Question

Brianne needs to buy a plane ticket and new backpack for her European trip. She got tired of living with her twin sister and needed a break so she's going to just go. She only had $40 left over from Xmas and Birthday money and needs a total of $1500 for the airfare, $150 for the backpack she wants, and about another $1000 for spending money. She leaves in 5 months! She realized that she needs a job for this so she got a job at Porto's making empanadas as well as doing extra chores around the house for $50 a week. She makes $1200 a month now. How much should she save each month? If she wanted to leave in 3 months, how much would she have to save?

Answer 1

To calculate how much Brianne needs to save each month, we'll subtract her current savings and her monthly income from her total expenses.

1. Total expenses:

- Airfare: $1500

- Backpack: $150

- Spending money: $1000

Total expenses: $1500 + $150 + $1000 = $2650

2. Current savings: $40

3. Monthly income:

- Job at Porto's: $50/week * 4 weeks = $200/month

- Extra chores: $1200/month

Total monthly income: $200 + $1200 = $1400

4. Amount needed to save each month:

Total expenses - Current savings - Monthly income = $2650 - $40 - $1400 = $1210

Therefore, Brianne needs to save $1210 each month to reach her total expenses for the European trip leaving in 5 months.

If she wanted to leave in 3 months instead, she would have less time to save. In that case, the calculation would be as follows:

1. Total expenses: $2650

2. Current savings: $40

3. Monthly income: $1400

4. Number of months: 3

5. Amount needed to save each month:

(Total expenses - Current savings) / Number of months

= ($2650 - $40) / 3

≈ $870 / 3

≈ $290

Therefore, if Brianne wanted to leave in 3 months, she would need to save approximately $290 each month to reach her total expenses for the European trip.