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About Me:

Monkey Mama

Just a 46-year-old mom of 2 in Northern California. My kids are Monkey Monkey(MM) and Drama Llama (DL). I am married to Monkey Hubby (MH).

We were a one-income family for 13 years. In late 2015 my spouse returned to work (minimum wage/part-time/seasonal). Something recent on his resume just buys us more options for the long run. The main benefit of this job is that he just works while the kids are in school. As always, we are saving 100% of his income.

{2023 Update: I expect that MH will retire from this job when kids are done with college and/or home is paid off. I think he likes the idea of finding more interesting or full-time work, with kids both adults now. But practically, might just stick out the *good* and very flexible job as long as possible. The very part-time job is allowing him to pursue his film passions. We are only about 5-ish years away from financial independence. Would be very different if we "needed" the money or he thought he might have decades of working years ahead of him.}

We saved a lot while we were very young and also moved to a lower cost-of-living area, to make life much simpler. We still live in California though (in one of the most expensive regions of the U.S.). *Simple* and *inexpensive* is relative.

Likewise, we have never had debt aside from our mortgage.** My blog is a testament to how much simpler life is without debt; how we have that much more money to both save and enjoy!

**Caveat: I have no problem whatsoever with credit cards paid off monthly, or low-risk credit arbitrage (for example, 0%-interest debt while earning 5% on FDIC-insured cash). These are the kinds of debt we have had. Just not interested in high-interest debt, using debt to buy beyond means, and not interested in the hassle that comes with loans and payments. With age and means, the latter (hassle) is our biggest debt avoidance motivation.

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2024 Goals

[ ]Small monthly Charitable Contribution
...($35 @ 1/31/24)
...Trying to be more mindful about how the little amounts add up and are helpful.
...This is not an all inclusive list of charitable giving but it is a new habit I want to add in addition to other donations of time, goods and money

[ ]Pay cash for college
...This is so much a given, to me. But I realize not everyone can read my mind, and so will memorialize in my goal list.
...#1 We don't do Debt
...#2 The student loan system is a scammy and corrupt mess.
...Seriously, wouldn't touch these student loan servicers with a ten foot pole.
MM YEAR 1 ✔
MM YEAR 2 ✔
MM YEAR 3 ✔
MM YEAR 4

DL YEAR 1 ✔
DL YEAR 2

[ ]$10,000 to savings
...($4,529 @ 3/31/24)
...$1,000/month, plus interest
...Topping off with snowballs

[ ]$7,500 to investments
...($1,750 @ 4/30/24)
...$350/month, plus snowflakes
(Snowflakes: credit card rewards and dividends)
...Topping off with snowballs

[ ]$2,025 to mortgage
...($0 @ 4/30/24)
...Topping off with snowballs and/or excess cash
...Keeps us on track with $10K principal paydown per year

[/]9% of household income to work retirement plans
...(9% @ 3/31/24)
...This is the minimum for the match; I'd otherwise rather fund IRAs.
...Note: Total retirement savings rate is 20% (with IRAs)

Goal savings rate = 25% of gross salary, plus funding IRAs from other sources.

[ ]$14,000 to IRAs 2024 (MAX)
...($0 @ 4/30/24)
...Will fund with MH's income
...Will not fund until the year is over. This is for tax and planning reasons. I won't know what mix of Traditional/ROTH IRA we literally can contribute until we do our 2024 taxes. In addition to that, can make a more informed decision based on our financial and tax situation for the entire year.

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**Long-Term Goals**

[X]$500,000 in retirement accounts by age 45.

Current big picture goal:

[ ]$1 Mil in retirement accounts by age 52.

Stretch Goal: Achieve by age 50

Have decided to pretty much stay the course. Keep saving 20%+ to retirement. This means taking 401K match & maxing out IRAs.

NOTE: WE HAVE NEVER CONTRIBUTED LESS THAN 10% TO RETIREMENT. NO EXCEPTIONS.

If we can't achieve at least 10%, then something else has to give. I share because it's infinitely easier to save for retirement if you start early. Let the investments do the hard work for you.

-------------------------------

Debt: $85,000 mortgage
{Home Purchase Price $290,000}

Ongoing goal is to *never borrow money again.*

Took on a $230k mortgage in 2001 and have not added to that.

-------------------------

Net Worth: Increase net worth by $600,000 in the next 10 years. This is my "financial independence" goal.

2017: +$ 70,000 (partial year)
2018: +$ 51,000
2019: +$105,000
2020: +$104,000
2021: +$215,000
2022: <$ 65,000>
2022: +$ 85,000
TOTAL: +$565,000

This is in line with prior goal, saving 100% of our expenses every year.

{Our expenses are far more consistent than our income. Also, helps to prevent "living up to income."}

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My Pages

Water Bill

March 9th, 2007 at 08:36 pm

I've been meaning to dig out my water bill for a while and finally did. I know someone asked way back something about a piece of the bill - I don't remember.

All I know is when we moved from the Bay Area to Sacramento the bill was just insane. & it annoys me it is not metered (though maybe that would be worse).

So here goes - we pay monthly:

Water - flat fee - $28
Storm Drainage - flat fee - $15
Garbage (smallest can) - $10
Recycle (largest can) - $3
Lawn/Garden (one-size can) - $7
Street Sweeping - $1
Sewer - $30

Grand total - $94/month

I used to rent a similar size house in San Jose with roommates and our water and garbage bill was just pennies. Well it was in the mid-1990s. I guess things change too... SO moving here was a bit of a shock.

We have the biggest freaking recycle bin and they only pick it up every other week - we just fill it to the brim. The nice thing is we never fill our trash. If I hear one more person tell me they HAVE to have a huge garbage can because they have kids. Whatever, they don't HAVE to do anything. We even throw some diapers in there since LM insists on disposables for sleeping - but the can is never anywhere near full. I Will be happy when the city takes recycling even more seriously though. They really need to come by every week. Though I guess with the kids drinking milk like fiends - it's gallons of milk and all that that fills the recycle bin. Maybe that will settle down as they get older. We were just talking about starting to recycle cans and stuff - go get paid for them I mean. We just don't drink that much soda or anything, but might free a little space in the recycle bin.

Oh I know what fills it up - newspapers. It is my pet peeve dh will not cancel the newspaper. What a waste of paper. HE is attached to his coupons, which is fine, but now they insist on delivering it 5 days a week and NO LESS. IT just aggravates me since most of it goes straight to the recycle bin - not even looked at... I told him I would go out and buy it on the weekends but it does cost about the same in the end. But I would feel better about not killing all the trees...

Anyway, sewer, garbage, storm drainage, street sweeping, oh my. LOL. The city is moving to metered water so we'll see if that helps at all. IF nothing else we will have more control over our costs. THough I know we were paying well more than we ever used in years past. Figures now we have a yard to water and 4 people in the house, now they want to meter it. Bah. LOL. But I think it is good all the same. Good for water conservation. I Still haven't got used to the difference from where we moved from. The signs on the restaurants - "we will not serve water unless you ask" to here where there is no metering and no one really cares. BAck home had a lot of drought issues, I guess there is just more water up here so no one is worried about conserving - I don't know... Who knew 2 hours could make such a huge difference. IF we knew sacramento had more water than they knew what to do with we would have asked them to send some our way. Wink

Posted in Just Thinking | 3 Comments »

3 Responses to “Water Bill”

LuckyRobin Says:
March 10th, 2007 at 02:42 am 1173494577
1173494577

Gosh, they charge you for recycling? They take money off our garbage bill for each full recycle bin we put out here that stays out of the trash. Culture shock.

Our garbage company only bills us for the can we put out. If we don't put a can out all the time, they just mark it as no pickup on their handheld computer thingy. We always make sure the can is completely full before we put it out. That can vary anywhere from every 2 weeks to every 3 weeks, and once or twice we've made it four weeks, or if its a particulary purge heavy time period, once a week, but we try hard not to let that happen. Totally weird idea to me that you put out a non-full can.
monkeymama Says:
March 10th, 2007 at 03:22 pm 1173540149
1173540149

I wish... I know San Jose was a little better at rewarding recyclers... THey are a little slower to embrace recycling up here...

But yeah - just a monthly fee for a can - I just think the population is too big to keep track frankly. I have to assume you are in a smaller town... ??
baselle Says:
March 11th, 2007 at 01:38 am 1173577081
1173577081

Wow, charging you $3 for the recycling bin. In Seattle, we are like you - you pay a flat fee for the size of the regular garbage can you use, but now if they think you're putting too much in regular garbage, the city will threaten to do a spot check of your garbage. If your garbage has too much recyclable material, 10% I think, supposedly you get a fine.

At least we're not Japan, where the homeowner has to do the sorting of the recyclables and the sorting is complex, and they fine you if you do it wrong.

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Monkey Mama*s Monkey Money Blog

Over Prepare, Then Go With The Flow

Water Bill

3 Responses to “Water Bill”

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