Mr. Brown's Senior Economics class:

Here are his suggestions for authoratative sites for the information you need for your budget project:

Careercruising for college costs and other info: Career Cruising for college costs

NY Health Insurance for cost estimates: http://www.ins.state.ny.us/ihmoindx.htm
Occupational Outlook Handbook for wages by area and occupation: http://www.bls.gov/ncs/ocs/compub.htm#NY

Cost of living calculator: http://www.bestplaces.net/col/?salary=35000&city1=27460&2=20620

Tax Calculator: compute how much of your paycheck you actually get to take home:  http://www.paycheckcity.com/netpaycalc/netpaycalculator.asp

Wegmans: create a list for grocery shopping: http://www.wegmans.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/HomepageView?storeId=10052&catalogId=10002&langId=-1&clear=true

CraigsList for housing, cars, etc.: http://www.craigslist.org/about/sites.html