Raising Gap Year Money

"A journey of a thousand miles begins with a cash advance" Unknown

When you start saving money, it hurts! It seems to grow so slowly to begin with and you look at what it's taken you three months to save, three months of not going out, three months of not eating meat in favour of the cheaper baked beans and you still don't even have enough for the tickets...

Ouch

But by the next month you do have enough for one ticket and suddenly the three previous months don't seem quite so hard and the reality of what you are doing is there in front of you. It's suddenly real and you get the feeling that maybe you can do this.

Now it becomes easier and easier to save.

What we did to make saving easier

We made ourselves a thermometer like the ones they have when raising funds for hospitals (see right) and this made it a little easier for me but this was more for the children.

What I liked most was seeing my bank account grow. The actual numbers were what counted most for me!

Extra ways to raise money

When you set your mind to doing something there are thousand ways you can achieve. I was very lucky in that I had a relatively well paid job (but being single meant only one income) but I was still able to put some good money away each month.

Other ways that I raised money

• Car boot sale (Got rid of a lot of tat around the house and earned me some nice pennies)
  
  
• Ebay - Same as the above
  
  
• Car and pet washing (The children were supposed to help here but we ended up doing mainly the cars of friends and family then felt bad about taking the money! Still we earned enough to cover three days on the road)
  
  
• Cake sales and freezer meals (I am a qualified chef so I am lucky in that I can make some tasty dishes - I stocked up the fridges and freezers of various friends and family and earned enough for about a months accommodation)
  
  
• Yard Sales (Cake sales and more junk out of the house. The kids ran these out in the yard and had a lot of fun doing it)
  
  
• Face painting (Painting children's faces at car boots - this was very lucrative)
  
  
• We asked for money instead of gifts at birthdays and Christmas
  
  
• I potted seeds and sold the seedlings (Was not my forte and only made a few £'s!)
  
  
• Started a couple of websites and raised money through sales and advertising (Made about £100 a month)
  
  
• Offered a tuition studio. If you are good at doing something, for example cooking, gardening, computers offer a mornings tuition to a bunch of people. This can earn you loads and be a lot of fun. I taught people baking and how to make some thai curries.
  

Other DIY funding ideas

• Do something bizarre and get people to sponsor you.
  Shave your head
  Dye your hair blue
  I heard of a man who climbed a tree and stayed there for three days. He earned loads
  
  
• Hold a Quiz night. It’s a great event for all ages and you provide snacks but everyone brings their own drinks and they pay £1 entrance fee.
  
  
• Treasure hunt where contestants pay a £1 to enter and winner winds a decent prize
  
  
• Hold a barbeque. People bring their own meat but pay you to cook it
  
  
• Hold a cinema night. BEcause of copyright showing the DVD is free but friends can pay a couple of £'s for the snacks
  
  

Of course all of these are great ways to raise money but I always felt a little guilty asking people to help me raise money for what was essentially a grand holiday so I preferred to go the route where people got real value for money out of the things I did rather than the sponsorship or arranged evening route.

I was most comfortable with cooking, tuition, yard sales, car boots, face painting and ebay. In these I felt everyone got value for money and that I wasn't going cap in hand, begging bowl outstretched.

Had we been going off to Africa or South America with a real humanitarian or ecological project or cause in mind I might have felt different.