Has anyone been watching Oprah’s Big Give on Sunday nights? I happened to catch the first episode a few weeks ago, and the show’s primary goal seems to be employing hairbrained schemes to raise money. The strangest part of the first episode was when one team organized a fashion show to raise money for a worthy cause: helping a medical student to pay back his student loans. When the models’ purses snapped open on the runway, waiting for the $1,000 bills to fly inside, I felt downright uncomfortable when not a single dollar was donated (but fear not: Jamie Foxx came through in the end with a $50,000 donation).
But it got me to thinking: what wacky ways could we employ to raise money for our trip? I think we’re off to a good start. Maikael sold his desk and I sold my old camera on Craig’s List (WTER value: more than half of one airline ticket from Albuquerque to London; two nights in a Tokyo hotel; half of one night in an over-water bungalow in Tahiti). Maikael entered us to win a round-the-world trip, which I quickly countered with a raffle to win 100 New Mexico Lottery tickets. I have considered selling my plasma, but if anyone has other creative ideas to prevent me from doing so, I’m all ears.
I sold some old text books and fat reference books on the Amazon site and ended up with $300. More importantly, I now have more room on the bookshelves for new books!