Help With Budgeting

There is a spreadsheet for every person and templates make them easy for every user.  This link shows you a variety of spreadsheets and you can decide which one best fits your needs.  Some report income biweekly, some monthly, some weekly.  The web site Christian Personal Finance offers all sorts of ways to help you manage your money, so no matter what your needs there is something for everyone! Head on over and see what's available.

GET TICKETS FREE--MONSTER TRUCK JAM PHILLY SEE ORIGINAL POST

Looking for a family friendly event in Philadelphia? Love Monster Trucks? Advance Auto Parts Monster Jam is coming to The Linc in Philadelphia PA on June 4, 2011 and it offers something for everyone in your family to enjoy.  After all more than four million fans can't be wrong! Come out and yell, cheer, and join fans from five to ninety-five as they enjoy a night at Monster Jam at The Linc in the City of Brotherly Love. See the biggest performers on four wheels wow the audiences! Come show the drivers how much fans in the City of Brotherly Love love Monster Trucks. See the biggest names in the sport perform in Philadelphia, straight from their TV show on Speed and Mattel's popular toy line that features Monster Trucks.

One lucky group of four will get free (YES I SAID FREE!) tickets to the Philadelphia Monster Truck Jam just by entering my giveaway.  How to enter: Add your email address and tell me why you LOVE Monster Trucks in the comment section below.  Fast and easy! Share with blog readers the name of your favorite truck and driver! We'd love to hear from you about why you love Monster Trucks. Each entry must contain BOTH your email address and why you love Monster Trucks or the name of your favorite truck or driver. No duplicate email addresses please! One entry per person.  Tell your friends, spread the word! Monster Trucks ARE COMING TO THE LINC IN PHILLY! BE THERE!

SPECIAL DISCOUNT FOR MY BLOG READERS:

Don't want to leave getting tickets to chance? Readers who love Monster Trucks can use the PROMO DISCOUNT CODE  BLOGGER  when purchasing tickets and save $10 on all $25 and $35 seats (discount not available for front row or VIP seating, kids seating or $15 seats and is NOT good the day of the show.) This code will also work if ordering by phone at 800-745-3000.  Use the discount code BLOGGER at the Ticketmaster web site today to get the best seats in the house.  Anyone Ages Two and Older Must Have A Ticket.

Enter or get your tickets today! Don't be left in the dust! Enter with your friends or family.  Remember, if you don't enter you sure won't win!

(Please note: the author of this blog was provided with 2 sets of tickets(each for a family of  four), one for her own family and one set to giveaway.  I did not recieve any additional monetary compensation.

Increased Demand, Layoffs and People Not Getting Services--Be An Active Consumer of Services

The Pittsburgh Tribune published the following info:

 

"A survey of 1,000 nonprofit organizations by United Way of Pennsylvania found that 82 percent experienced increased demand for service, 64 percent had layoffs and about one-third turned away people needing services."  Are you effected by these budget changes?

 

This is why it's important to be active in supporting local congresspeople and senators who support the needs of your child/adult child.  Get to know your senator and congressmen and the staff in their offices.  When they can put a face to the issue you are more likely to get the results you want.  It's harder for them to vote against a bill when they know the person it will effect and know they will see them in their office after a vote cutting the budget for needed services.  This doesn't mean only complaining! Be sure to let them know when they've done something right as well.  Everyone can use a little positive reinforcement!

Everyday Lives Committee Meeting In Delaware County PA

Just a reminder about our Business Meeting scheduled on Wednesday May 18 from 12:00-2:00 at the Delaware County Intermediate Unit ----

          

The Quality Management Coordinator from our Office, Leonard Oakes, will do a presentation from 12:00-12:30 about the Quality Management Plan and will be available to answer any questions about the Plan and Incident Management. We will discuss our Business including activities for next year and membership from 12:30-1:00. Susan Proulx, the Deputy Administrator for the County Office will come at 1:00. Susan would like to meet Committee members and she will talk about what is happening on the local and state levels in the coming year and she will answer questions you may have. We will wrap up the meeting with Information Sharing. Please plan to attend.   

Job Hunting Help

JOBTips is a new web site to help the intellectually disabled with their search for job.  The site not only provides job tips but also gives job searchers with the tools they need to identify employment opportunities that match their abilities.  It provides the job hunter and their teachers, parents or staff assistance on planning the individual's job hunt.  It offers tips on social skills needed when job hunting, transportation and legal rights. 

JOBTips is useful to the individual job hunter but can also be part of transition planning for high schools and vocational schools. This site also gives job hunters tips on how to keep a job once they get it, a critical part of transition planning.

Prior to massive budget cuts by the state and federal governments job hunting assistance was available through a variety of sources.  Unfortunately, these budget cuts mean the organizations who used to provide some job services for the disabled no longer have the same amount of funds to provide assistance at the level it is needed.  Hopefully sites like JOBTips will help close the gaps.  Meanwhile contact your local congresspersons and senators about the need for these services and what the loss of them has meant to you or your son or daughter.  Remember, the squeaky wheel... if you aren't telling them what you need you aren't going to get it!

Ticket Giveaway--Monster Jam at The Linc, Phila. PA

Looking for a family friendly event in Philadelphia? Love Monster Trucks? Advance Auto Parts Monster Jam is coming to The Linc in Philadelphia PA on June 4, 2011 and it offers something for everyone in your family to enjoy.  After all more than four million fans can't be wrong! Come out and yell, cheer, and join fans from five to ninety-five as they enjoy a night at Monster Jam at The Linc in the City of Brotherly Love. See the biggest performers on four wheels wow the audiences! Come show the drivers how much fans in the City of Brotherly Love love Monster Trucks. See the biggest names in the sport perform in Philadelphia, straight from their TV show on Speed and Mattel's popular toy line that features Monster Trucks.

One lucky group of four will get free (YES I SAID FREE!) tickets to the Philadelphia Monster Truck Jam just by entering my giveaway.  How to enter: Add your email address and tell me why you LOVE Monster Trucks in the comment section below.  Fast and easy! Share with blog readers the name of your favorite truck and driver! We'd love to hear from you about why you love Monster Trucks. Each entry must contain BOTH your email address and why you love Monster Trucks or the name of your favorite truck or driver. No duplicate email addresses please! One entry per person.  Tell your friends, spread the word! Monster Trucks ARE COMING TO THE LINC IN PHILLY! BE THERE!

SPECIAL DISCOUNT FOR MY BLOG READERS:

Don't want to leave getting tickets to chance? Readers who love Monster Trucks can use the PROMO DISCOUNT CODE  BLOGGER  when purchasing tickets and save $10 on all $25 and $35 seats (discount not available for front row or VIP seating, kids seating or $15 seats and is NOT good the day of the show.) This code will also work if ordering by phone at 800-745-3000.  Use the discount code BLOGGER at the Ticketmaster web site today to get the best seats in the house.  Anyone Ages Two and Older Must Have A Ticket.

Enter or get your tickets today! Don't be left in the dust! Enter with your friends or family.  Remember, if you don't enter you sure won't win!

(Please note: the author of this blog was provided with 2 sets of tickets(each for a family of  four), one for her own family and one set to giveaway.  I did not recieve any additional monetary compensation.

Shopping Lists and Menu Planning

Menu planning and shopping is one of the challenges the intellectually disabled face when they more out on their own.  This free download from Colette's web site at My Computer is My Canvas helps us all organize our shopping trips.  In this day of expensive fuel, fewer trips to the store are critical to the budget.  And for anyone depending on staff to drive them to the store, organization is key to managing to make a single trip to the store instead of a lot of short and expensive trips. 

One side of this chart lists meals (especially dinners) you can make with the food on hand in the pantry, the other side lists items you need to buy at the store.  The list of items you need can also include items you've run out of (remember that night you used up the last of the mustard on the hot dogs and forgot to buy some at the store, so sandwiches the rest of the week were kind of blah?). Just add the mustard the night you run out of it.  You can then either copy the list to what to buy or use your cell phone camera to take a photo of the list of things to buy! Voila!

You can print this download, laminate it, hang it with ribbon or twine and then just use a dry erase marker on it so you can use it again and again.  Simply wipe it clean each week! Colette has lots of other useful and creative posts that make your life both pretty and easier..and free, well you can't beat that for the budget!

I love Colette's blog, full of pretty and useful things to make yourself.  This download would obviously work for all of us, but I thought it might be a great way for someone who was disabled to keep a running list of food available and food to buy.  Now all it needs is an envelope to attach to the bottom to hold the coupons for the food you are buying.  Hmmm...

Learn What's New In Special Education In Pennsylvania

The Arc of Pennsylvania and The Arc of Delaware County, representing people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, are hosting a workshop titled "What's New In Special Education, Chapter 14 Revisions." The workshop is sponsored by The Arc of Pennsylvania in partnership with PaTTAN, Pennsylvania Education/Bureau of Special Education; Co-sponsored by: The Down Syndrome Interest Group and DELCO Family P.A.S.S.

Topics under discussion include: What's new in the Chapter 14 regs and how it will affect you and your students, what inclusion looks like, Standards Aligned System and other valuable resources.

This presentation is designed for parents, family members, advocates, supports coordinators, providers, and guardians.

Where and When: Delaware County Intermediate Unit, 200 Yale Avenue, Morton PA 19070. May 11,2011 from 11AM to 1PM.

Register by calling: The Arc at 610-544-6600 or email: ebagwell@thearcofdelco.org.

Lunch will be provided. Please provide information about any accomodations required when registering.