscriptions nobody remembers

Free trials start charging on a date you did not write down. The check is simple: list every repeating payment in your bank app, and for each one ask when you last used it. Anything unused for a month gets cancelled — you can always resubscribe, and almost nobody does, which tells you it was not worth £7.99.

Explore the idea

Part 12 of 19

Learn

Committing versus staying flexible

A 24-month contract is usually cheaper per month than rolling monthly, and that saving is real. What you give up is the ability to stop. If your income is uncertain, or the thing might stop mattering, paying slightly more for flexibility is a sensible purchase, not a waste. Naming the trade-off is the skill.

Quick check

Part 13 of 19

Quick check

Deal B: £120 handset plus £7 a month for 24 months comes to

Quick check

Part 14 of 19

Quick check

Compared with Deal A at £528, Deal B saves

Common mix-ups

Part 15 of 19

Common mix-ups

Things people often get wrong

Judging a deal by the monthly figure instead of the total over the term.
Believing a free trial ends by itself. It ends by charging you.
Thinking cancelling is difficult or rude. It is a normal, routine action.
Assuming the longest contract is always the best value. It is cheapest per month, but it removes your exit.

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.

A 24-month contract is usually cheaper per month than rolling monthly, and that ____ is real.

If your ____ is uncertain, or the thing might stop mattering, paying slightly more for flexibility is a sensible purchase, not a waste.

Mastery quiz

Part 18 of 19

Marked quiz

End of lesson quiz: Phone contracts, subscriptions and things that keep charging

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

1. The number that matters in a contract is
2. A free trial usually ends by
3. Rolling monthly deals typically
4. £4.99 a month over 18 months is
5. The quickest way to find forgotten subscriptions is to
6. Total cost of ownership includes

Lesson round-up

Part 19 of 19

Lesson round-up

Ready when you are

Quiz score

Not sat

Games

Not played

Points this lesson

Best run

0 in a row

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

Ask Luna

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

0 points