To help teach young ladies the importance of budgeting, eighty-nine females at the Sky Hope Recovery Center completed the Bean Game Money Management Game.  Sky Hope is a 100 bed residential substance abuse recovery program for adult women seeking recovery.  One of the goals of Sky Hope is to prepare the clients to live independently with the support of staff and community resources.  

Residents gained sufficient knowledge in what areas of living that required the most resources.  Fifty-percent of the girls learned that living on their own, paying utilities, transportation, and purchasing food would take up more than 50% of their income.      When they ran out of beans, the group voted it was the easiest to give up their beans in gifts, recreation and extras areas.    Those ladies that had pets would not give up their animals, but would give up any items listed in the Extra columns.   

        Less than one per-cent of the participants had beans left over for savings.   Those clients that did have money left over were the ones still living at home with no child care expenses.   When the clients “lost their jobs and had to give back 7 beans” the majority of the clients gave up their beans in the clothing, grooming, and transportation.