Life Skills · Money Management · Lesson + Worksheet
Paying Bills
A practical lesson combining bill paying with check writing and checkbook-register maintenance. Students see sample monthly bills, write checks to the right companies, and update their checkbook register with each transaction. Built for life-skills classes, special education, and adult learners. Lesson reading is free; printable worksheet requires Full Membership.
What Students Learn
Learning objectives
- How to read a typical monthly bill — the subtotal, tax, and total lines, and what each one means
- How to write a check to a company for the exact bill amount — payee, dollar amount, written amount, signature
- How to update a checkbook register after writing each check — subtracting the payment from the running balance
- How to track multiple bills in a single session and confirm the ending balance is correct
- Why paying bills on time matters — late payments, interest charges, and credit consequences
- How basic math (addition, subtraction, multiplication for tax) shows up in everyday money management
For Teachers
How to use this lesson
Students need a basic grasp of check writing and the checkbook register before this lesson — pair with the Banking unit’s check-writing bridges first if students have not seen those yet. The worksheet provides several sample bills, a beginning checkbook balance, and either pre-calculated totals or unfilled subtotal/tax/total lines depending on customization. Students write a check for each bill, update the register, and confirm the ending balance.
Customization options: standard or custom worksheet; toggle whether students must calculate subtotal/tax/total themselves (or have them pre-filled); toggle whether to print an answer key. For an easier variant, uncheck “student must do calculation” and optionally drop the checkbook part for the simplest entry version.
Real-world extensions: have students cut out checks and staple them to bills, or place each check + bill in an envelope as if they were mailing it. For an authentic version, ask students to bring in copies of actual home bills with personal information masked, then practice with those. Best for life-skills, secondary education, special education, and adult-learner classes.
Free Reading + Full Membership Worksheet
Paying Bills — Lesson Plan + Printable Worksheet
The lesson plan and teaching tips are free to read. The customizable, printable worksheet (sample bills, check templates, checkbook register, optional answer key) requires an active Money Instructor Full Membership.
Reading the lesson page is free. The printable worksheet on the resources site requires Full Membership.
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