Hello everyone! Happy May! ☀️
I appreciate you following along on this journey! I hope it might inspire someone else to try what we are doing, maybe for not as long, but long enough to get an idea of what “testing” retirement on Social Security might look like for you. (In the process, you might realize you definitely want to save more for retirement in a Roth IRA (Clark’s favorite) and/or a 401k, especially if you work somewhere where there is a company match.)
I was talking with a friend this week who is older than me, and she is considering selling her business and retiring herself. The inflation factor has her concerned — not scared, per se, but definitely concerned. There are so many people who are worried about that. It makes you have to stretch your dollar creatively and decide what you can and can’t do. I really hope our government can do something about that, especially for the folks who are on a fixed income now!
This week, we ended up with a deficit of $81.48 for April, all things considered. This includes my driving for Veho and Roadie (last week, I mentioned how April was a tough month due to 6 birthdays and our anniversary), and I also sold something on Poshmark and a few things to local resale stores. So, we’ll be watching things this month and my goal is to have a surplus at the end of the month.
Selling to resale stores and $1 sweater
I truly love cleaning out the closet, but it can be a bear. Once I got rid of a shirt I really loved, and I still think about it, even now! But it’s probably one thing out of thousands of items I’ve gotten rid of to make more space in my closet (and make life simpler.)
This week I made $27 selling stuff, and then spent $1 on a new-to-me sweater. I donated the rest of what the resale store didn’t buy from me.
![]() | ![]() |
Deals I got
This week, I got a deal on Simple Green from Clark Deals, a 50% off plant from Pike, and my friend took me to a wholesale plant store where I got $100 worth of plants for $53! I also got a free entrée from Panda Express with points we had, and that was my dinner on Friday night because I had a bigger lunch. We saved $5.40 on that! All in all, we saved $70.39 on deals.
![]() | ![]() |
![]() | ![]() |
Planting flowers
I never used to be a gardener because I didn’t have the patience and I had bad allergies. But now, it’s so nice to be able to enjoy the outdoors!!! (If you are interested in what made that happen, you can send me a note at charis@itcouldhelp.com.)
I have to say though, I spent WAY more on flowers than I meant to. I may be picking up an extra Veho or Roadie gig here or there to pay myself back. However, I do not regret these pretty flowers. Will post more progress pictures when we’re done planting!

Hope you all have a great week!!! 😊





