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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

Kids...

March 17th, 2011 at 09:21 pm

**First off, we hadn't turned on the heat in over a week, and so I decided to turn down the water heater last night. I get the feeling it is later than usual, but it has been cold. (We set it to a lower level in the spring/fall, and even lower in summer).

Woke up and it was FREEZING. Might have been 40 degrees outside - maybe colder.

Now (2pm) it feels like 70 degrees outside.

Can't win!

So, do I turn the hot water back up? Probably will. I saw some cold mornings in the forecast. Bah.

We are also due for tons more rain, so hoping we can stay dry here. The rivers/creeks are full and the ground is so saturated.

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

Dh is so funny because he keeps telling me how annoying all the girls are in the kids' classes. How they are always asking him stupid questions, playing dumb, etc.

I finally said, "I bet they just all have a CRUSH on you." I was teasing him, but kind of what it sounded like.

Anyway, we just left LM's conference and all these little girls came running up to dh and hanging off of him. O.M.G.

I called it!

Poor dh. Irresistible to the 8 and under crowd. Wink

Posted in Just Thinking | 5 Comments »

5 Responses to “Kids...”

momcents Says:
March 17th, 2011 at 11:00 pm 1300402851
1300402851

The charm to the 8 year olds must be contagious. My husband was recently dubbed "the hottest" dad at the school, by whom? A 3rd grade girl in my son's class. I'm friends with her mother, who shared this, (a) because she didn't know her daughter would use the word "hot" in that sense while they were reviewing for a spelling test - he was also "hotter than" father X, and (b) my DH's recent 35# weight loss has been appreciated by women of all ages. LOL!
M E 2 Says:
March 18th, 2011 at 02:01 am 1300413701
1300413701

Huh? I don't get it. What does the furnace have to do with the water heater? And/or vice versa. Have never heard of anyone doing it in correlation to the weather. Nor have I ever heard it being recommended to do so.
Ann Says:
March 18th, 2011 at 03:52 pm 1300463539
1300463539

I'm not getting the water heater either. Don't you need your hot water temp the same no matter what the temp is outside? I'm anxious to hear what the correlation is!
MonkeyMama Says:
March 18th, 2011 at 04:24 pm 1300465456
1300465456

When the weather is mild we don't need the water so hot. It's really as simple as a scalding hot shower is nice in the winter, but something we never use in our hot summers. (I also think the heat in the summer insulates the hot water heater more - whereas we have to turn it up to get the same HOT water in winter).

So we turn it down in spring. Turn it down more in summer. If the air is not cold, I don't need the shower water to be so hot to be comfortable. If we don't need warm air, we don't need hot water so much.

We save a fortune on our gas bills this way. Our hot water heater is very efficient, so if you are imagine we use warm water in summer and hot water in winter, that's not it. I just turn it down a notch, and our bills are significnatly lower. We could probably suffer with our "summer level" year-round, but in the winter we like the luxury of extra hot water.
MonkeyMama Says:
March 18th, 2011 at 04:51 pm 1300467105
1300467105

Also, many people turn *off* their hot water when they don't use it. Our tank/pipes are well insulated so it only *fires up* when we use it, for the most part. We only pay $8/month for gas in the summer so I can't see turning it *off* more would give us significant savings. Probably only $5 of that is even hot water - we have other gas appliances. But, depending on your situation, turning it off during the day could be another cost savings measure. One I have seen mentioned often in these blogs.

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Monkey Mama*s Monkey Money Blog

Over Prepare, Then Go With The Flow

Kids...

5 Responses to “Kids...”

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