Utilities & Setup: Turning On the Lights
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What students do
- Calculate the cash needed to set up utilities from deposits and setup fees
- Add six monthly bills into a total covering electricity, gas, water, internet, phone, and trash
- Read a bar chart to identify the biggest and smallest monthly utility bill
- Judge whether a renter has saved enough to cover the first month of utilities
What it covers
- What each home utility covers and who provides it
- The difference between a fixed cost and a variable cost
- Ways to lower a utility bill, from energy efficiency to shopping providers
Learning targets
- Name the utilities a first home needs and who provides them
- Calculate the up-front cash to set up utilities using the labeled cash-to-set-up model
- Add up the monthly utility bills into a monthly utility total and tell fixed from variable costs
- Read a bar chart of monthly utility costs and judge whether a renter has saved enough to turn everything on
From one teacher to another
Nobody warns first-time renters about the cash it takes just to turn the lights on before a single bill even arrives, and that gap is exactly what this lesson closes. Students work through a real move-in budget, add up six separate utility bills, and decide whether a renter has actually saved enough to be ready. It's the lesson that follows right after renting a first apartment, because the lease is only where the cost starts.
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