If you live in the Indianapolis area, check out the Crossroads of America Adoption Conference put on by MLJ Adoptions.

They’ve got some great speakers and sessions planned. Check out the schedule here.

I’ll be speaking on Saturday morning – looking forward to it and hope to see you there!

This is just one stop in what I think is going to turn into the fall book tour So far I have confirmed events in Atlanta and Indianapolis with possible events in Birmingham, Charlotte and Chattanooga. It’s going to be a blast. If you’re in that part of the states and are interested in having me come speak, let me know.

P.S. Watch the Upcoming Events list on the sidebar for updates!

I LOVE getting emails from my readers and other adoptive families who take the time to share what’s worked for them.

This morning I got an email from Dave & Amy who are doing an interstate adoption of a baby girl that is due toward the end of June.

A year ago they netted over $2,000 from a garage sale. They’re getting ready to do another one, hoping to surpass that amount, to cover their travel expenses and post-placement fees.

They’ve been sharing with friends and family and receiving donations and created a Facebook event to help spread the word.

But this is something I hadn’t thought of – I’ll just copy part of Dave’s email.

I happended to be looking on Craigslist at some of the rummage sales and thought to myself, I wonder what these people are doing with the left over items from their sale?  I know last year we had a ton of stuff at our sale and even when we were done we still had a bunch left over.  We knew someone else having a sale so we just donated the items to their sale.

So my curiosity sprung me into action!  I created a standard email talking about our adoption situation and that we were having a sale and hoping to raise funds.  I started emailing each Craigslist sale posting link for last weekend asking if people would consider donating what they had left to our sale if they were just going to take it to Goodwill anyway.  I sent so many emails that Craigslist sent me a message saying they received too many emails from my email account!!  I think that was at like 50 emails.  I don’t quit easily, so I opened my old email account that I don’t use anymore, but is still active and started emailing from there to the rest of the sales.  I found out that we sure had a lot of sales in our area as I emailed about 95 different postings!! 

I wasn’t sure what the response would be like, but to date I’ve probably heard from about 10 of those people who did donate their stuff to our sale.  Granted some might say, “Well this stuff didn’t sell at their sale, so why would it sell at ous?”  I don’t know that I have a great answer for this or if it will even be effective, but I do plan there to be a lot more people at our sale than any other sale in town the weekend we do it!  We have WAY more stuff than we did last year and stuff of great value too. 

GENIUS! I know when we have a garage sale I’d be thrilled to have someone come get my leftovers.

If you have any other garage sale tips, post them in the comments.

Don’t forget to join us on Facebook for more tips and tidbits.

If you’re coming after hearing the segment on The Dave Ramsey Show – Welcome!

My interview with Dave was originally recorded and aired last June. It was a thrill for me as Dave’s teachings have made such a huge impact on our family.

If you want to hear more of our story, here’s some posts that are a great start:

How We Paid For Our Adoption

Our Debt Free Story

Our Adoption Timeline

The last two links are over on our family blog. If you want to get more detail on our adoption, and have several hours, you can read the 95 posts under “Adoption Process” in the Category drop down.

This blog is a place for me to add more fundraising ideas and keep you update on great resources. You can also “Like” the AWD Facebook page.

I also do a 2.5 hour “Adopt Without Debt Workshop” for adoption agencies, orphan care ministries and churches. If you’re interested in having me come speak to your group, e-mail me at julieATadoptwithoutdebtDOTcom.

If you have questions or comments, leave them below and I will answer you!

Got an email this morning from the awesome folks at The Dave Ramsey Show.

It seems that while Dave is hanging out 90 minutes from me in Tucson, (for his EntreLeadership seminar) they are re-airing some old shows.

The interview I originally did with Dave last June will re-air this Thursday! Yay!

If you listen live online it will air at 1:15CT but it could vary on your local station.

Of course, you can just listen to the clip here too.

If you’re looking to trim household expenses so you can save more for your adoption, check out this blog series I found called “Living on Less Than $28,000 a Year“.

Let me know what you think of her ideas.

This fall I’m going to be speaking in the Atlanta area, then traveling to Nashville, and I have a few dates to fill if you know anyone that might be interested in booking an Adopt Without Debt Workshop.

Because I’m already in the area, your organization (church orphan ministry, adoption agency, non-profit) can save money since there will be minimal travel expenses.

These are the dates currently available. (If it says driving distance, that means around 3 hours.)

• Sept 13th (in Atlanta only)
• Sept 16-18 (Atlanta or within driving distance)
• Sept 19-20 (Nashville area – or between Atlanta & Nashville)
• Sept 23 (Nashville area)

If you know someone who might be interested, please feel free to download the PDF flyer below and send it to them. You can contact me at julie@adoptwithoutdebt.com if you have more questions.

DOWNLOAD THE FLYER

I got an email a couple weeks ago from the founder of a unique new fundraising opportunity. Well, it’s a unique spin on a deal you may already know about.

Many of you are probably familiar with the Restaurant.com deals where you buy a $20 gift certificate and it’s worth double or more at their list of restaurants.

CoupAide has partnered with Restaurant.com to provide a simple and efficient fundraising platform while giving your friends & family a way to save a ton on some of the best restaurants in their town.

If you’re an adopting family, CoupAide has a FANTASTIC giveaway going this week with over $600 in prizes (including cash for your adoption).

GO HERE to find out how to start a fundraiser and enter.

HOW IT WORKS:

• You start a fundraiser page – email all your friends and family the link.
• They pay $20 and get a $50 e-certificate that they can use on Restaurant.com (18,000 restaurants to choose from)
• You get $10 for every e-certificate sold.

Pretty stink in’ simple!

- Restaurant.com gift certificates are accepted by over 18,000 restaurants. Use it while you’re in or out of town.