Think you are alone when you look at your bank balance and realise that the gap year of your dreams is a million miles away? Think again. These live diarists are in the same position as you, but they are actively fundraising to make their gap year dreams a reality. Follow them through the peaks and troughs of fundraising and gain a little inspiration...

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Introducing fundraiser Carmel Wiggins Meet Carmel. She's heading to Peru in February with Madventurer - although before she gets on that plane, she's got to get her hands on £1,500... Name: Carmel Wiggins Age: 18 Hometown: Cardiff Hey Carmel, we guess you must be trying to raise some cash if you've got one of our amazing gapyear.com fundraising diaries - so what are you up to at the moment? Well, you guessed right - I am trying to get the cash together for my gap year. I am the working full time in a department stor and am spending the evenings working in my local Arts Centre bar. This is where my main fundraising is coming from, but I am also working on a proposal of my trip to Peru which I will send to a number of Grant Making Organisations with the hope of some sponsorship. Sounds as though you've got the right idea at the moment - work your butt off and spending the time you're not working trying to persuade others to throw money at you. So what is all of this for - where are you going and what will you be doing when you get there? On February 13th 2005 I get on a plane from Heathrow Airport which lands in Lima, Peru. From here I'm met by a representative of Madventurer, the volunteer organisation I will be working with for five weeks and trekking with for three. Along with 11 other people, I will be heading up to the heights of the Cordillera Blanca to a small rural village named 'Menor de Lupa' just outside Huaraz. Here I will be mainly teaching English to groups of children of various ages in the local school. I will also be helping out with some of the building work that is still taking place - the village was hit by an earthquake a few years back and there is a wall to finish building around the village. This is all purely volunteer work which is why I have to raise such a hefty amount. On the weekends and during a four day mid-term break we can go and visit Lima or trek in the Cordillera Blanca amongst the glaciers, go white water rafting and horseriding amongst other activity-based things. Once this ends I embark on a three week trek through Peru, which is an optional after-project extra. We start in Lima and work our way along the coast visiting most of the best landmarks including the four day Inca Trail which takes us to the famous Machu Picchu. The tour ends in La Paz, Bolivia and from then on my plans loose all such structure.... Click here >> for more placements like Carmel's Sounds great, there shouldn't be too many problems getting sponsored for something so worthwhile. Are you planning to use your placement as a springboard to more independent travel? Depending on who I meet on this project and how much money I have left, I really hope to do some exploring of my own, as I don't know when I'll get a chance to visit South America again. After that I head to Asuncion in Paraguay as I am fortunate enough to have a friend who lives there, she was a gap student at my school last year. I've got Spanish A-level and am studying Spanish and Italian at Edinburgh next September, so I'll be able to make good use out of my linguistic skills whilst no doubt improving them, and be able to immerse myself that much more into the culture and way of life through communication with the locals. So how much is this all going to cost you then and how much do you hope to make through fundraising? I've got my flight money so that's £675 done. I've also got my boots, rucksack and a few other things - but there's still £1,500 of my project to pay off, as well as vaccinations, equipment. Not to mention living costs and spending money. My job will cover part of this, but I think I'll still need to raise about £750 by fundraising. There's not much time left and I'm starting to pee my pants a bit. There's plenty of time left to raise it - don't worry. Have you got your thinking cap on? What fundraisers are in the pipeline at the moment? No 'events' as such, although I am looking into it but it's tricky - I have to find something people will actually want to sponsor me for (i.e. something I don't actually want to do) and people seem to prefer giving their money to charity, instead of a trip where I will be helping out the local community. Instead I'm doing little things, one benefit of working in a department store during sales is that I have found loads of bargains (tops for 50p) and am going to put them up for online auctions as well as anything else I can get my hands on. I have also organised some press coverage about myself and the gap I have planned. I hope some money will be sent in from this. I am also planning to sell home-made cakes at car boot sales and am also hoping to organise something larger which will bring in quite a bit of money. I'm still ironing out the details. Click here >> for more fundraising ideas We'll look forward to reading all about it in your diary - our fingers are crossed for you! Thanks guys - I'm sure I'll get there. It's just a little daunting at first, as it's such a big total to reach. I think if I take it one step at a time, I'll be just fine. Click here >> to email us about your fundraisers or to be set up with your own fundraising diary.