Track 01 · Foundation

Money basics

For a woman handling money for the first time — where income goes, and how to keep some of it.

4 modules · 3 hoursBeginnerFree · Hindi, Marathi & English

Who it's for

Domestic workers, homemakers, first-time earners and girls aged 14+ who have never had an account in their own name.

By the end you can

✳Write down a full month of household income and expenses
✳Split income using the 50/30/20 rule
✳Open and operate a zero-balance bank account
✳Choose a safe place to save instead of cash at home

The full course

Every module below is the real content our volunteers teach — read it, print it, or run it yourself.

Module 0145 min

Income, expenses and the household ledger

Know exactly how much money enters and leaves the house in a month.

Where money comes from

Income is anything that comes in: daily wages, monthly salary, tailoring or tiffin earnings, rent from a room, a spouse's contribution, pension or scheme transfers. Many women undercount their own income because it arrives in small daily amounts. A ₹200 daily wage is ₹5,000–6,000 a month — that is income, and it deserves a plan.

The four kinds of expense

·Fixed monthly: rent, school fees, EMI, electricity — same amount, same date.
·Daily living: vegetables, milk, transport, gas, mobile recharge.
·Occasional: festivals, weddings, uniforms, medicines.
·Invisible: chai and snacks outside, mobile data top-ups, small lending to relatives that never comes back.

Building the ledger

Take one notebook. Left page for money in, right page for money out. Write the date, the reason and the amount on the same day it happens — memory is not a ledger. After 30 days, add both pages. The gap between them is the only number that decides whether saving is possible.

In-room activity

Recall exercise: each participant lists yesterday's spending out loud while a partner writes it. Almost everyone finds ₹40–₹120 they had forgotten. Total the room's forgotten spending for the month on the board.

Takeaway

If it isn't written down, it isn't managed. One notebook, thirty days.

Module 0245 min

Needs vs wants and the 50/30/20 rule

Split any amount of income into living, wants and savings before it is spent.

The test for a need

A need is something that, if removed, damages health, work or schooling. Rice is a need. A second phone is a want. The point is never to remove wants — it is to name them, so they stop taking the savings share by accident.

50 / 30 / 20 on a real income

On ₹10,000 a month: ₹5,000 for needs (food, rent, transport, fees), ₹3,000 for wants (festivals, outings, clothes), ₹2,000 to savings. On ₹6,000: ₹3,000 / ₹1,800 / ₹1,200. The ratio holds at any income; only the rupees change.

Pay yourself first

The savings share is moved out on the day income arrives, not at month-end from what is left — because nothing is ever left. Separate envelope, separate tin, or better, a separate account.

In-room activity

Envelope drill: ₹10,000 in play money and eight expense cards. Participants physically divide notes into three envelopes, then draw an emergency card (₹1,500 hospital visit) and decide which envelope pays for it.

Takeaway

Savings is a bill you pay yourself on day one, not the leftovers on day thirty.

Module 0345 min

Opening and using a bank account

Walk into a bank alone and leave with an account in your own name.

What you actually need

·Aadhaar card (address proof and identity in one)
·PAN card, or Form 60 if you do not have one
·Two passport photos
·Nothing else — and no minimum balance for a PMJDY / Basic Savings account

Words the bank will use

·KYC — the identity check, done once
·Zero-balance (BSBD) account — no penalty for keeping ₹0
·Passbook — your printed record; ask for it and get it updated monthly
·Nominee — who receives the money if something happens to you. Never leave it blank.
·RuPay debit card — free with PMJDY, includes accident cover

Safety rules that never change

The PIN is never written on the card and never shared — not with a bank employee, not with a helpful stranger at the ATM, not with family who 'will just withdraw for you'. No bank ever asks for an OTP. An account in your own name is the first thing that makes income yours.

In-room activity

Role-play at a mock bank counter: one volunteer plays the clerk, participants fill a real account-opening form and a deposit slip, then practise saying 'I want a zero-balance account in my name.'

Takeaway

An account in your own name changes who decides how your money is used.

Module 0445 min

Safe saving: cash, chit funds and recurring deposits

Compare where savings can sit, and pick the safest option available locally.

Four common places money is kept

·Cash at home — instantly available, but at risk from theft, spending and family demands. Grows by ₹0.
·Gold — holds value and is respected, but you lose 8–15% in making charges and can be cheated on purity.
·Neighbourhood chit fund / committee — strong social discipline, but zero legal protection if the organiser disappears.
·Recurring deposit at a bank — a fixed amount every month for 12–60 months at 6–7% interest, insured up to ₹5 lakh.

Why the emergency fund comes first

Before any investment, keep one month of household expenses in an account you can reach the same day. That single buffer is what stops a fever or a broken cycle from turning into a loan at 60% interest.

Small numbers, real results

₹500 a month in an RD at 6.5% is about ₹6,200 after a year and roughly ₹35,000 after five. It is not fast. It is certain — and certainty is what most households have never had.

In-room activity

Risk-ranking wall: cards for cash, gold, chit fund, RD and 'lent to a relative' are pinned on a safety line by the group, then argued over. The debate is the lesson.

Takeaway

Safe and boring beats fast and unprotected. Emergency fund, then growth.

Continue learning

The other two tracks are open too — no sign-up, no cost.

Saving & growing →Build a business →