The average adult in Jacksonville makes $2,700 per month — how far does that go? Housing, childcare, car payments, utilities  and more add up quickly, leaving little to nothing leftover at the end of the month without a sound budget.

That’s one of the lessons learned  by the 4Me Teen Health Project Teen Leader Leadership Councils during a personal finance class with local teen Eva Baker, who runs the blog Teens Got Cents.

The 18-year old blogger is visiting each Teen Leadership Council — made up of Teen Leaders that completed the the 4Me Teen Health Project curriculum and committed to the six-month council — to talk budgets, personal goals and future plans.

One teen wants to buy a car. Another wants to start a business to sell her crocheted items. Eva covers  the basics of budgeting and the envelope method of saving money, working with the teens to figure out their specific savings goals and connecting the importance of putting away money now to reach their goals later.

Eva began blogging about finance at age 16 when she realized there were no sites for teens about being smart financially. She covers buying a car, finding a part-time job and other teen-friendly financial topics on her site.

TeensGotCents.com sponsor and local credit union 121 Credit Union graciously provided gift cards to raffle off at each council meeting.

Eva was recently the recipient of the James Madison Institute’s Preston A. Wells Jr. Teen Entrepreneur Award:

*Photos courtesy of Teens Got Cents.