# Household Scenario Workbook

For the method in
[Household Budget Scenarios: What-If Math Without Financial Advice](/articles/household-budget-scenarios-literacy).
Every input needs a source and a date. If you cannot verify a number, mark it "unknown" — never let a model fill the gap for you.

## Not for

Investment, tax, debt-strategy, insurance, or pension advice. Anything flagged below needs a qualified,
licensed adviser, not this workbook.

## Verified figures table

| Line item | Amount | Fixed / variable | Source | Date verified |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Housing | | | | |
| Income (combined) | | | | |
| Groceries | | | | |
| Transport | | | | |
| Childcare / dependents | | | | |
| Subscriptions | | | | |
| Debt payments | | | | |
| Other fixed costs | | | | |

**Every row verified against a document or export, not memory:** ☐ Yes

## Scenario 1

- **What changes:**
- **Starting when:**
- **New monthly total:**
- **Surplus / shortfall:**
- **Months current savings would cover a shortfall at this rate:**

## Scenario 2

- **What changes:**
- **Starting when:**
- **New monthly total:**
- **Surplus / shortfall:**
- **Months current savings would cover a shortfall at this rate:**

## Sensitivity check

The one assumption that matters most if it moves:

| Version | Value | New monthly total | Surplus / shortfall |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Current | | | |
| Moderate change | | | |
| Larger change | | | |

## Needs a qualified adviser, not this workbook

List anything involving tax, debt-repayment order, insurance coverage, or retirement/pension
contributions — do not attempt to resolve these here.

-
-

## The three prompts to reuse

**1. Model one scenario**

```text
Here is our verified monthly household table: [paste table with
source and date columns]. Model one scenario: [describe the single
change]. Keep every other figure exactly as given. Show: new monthly
total, new monthly surplus or shortfall, and how many months our
current savings of [X] would cover a shortfall at this new rate. Do
not suggest what to cut or where the money should come from — just
the arithmetic.
```

**2. Stress-test one assumption**

```text
Using the same verified table [paste], show what our monthly total
looks like at three versions of [line item] only: current, a
moderate change, and a larger change — holding every other figure
exactly as given. Do not recommend a course of action; just the
three totals and the resulting surplus or shortfall at each.
```

**3. Flag adviser-required items**

```text
From this scenario output [paste], list anything that looks like a
tax question, a debt-repayment order decision, an insurance coverage
choice, or a retirement/pension contribution decision — rather than
ordinary what-if arithmetic. Label each "needs a qualified adviser,
not this workbook." Do not attempt to answer them.
```

## Validation log

| Scenario | Recalculated by hand? | Matched? | Notes |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| | ☐ Yes ☐ No | ☐ Yes ☐ No | |
| | ☐ Yes ☐ No | ☐ Yes ☐ No | |