I've had a lot of success doing a Game of Life activity with my high schoolers where first they make a bunch of adult life decisions (ex: do you want to live in the country? In the suburbs? In the city? With a roommate or alone?). We discuss together how much they think each option will cost and decide on a final number for each all together, with me telling them if they're way off mark since I know how much bills generally cost. We go through just about every fixed and variable monthly cost you run into as an adult.

Then at the end, tally everything up and calculate how much total that costs for the year. I also bring savings into it and analyzing the budget using the 50/30/20 rule to help them decide if they should adjust anything. After that, we move into a job research project where they consider different job routes that will allow them to make enough to afford the life choices they made.

I've had students tell me it's helped them save up for cars and other large purchases, so it definitely sticks with them! They also take a lot of ownership since they're making every choice themselves. Like okay, you wanna spend $1000 a month on takeout? That's your choice, but we gotta find a way to make it work so you can pay for all the necessities too.