Fundraising...

When it’s money that makes the world go round.

I have to say that this has been the hardest aspect to overcome.  With the purchase of a larger home, and meeting the needs of our children, the amount of money we need to do this is staggering.  Adopting from the Ukraine costs about $35,000 and that is if EVERYTHING goes well.  The stay in the Ukraine is about 2 months minimum, going through an agency (which I recommend) offers a driver/translator, and living arrangements.

The cost for us because we are planning on taking our children with us I’m guessing maybe closer to $50,000.  Yikes!  We’ve had to put off our plan to hire an adoption practitioner for a couple of months due to unforeseen and yet necessary expenses.  However, in the meantime I’ve started doing after school daycare, which goes straight into our adoption bank.  Really it is a tall wine bottle tin with a hole cut in the top and the lid glued on. 

We’ve revaluated our budget several times to see what we can muster up and put into savings, and even then we aren’t sure it will be enough. 

With this in mind, and the fact that my youngest child hasn’t reached the age of 10 (leaving a child younger than 10 years old home alone can result in a social worker knocking on our front door) I’ve been looking for more ways to bring in money. 

True, I write but my successes have been small with payments that fall into the single digit realm.  I delight in the fact that some people out there acknowledge that I have talent.  I just wish I could break through the small time barriers and enter into the world of mainstream writers.   However, until then I write when I have something to add to my novel, or work on this blog, and spend most of my energy trying to do what I can to place money into our adoption bank.

It was after reading Power Spending that I started to put together some other ideas on how to save money.  Stretch our dollar more, and bring in more money.   I’m not going to give you all the tips and tells, but after reading the book I managed to cut down our grocery build by one third.   And using my talents and hobbies I’m hoping to put a bit of a dent into the $50,000. 

Putting the tips about earning extra money into practice is taking time for me.  I’ve been taking clothes to consignment stories instead of donating them.  When family and friends, even strangers heard I was doing this they’ve offered me some of their clothes to try to sell.  I’ve been running back and forth to consignment stores with a little success.  It’s a lot of work, and clothes that I think that will be picked up are often returned.  I have learned from my first attempt to make sure the clothes besides being clean which is obvious are ironed, including the T-shirts and jeans.  I’ve worked it out so that every bag of clothes I get maybe brings about $6.00, and that is only if they sell.  I have yet to receive a payment.

As for my other fundraising projects, it’s easier said than done.  The spaghetti dinner was pretty much a bust, my dad and his girl friend showed up, however everyone else was a no show. 

We’ve had some people donate; I caught one of my friends slipping money into the adoption bank.  I have to say seeing her do that made the burden feel a little lighter.  A dollar earned, or donated is so much more than just a dollar.  It is a prayer answered, that maybe just, just maybe we can do this.