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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

Updating my MP3 Player

May 9th, 2010 at 10:03 pm

Happy Mother's Day!

My 3-day-weekend has been both relaxing and productive. Big Grin

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I finally decided to take the time to update my MP3 player. Dh might have gotten it for me a couple of years ago, but for a random free MP3 here and there, from Amazon, or a request for dh to rip an old CD for me, he mostly set it up with stuff he thought I might like.

I am a huge music person, but pretty much stopped buying music when I was 17/18. CDs were so expensive, and I was too broke to keep up with the music habit. OF course, dh had a ton of disposable income (no bills) so, the flip side of the coin is he will get me copies of anything I like. But, fast forward about 15 years later, and our library leans heavily to his taste. Our tastes are mostly similar, but we've got some large differences in taste, too.

So, I was disappointed that we didn't seem to have a few albums. But I suppose I will just buy them. I can stomach the cost of MP3s, at least. Things have kind of gone the other way, with time. So, I am making a list of things I would like to purchase for my library. The list isn't too big...

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

Anyway, my taste in music is very wide. I know the topic has come up around here, at times. Like, "Who is your favorite band? What are the best songs of all time?" That kind of stuff I just couldn't even begin to narrow it down! So, I figured I'd share a sample of what is on my MP3 player, to give you an idea:

Beach Boys
Ben Harper
Cake
Chris Isaak
Crosby Stills Nash Young
Enya
Guns N' Roses
INXS
Jack Johnson
*Some Folk & Classical musical
Led Zeppelin
Primus
Hope Sandoval
MIRV
Norah Jones
Queen
The Presidents of the USA
Red Hot Chili Peppers
Stray Cats
Tegan & Sara
The Airborne Toxic Event
U2
Violent Femmes
Ween
Weezer
The White Stripes

& yes, I have seen most of these bands, live, in my younger years. When concerts used to be reasonable and "affordable." We went to concerts all the time, in college. A while ago, my dh found a pile of ticket stubs, and we had tickets for like $10 to see a lot of these (lesser known) bands. Boy, things have changed! I only graduated in 1999 (I am not that ancient!)

I remember paying like $50 to see U2 and that was BIG. Like the most expensive concert I remember. These days, I don't know if some of these more local bands would do a concert for less than $50. IT's gotten that pricey. (Though a lot of it is the fees and the service charges, which I guess we have officially boycotted).

Interestingly, our concert-going decreased drastically when we had kids. I don't know if it more of an income or a babysitting thing. I think both are to blame. Of course, now that dh is deaf in one ear, and concerts have gotten so expensive, I don't think it is a habit we will much get into again.

Anyway, it feels good to get the crap off my MP3 player I never listen to, and to fill it up with all my favorite music.

I suppose it is good dh did not have everything I want, because I don't have much room left!

Anyway, that was a nice present to myself, for Mother's Day.

ETA: Funny memory - my dh used to be a bootlegger. Not for profit, but he's got a bunch of bootleg recordings from concerts we have been to, for his own library. His pet peeve is yappy people at concerts. Wink

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P.S. Also took the time to update my blog color scheme. Similar, but more elegant, I think!

Credit to the following website for a proper color scheme:

http://www.colourlovers.com/palette/693847/Dogs_Blood_Rising...

I think I am getting the hang of it - took some trial and error.

Posted in Just Thinking | 10 Comments »

10 Responses to “Updating my MP3 Player”

whitestripe Says:
May 10th, 2010 at 08:28 am 1273480080
1273480080

i like the new colour scheme! it's very ladylike
your tastes are very similar to DF's and mine. have you heard of Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeroes? We just bought their album Up From Below and LOVE it.

also The Dead Weather is a favourite of mine, it has Jack White (of the white stripes), Alison Mosshart (from the Kills) Dean Fertita (queens of the stone age) and Jack Lawrence (from the Greenhorns).

I know what you mean about ticket prices. DF and I paid $33 to see Ween two years ago, and two months ago The Dead Weather were playing at the same venue, for $86! *sigh*
MonkeyMama Says:
May 10th, 2010 at 01:58 pm 1273499897
1273499897

Nope- haven't heard of them, but shall look them up.

I just peeked and Ween doesn't perform for under $80 (with fees) in the states, currently. I've probably seen them a dozen times for $20-$30. I've got the concert stubs to prove it! (I don't think they have gotten that popular in the last few years?)

Tegan & Sara $95??? Wha???? (This is interesting).

The third thing is that we did move away from a major metropolitan area and don't get as many concerts. When I was looking up some prices, out of curiosity, I did notice some rare lesser known towns had maybe $30 base tickets (generally $20 fee added on for delivery and such). Whereas places like San Francisco seem to have the higher cost tickets - lucky us!
Broken Arrow Says:
May 10th, 2010 at 02:55 pm 1273503334
1273503334

No mention of which mp3 you're getting or have gotten?

I get my music from Amazon, and I highly recommend it to everyone else.
MonkeyMama Says:
May 10th, 2010 at 05:32 pm 1273512752
1273512752

BA - huh? I am slow.
Broken Arrow Says:
May 10th, 2010 at 06:26 pm 1273515976
1273515976

Doh! I typoed. You said you were updating it? Do you mean that as update the list of songs in it, or do you mean getting a new mp3 player?
MonkeyMama Says:
May 10th, 2010 at 07:11 pm 1273518718
1273518718

Oh - just updating the songs.

I have a 4 GB Zen Creative Mosaic. Both BM and I have the same one, different colors. I think I rather get a bigger player, eventually. Dh has a huge library and probably doesn't envision putting an entire library on a MP3 player (he picked it out for me), but I think I'd like to upgrade to something I can put everything on. I don't have quite the volume of music! Or I guess, I should say, I can put all my favorite stuff on it... Of course, LM can inherit mine, so it might just work out, in a year or 2.
whitestripe Says:
May 10th, 2010 at 11:32 pm 1273534372
1273534372

my dad filled his 80g ipod last year :O but, he works in the music industry, so i guess it's kind of expected. i use a 1gb shuffle for running/walking and my 20gb iriver is hooked up to speakers in our loungeroom. (too lazy to buy another stereo after DF's died a couple of years ago...)
baselle Says:
May 12th, 2010 at 04:48 am 1273639695
1273639695

love it - I'm pretty eclectic - a bit this and that - classical, John Adams opera, movie soundtracks (spaghetti westerns!), Reverend Horton Heat, Fleet Foxes, Vivian Girls, also very fond of mashups esp. Phil Retrospector and Smash Up Derby, and outsider music. I've filled, then pared down my MP3 player three times.

Check out the Hype Machine, a music blog aggregator. Usually when someone blogs about music, you can download a sample to put on the MP3 player. It really lowers the bar on listening to new things.
looking forward (sweetmama) Says:
May 12th, 2010 at 11:54 pm 1273708488
1273708488

Love the new colors! I am going to have to check out that link you posted.
I like your taste in music. I've got much the same music, plus some classical.
MonkeyMama Says:
May 14th, 2010 at 07:10 pm 1273864236
1273864236

Baselle - I will check it out - thanks for the tip!

My dh has been really into Pandora lately. I guess you plug in your favorite artists and they cater a "radio station" to your tastes. My dh has been buying new music, which we haven't been doing so much of lately.

(We had some awesome/cheap MP3 service that got shut down, so maybe stopped with the new music for quite a while. But, yes, we have been happy buying music from Amazon lately).

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Monkey Mama*s Monkey Money Blog

Over Prepare, Then Go With The Flow

Updating my MP3 Player

10 Responses to “Updating my MP3 Player”

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