The Method to My Madness

I can still hear the echoes of my father's voice extolling the benefits of *compound interest* and that you can't buy back time when it comes to saving. Well, life happens and we don't always heed the good advice we've been given. Sometimes we can't save and sometimes we just plan to do it "tomorrow". Now that I'm at that point where I'm barreling down on forty like a freight train, it's time to recognize that the time I've lost is gone and it's time to figure out what I CAN do. 
 
One of the (many) benefits of being the mother of a child with special needs is that you learn to think outside the box. "Normal" is a word that takes on a whole new, and sometimes unsavory, meaning. Since it's too late for me to do things the "normal" way, I've decided to find a different way to accomplish my goal. Yet another thing you learn as a mom is that giving up isn't an option. You simply refocus your energy in a new direction. And while I was refocusing, I decided an experiment was in order. Why not, right? 
 
While listening to one of the financial gurus, (can't remember which one), he was saying that you need to save. Just save anything. Even if it's just twenty bucks a month, you need to save it. Well, yeah, I can do that. But in reality, $240 a year isn't really gonna help me retire. Even with the magic of compound interest, the rates are so low right now that it wouldn't grow quickly enough. Even if I invested it, at an optimistic 10% return each year, I would have $558 after two years. That is a paltry increase of $78.
In fairness, if I held out for the long-term, at $20 month, at 10% return, I would end up with $26,999 at the end of 25 years. That is $6000 of my money and the rest from returns. Nothing to sneeze at, but it still won't sustain me.
 
The calculator I used is this one.
 
So my experiment will be as follows: For the next year, I will take $20 per month and use it to buy items either from thrift stores or yard sales and sell them. I will not make improvements to the items except to wash or clean them. I do have some shipping supplies right now, but I will try to keep up with how much I spend on those. I also use those supplies for other items I sell, but I will try to gauge how much I am spending on this project. All money earned will be available for future purchases. I will keep a viewable spreadsheet of all of my transactions. And at the end of a year, I hope to have enough to start a significant 401(k).