<< Back to all Blogs

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.

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

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.

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

**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."}

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

My Pages

Gourmet Lunch

May 11th, 2011 at 12:41 am

We finally made it over to the culinary school for lunch today.

For reference, we live within a mile of two culinary schools. One did a fundraiser for the kids' school recently. It was a dinner - the school didn't pay a cent - so 100% funds raised went to the school. Seemed pretty win-win for everyone - the students were so excited to cook for a big crowd.

Well, that dinner was the BEST meal I EVER ate. But it took about 3 hours (so we paid a fortune for babysitting that night!)

Since then, heard about this other culinary school that is open for lunch 2 days a week.

Dh and I met there around 1:00. Almost cancelled our date because today ended up kind of crazy and no one over there was picking up the phone for reservations. I got back to work around 12:00 (out at clients) and dh told me he never got reservations. I called and got them on the first try. They told me we'd have to come after 1:00 - which was fine.

They obviously had a pretty hectic lunch today - I could tell from the sound of the lady who took my reservation.

We probably ended up getting there and getting seated closer to 1:10. There were a few people there, but in the end we got the dining room completely to ourselves for most our meal.

The food was okay. Nothing GREAT, we were in and out in about 45 minutes (3 courses). Plus amuse bouche and some post dinner type amuse bouche. Don't know what the proper term for that would be.

The cost? $10. + tax - so probably $11 in the end. Per person. Tips are voluntary and go to scholarship fund. We didn't tip because we had no cash and didn't realize (until after they swiped our card for the amount of dinner - half way across the building). For next time we know to be better prepared - will totally tip. Tell them ahead of time, or bring cash. Service was great anyway - and was for a good cause.

Dessert was the best course, but the risotto was pretty good to. I ordered halibut and also had an arugula salad with fried goat cheese. Dh had shrimp and ravioli.

I suppose 1:00 is the time to go. Works for us, and seems 12-1 was pretty crowded. They close the doors at 1:30.

I told dh that it wasn't PERFECT, but not bad for the time constraints.

We will definitely be back!

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

It's amazing the deals we find when we keep our eyes and ears open!

Posted in Just Thinking | 1 Comments »

1 Responses to “Gourmet Lunch”

Looking Forward Says:
May 11th, 2011 at 03:45 am 1305085516
1305085516

Nice!

(Note: If you were logged in, we could automatically fill in these fields for you.)

Name:	*
Email:	Will not be published.
	Subscribe: Notify me of additional comments to this entry.
URL:
Verification:	* Please spell out the number 4. [ Why? ]

vB Code: You can use these tags: [b] [i] [u] [url] [email]

Monkey Mama*s Monkey Money Blog

Over Prepare, Then Go With The Flow

Gourmet Lunch

1 Responses to “Gourmet Lunch”

Leave a Reply