Course Content
Module 1 – Psychology of Finance
This module teaches why we make certain financial decisions — and how to change them: from beliefs and emotions, through motivation, to goals and spending priorities.
0/14
Introduction
Financial beliefs and patterns
Exercise: Financial quotes
Exercise: The power of habits in personal finance
Emotions and money
Motivation and adaptation
Exercise: Find your financial “why?”
Prioritise your spending
Exercise: ‘Need or Want’
Exercise: Purchasing Decisions
Exercise: Impulsive shopping
Financial planning and goal setting
Exercise: Setting financial goals
Summary
Module 2 – Household Budget under Control
Learn proven techniques for managing a household budget in Polish conditions. You'll learn to track income and expenses, use spreadsheets and apps, plan seasonal costs, and build an emergency fund – without jargon, but with concrete templates and exercises.
0/16
Introduction
Personal and household budget management
Exercise: Home budget in questions
Where do you start?
Exercise: Monthly expenditure tracking sheet
A real-life story
Exercise: Finance detective
Income categories
Exercise: Your available sources of income
Expense categories
Exercise: Household expenses
Ways to run a household budget
Seasonality of the household budget
Planning your expenses
Unexpected expenses
Summary
Module 3 – Saving
You'll build saving habits, learn about safe ways to accumulate funds and principles of responsible borrowing to avoid costly traps.
0/15
Introduction
Financial Stability Steps
The importance of saving
Exercise: Planning savings goals
Savings strategies and habits
Exercise: Money thieves
Start not wasting
Exercise: Recalculate how much your small expenses are costing you
Simple and effective ways to save money
Different forms of saving
Exercise: Family Saving
Borrowing wisely – the basics
Avoiding financial traps
Exercise: Good or bad credit?
Exercise: Knowledge about Loans and Credit
Module 4 – Basic Institutions
You'll learn about basic financial institutions and products in Poland, as well as the most important consumer rights, so you can use services safely and consciously.
0/14
Introduction
Basic financial institutions in Poland
Bank and account selection
Exercise: Comparison of banks
How to open a bank account?
Use of basic banking services
Basic financial institutions
Basic insurance
Security in electronic banking
Exercise: How to recognize a fake e-mail from a bank?
Consumer rights in the financial market
Avoiding financial traps
Financial market specializations
Summary
Module 5 – Finance in the Digital World
You'll learn to safely use online and mobile banking, cashless payments (card, BLIK, wallets), and recognize online scams.
0/19
Introduction
Online and mobile banking
Exercise: Consciously use online banking
Exercise: secure password
Exercise: mobile hotspot
Cashless payments in Poland
Exercise: BLIK in practice
How to protect your financial data
Exercise: Recognize a fake message
Typical scams and how to defend against them
Exercise: Recognize a BLIK scam
Safe online shopping
Exercise: Check the security of your store
Securing your computer and smartphone
Exercise: Test your knowledge
Exercise: Stay up to date
Phone scams: A true story
Data protection and RODO
Financial security in a digital world
Finances at a New Address

Exercise: Monthly expenditure tracking sheet

Exercise objective:

To develop the habit of recording your expenses and to learn how to divide your expenses into categories, which will then be included in the household budget. This is a very useful exercise that will take a while each day, but will be hugely beneficial!

Throughout the month, write down all your expenses and come up with your names for the categories they belong to. Also think about whether a particular purchase was a need (essential for life, work, etc.) or a craving (something you bought for pleasure, without any urgent need). After a month, you will have a list ready for your household budget, adapted to your situation.

Instruction:

Below you will find a sample chart to fill in. You can either redraw it in a notebook or print it out. Remember to enter your expenses as you go along so you don’t miss anything.

Monthly expenditure tracking sheet – PDF file

Monthly expenditure tracking sheet – XLSX file (Excel)

Monthly expenditure tracking sheet

from the book “Light yourself up” by Douglas Nelson

DATESUBJECTCOSTCRAVING OR NEEDCATEGORY
12/06/2025Festival T-shirt99,00 PLNCRAVINGCLOTHING
TOTAL–99,00 PLN––
TOTAL expenditure on items OTHER than food and housing00,00 PLN
SUM of expenses for necessary food and housing00,00 PLN


The Monthly Expenditure Tracking Worksheet is modelled on the worksheet available in the book ‘Ignite Yourself, How to Spark Your Own Economy’ by Douglas Scott Nielsen, which we recommend as supplementary reading material for our course.

Previous
Next