Saving money and sticking to a budget

Help your child build confidence with money through budgeting

Learning how to budget is a key life skill that helps young people feel more confident, independent and prepared for the future. This activity is designed to help 11–16-year-olds understand the difference between income and expenditure and how to manage these.

By encouraging your child to complete this worksheet, you’ll be helping them practise planning, decision‑making and responsibility—skills that are valuable at school, at home and later in the workplace. 

Why budgeting is such an important skill

Budgeting isn’t about restricting spending—it’s about making money work for you. Learning these skills early helps young people to:

• Understand the difference between needs and wants
• Avoid running out of money unexpectedly
• Plan ahead for things they really care about
• Build independence and confidence
• Making informed choices and taking responsibility

Even simple budgeting now lays strong foundations for managing money later in life, such as saving, paying bills, or budgeting for student life.

Help your child complete the worksheet using the prompts and example answers below, if needed. 

Creating a budget 

What examples of income (money you receive) and expenditure (money you spend) do you already have?

Parent prompts to ask: 

• Where does your money usually come from?
• Do you get money regularly or only sometimes?
• What are the main things you spend money on?
• Are there things you spend money on every week or month?

Example student answers:

• Income: pocket money, birthday money, money for chores or helping out
• Expenditure: snacks, games or apps, clothes, social activitie
• “I get pocket money each week and sometimes birthday money.
• “I spend money on snacks, games and going out with friends.”

Top tip: Help your child see that income and spending don’t have to be big amounts — everyday examples are exactly what the worksheet is looking for.

What do you think can be challenging about sticking to a budget, for example when unexpected expenses or social events come up? 

Parent prompts to ask:

• Have you ever planned to save but then changed your mind
• What surprises might cost money unexpectedly?
• How do social plans with friends affect spending?
• How might feelings, like excitement or pressure, make budgeting harder?

Example student answers:

• “It’s hard to stick to a budget when friends want to do something.”
• “You might forget your budget and spend without thinking.”
• “It’s hard when something fun comes along and you haven’t planned for it.”

Top tip: This question is about recognising challenges, not solving them. Understanding why budgeting can be hard is an important first step.

Chris and Ahmed’s case studies 

Now support you child to complete either one or both budgets for Chris and Ahmed. Support a discussion around negative balances and positive balances, being in debt and having money left over to save.

Savings 

Why saving is an important part of budgeting

Now help your child to link budgeting with saving and how that helps them to:

• Understand that money doesn’t have to be spent straight away
• Learn how to plan for things they want rather than relying on others
• Build patience and goal‑setting skills
• Be better prepared for unexpected costs

Help your child see that how savings fit into everyday life, for example:

• Setting aside some money before spending on treats
• Saving part of pocket money or birthday money
• Choosing to wait and save rather than spend impulsively
• Even saving a small amount regularly can make a big difference—and budgeting is what makes this possible.

Ways to save interactive tool

Explore our interactive tool together which highlights ways that we can save across food, social, social, tech and travel. Ask your child for any ways which sound like a good idea which they could maybe apply in their lives.

Monthly budgeting template 

Lastly, encourage your child to complete our Monthly budget planner, which completes the sums for you and can be downloaded from this page, to help them manage their money going forward. The planner is organised into different categories to help clearly see which areas money is spent.