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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.

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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

Spoiled by Books

August 23rd, 2009 at 01:44 am

Our weekend wasn't all leisure - I forgot to mention - we worked a bit too.

I have no doubt mentioned our sweet Scholastic deals in the past. Teacher relatives showered us with their points (for free books). Now, since we live near a Scholastic Warehouse, and the manager has a kid at our school, we have ample opportunity to volunteer in their warehouse and earn tons of free books (& whatever else they are selling - video games, etc., etc.).

As usual they had trouble finding "volunteers" (for $20/hour pay in books). Dh volunteered the only 2 hours he possibly could, during the week. He had charge of the kids otherwise.

They kept bugging him to volunteer more, knowing he usually works many hours (when kids are in school, etc.). I felt bad about the whole thing and offered to split an all-day shift with him. Neither of us particularly minded helping a few hours, but all day was a bit much, with the way things have been. He's devoted his entire weekend and week nights, next week, to the public TV station. & being in full charge of the kids during the week is no easy job. So I am glad he was up to the half day. I didn't mind it at all.

He bought some stuff with his 2 weekday hours, and we donated our 8 hours of books, today, to the school.

That was a pretty decent dent in our "required volunteer hours" for the school year. Not that we won't help more, but have the feeling we will easily make our 30 hours with Scholastic.

Today worked out well. I had volunteered one weekend, and ended up being sick and not making it. Dh volunteered many days, and I kind of took the attitude that he had more time. Well, he did. But things change, and it was much easier to share the work.

The next Warehouse sale is right before Christmas. The last one was right before the kids' birthday. With this deal we don't need to spend any cash on their gifts any more. Works out well!

Posted in Just Thinking | 3 Comments »

3 Responses to “Spoiled by Books”

Joan.of.the.Arch Says:
August 23rd, 2009 at 02:00 pm 1251036042
1251036042

Ooo, working for books? That sounds good. I wonder if they do that all over the US.
monkeymama Says:
August 23rd, 2009 at 02:11 pm 1251036670
1251036670

They probably do. Dh told me that some people drove for 4 hours for the sale yesterday (they were peeved it wasn't a full warehouse sale - wasn't advertised well). So a couple of people told him that.

I thought, how lucky are we? The warehouse is less than a mile from our home.
A couple of people asked me how to volunteer so I set them up (knew we needed some more!)
frugaltexan75 Says:
August 27th, 2009 at 12:57 am 1251334651
1251334651

Having trouble finding volunteers who are paid $20/hour in books? Wow ... umm.... it's a good thing I don't know where the nearest one is to me. That's cool that you can donate your book$ hours to your school.

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Monkey Mama*s Monkey Money Blog

Over Prepare, Then Go With The Flow

Spoiled by Books

3 Responses to “Spoiled by Books”

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