Hi Dancinglilly.
Most days you can have between 5-15 syns, you can have them via your recipes or as an extra such as a "HIFi" bar=6syns.
Take a look at the recipes on this website to get an idea of recipes and check what the syns are in them, if any,check in your orange book for values.
I tend to use my syns in my recipes but if I have a low syn day I have a chocolate treat! 2 Cadbury's mini eggs =1.5 syns
After reading the books several times you will soon get the hang of it. Good luck.
Pete