| Term | Definition |
| income | money or other forms of wealth received by a household |
| regular income | income received on a regular basis such as a weekly wage |
| irregular income | income received now and again such as overtime pay |
| regular income - employed person | used for wages and child benefit |
| irregular income - employed person | inheritance, overtime |
| regular income - unemployed person | unemployment benefit, child benefit |
| irregular income - unemployed person | lottery winnings, casual working |
| regular income - retired person | pension and free travel |
| irregular income - retired person | winnings at bingo games, presents |
| regular income - student | grant, pocket money |
| irregular income - student | presents, casual work |
| benefit in kind | a non-cash form of income, also known as a perk (for example: the use of a company car or a mobile phone) |
| overtime | hours worked in an addition to your regular working week |
| child benefit | monthly payment by the Government to parents/guardians of kids under the age of 18 |
| grant | a payment made by the Government to students while they are studying at college/secondary school |
| unemployed benefit | weekly payment made by the Government made to unemployed people |
| expenditure | refers to the money the customer spends during a particular period of time |
| fixed expenditure | items where cost doesn't change according to use, usually regular payments monthly or yearly (for example, the rent, mortgage repayments, loan repayments, car taxes) |
| irregular expenditure | items where cost does change according to use, which may be paid regularly but the amount differs (for example, groceries, diesel, light and heat) |
| impulse buying | when the customer buys something on the spur of the moment without asking himself/herself if he/she can really afford it and if we really need that particular item |
| opportunity cost | when the customer has the choice of buying two items and the item he/she doesn't choose is the opportunity cost |
| An example of an opportunity cost is: | "I have €1. I have the choice of buying an apple or a bar of chocolate. I pick the apple so the opportunity cost is the chocolate bar." |
| mortgage | a loan from the bank to enable a person to buy a house |
| budget | a plan of a household's future income and future expenditure for a given period of time |
| net cash | what you get when you add the total income and total expenditure together |
| unbranded | refers to goods not manufactured by a well-known producer |
| budget surplus | refers to "when your planned income is greater than your planned expenditure" |
| budget deficit | refers to "when your planned expenditure is greater than your planned income" |
| balanced budget | refers to "when your planned income is equal than your planned expenditure" |
