When my husband and I decided that I would separate from the Air Force and stay at home, we really jumped into it head first. By we, I mean me. I wasn’t worried at all. I spent my last year filling our savings and I knew we’d still have health care, dental, and one steady income that was reliable. If I’m being completely honest with myself, I was driven more by hormones at that time than anything. I was pregnant and doing a job that required me to walk a lot with marching Airmen and deal with a lot of snotty attitudes that left me frazzled everyday. Also, anyone in the military knows your weekends are never guaranteed and unless you’re having a high risk pregnancy, you’re not immune. Needless to say, I was ready to get out.

My husband had more reservations. He never said he didn’t want me to get out, in fact he encouraged me and agreed that it would be best for our family. But when my husband is quiet, I can tell he’s got something on his mind. I know the big cut in income was weighing on his mind. As always though, he was supportive.

I started my terminal leave about a month before my due date. From the time I had my daughter, we were busy. Busy with a newborn, busy with renovations, busy with family visits and family trips, and just busy with everyday life. Since I had saved quite a bit of money during that last year and I do receive a small amount from the VA, we were able to continue with our renovations and live comfortable. I still had to watch my budget very closely and we weren’t living extravagantly by no means, but we didn’t worry.

Nowadays, time has slowed some. We have a completely renovated house and not nearly as many funds in savings. We aren’t struggling by any means, but I still have been contemplating ways to make a little extra money. My baby is not a baby anymore and my hands are a little more free so I want to put my DIY skills to use. I always have a lot of ideas that I’m throwing at my husband. I have proposed starting a booth in one of our local antique stores, buying a small house to flip ourselves, and even opening a store in our little town to sell my refurbished furniture and some treasures I like to pick up. But now we only have 5 months before we have to list our house to sell so all those opportunities have passed. I will have to put those ideas on hold and pray that God will present more opportunities at our next duty station.

Now I’m thinking on a smaller scale. I’d still like to make a little extra money, especially with the holidays right around the corner and a Christmas trip to San Diego on the books. Then it hit me, YARD SALE! We are moving and need to clean out the clutter anyway and why couldn’t I sell some of my signs and furniture as well? I’ve already packed the back of our truck full of things we need to get rid of so now I need to get busy making some home décor signs and find some pieces of furniture to fix up. This weekend we’re going treasure hunting. I don’t want to spend a lot so the goal is to bring $100 cash and once it’s gone, we go home. I would like to get at least 3 solid pieces of furniture. I want to spend the majority of my time making them pretty rather than functional. I’m going to use them as ‘big ticket’ items at our sale so I want them to be really pretty. Today I’ll be scouring Craigslist for Yard Sale posts so I can make the most of our time and hit all the ‘good’ spots. I have high hopes for our treasure hunt since yard sales are a big thing in our area. Fingers crossed I’ll be sharing some furniture tutorials soon!