[nabs-l] need some help with readers/ tutors

Tue Oct 16 14:16:21 UTC 2012

Why did your counselor stop paying for readers?  Can you get materials
in a different format so you can read them independently?  Make an
announcement in your classes for people who want to volunteer.  

-----Original Message-----
From: nabs-l [mailto:nabs-l-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of becky sabo
Sent: Wednesday, October 17, 2012 10:11 AM
To: 'National Association of Blind Students mailing list'
Subject: [nabs-l] need some help with readers/ tutors

	Hi everyone,
I was wondering if any one could help me out or give me some suggestions
for school.  I am struggling in school.  I graduated with my AA this
summer from the community college of Denver than I started this fall at
Metro state University.  My DVR councilor stop paying my reader and she
had to quit because of financial issues.  I am trying to fine new
readers but I do not know how to go about that any help would be great.
I started out doing full time but I was failing one of them so I dropped
it now I am hurting in my other classes and I do not want to drop out
but I do not know what to do.
My mom and dad have been helping me but they said they can not help me
because they are retired but I do have other disabilities and school is
very hard but I want to successed.  So my question is where do I go or
what to do next'
Thanks again.
Becky Sabo 

-----Original Message-----
From: nabs-l [mailto:nabs-l-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Arielle
Silverman
Sent: Saturday, October 13, 2012 2:51 PM
To: nabs-l at nfbnet.org
Subject: [nabs-l] Budgeting

Hi all,
I think keeping a monthly budget is a good skill for all students to
learn.
I will describe the method I use for my own budget. You don't have to do
it this way, but I do think it is important to have some formal way of
tracking how much money you have and how much you can afford to spend on
a weekly or monthly basis. I think this is especially critical for those
of us on fixed incomes. Once you have a budget, you will be able to tell
not only when you need to cut back on your spending, but also when you
are "ahead of the game"
and can afford to spend a little more.

Before creating your budget, I suggest looking at your past three bank
statements and noting a few things. First, note exactly how much money
you get per month, from all regular sources such as wages from a job,
SSI, checks from family, scholarship funds, etc. Also, note all expenses
you have that are mandatory or non-negotiable that come up every month,
such as rent and bills.
I keep my budget as an Excel spreadsheet and when I used to have a
Braille Note, I kept it on that. First create an entry titled "income"
and enter your total monthly income into that cell. If for example, you
earn
$500 each month from wages, and an additional $500 from Social Security,
and this happens every single month, you would put
1000 into the income box.
Below that make an entry called "fixed expenses" and add up all of your
bills and other non-negotiable expenses you have to pay every month.
Examples might include: rent, utilities, Internet charges, cell phone
bill, doctor and pharmacy bills, etc. Note I don't count groceries as a
fixed expense because even though buying groceries is required for
survival, the actual amount you spend on groceries is flexible and can
be changed from month to month, whereas the amount you spend on your
cell phone bill is generally the same from month to month. You might
want to designate a minimum grocery payment as a fixed expense to make
sure you've set aside some money for groceries, and then allow yourself
to spend more than that minimum on groceries if you have extra
discretionary money (see below). For our hypothetical example of the
person getting $1000 per month, suppose that person pays $400 monthly
rent, $50 utilities, a $75 cell phone bill, $50 Internet bill and $25 to
refill a prescription medication.
That person has a total of $600 in fixed expenses per month.
Once you have carefully added up all your fixed expenses, subtract the
fixed expense total from your total income. What you have left is
"discretionary money" which you can spend on anything you want. Our
hypothetical person has
$400 per month in discretionary money that he/she can spend on whatever.
You might choose to further divide your discretionary money into more
categories, for example, giving yourself
$100 to spend on clothes, $100 for groceries, $100 for transportation
and
$100 for other stuff. It is really up to you and only you know what
kinds of things you like to spend your money on. The big key is just to
make sure that in a month you don't spend more than what you have
available for discretionary spending, so this person should not spend
more than $400 per month on optional or discretionary things.
Now, this next part is really important. Once you have your budget and
know how much leftover money you have for discretionary expenses, every
time you buy something, even if it's just a $5 lunch, go back to your
budget and subtract that amount from what you have designated as
discretionary money.
That way, you will be able to see right away if your funds are getting
low and can make a decision not to buy that new party outfit, etc. If,
however, it's almost the end of the month and you still have quite a bit
of discretionary money left over, you can treat yourself to something
nice without feeling guilty, because you will know that you will still
have enough money left to get through the rest of the month.
If I have discretionary money left over at the end of the month, I will
put that extra money into a category called "savings". Once my savings
adds up, I can use it for bigger expenses, like taking a trip.
If you have money saved from previous months, you won't have to dip into
your discretionary fund for the current month when an occasional big
expense, like a trip, comes up.
The budget is also really helpful for making decisions, like whether to
move out of one's family home or whether to move to a cheaper place. If
you are putting lots of extra money into savings each month, then you
can probably afford to pay more rent, but if you are perpetually running
out of discretionary funds before the end of the month, then it might be
time to cut back either on the discretionary expenses (i.e. not buying a
coffee every day) or on the fixed expenses (i.e. by moving to a cheaper
apartment or cutting back on the cell phone plan).
In order to make the budget work, it is important to be good about
setting it up on the first day of each month (or whenever your payday
is) and then recording each and every time you spend money. Keeping
regular tabs on your checking account and any credit cards you have will
ensure you don't miss an expense.
I know this sounds complicated, so I'd be happy to talk more off-list or
by phone. I do think it is a worthwhile thing to do in spite of the
minor hassle.
Best,
Arielle

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