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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

Lost a Lunch Box

September 4th, 2012 at 02:14 pm

Like the second week of school LM lost his lunch pail and it still hasn't turned up. *sigh*

On the flip side? BM has been in school for 4 years and has never lost one item. Well, I think he lost a tooth when it fell out. Ha!

So, four years and one last item. It's bound to happen, and we did better than expected. Since everything is on sale right now I picked up a couple of lunch boxes at $5/each. One as a backup. {I was thinking of doing this anyway}.

This reminds me, we use reusable tupperware in their lunches (the "disposable" kind that last years and years and years). On the first day of Kinder both kids tossed their tupperware, because they were instructed to toss everything along with everyone else. I explained to the kids that we don't throw away tupperware - that it goes back in their lunch box. & that was that. I've gotten so many comments over the years about how things must get lost and thrown away. Well, if you teach your kids to throw everything away their whole life, and that everything is disposable, that is how it goes. I honestly expected a few more lost tupperware over the years - but there just hasn't been any. Aside from the first day of school. I find it funny that they both did that!!

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I redeemed $50 in Amex credit card rewards to my ROTH. I have hit $50 every month this year - even with all the other credit card rewards. For next month I charged up some health insurance to another card, BUT we will have all our Florida expenses on the AmEx. So, definitely $50 for next month. It will be $600 for the year.

That card is just 2% back on everything - is redeemed into my ROTH. I was thinking of maxing out 2013 ROTHs in April 2013. But, I will have to remember to save some room for credit card reward contributions. Maybe I will put in $9,000 by April and just see what I have left in order to max out at end of the year. Points can accumulate, but I think it's wise to redeem ASAP because rewards and rules change over time.

Posted in Just Thinking | 4 Comments »

4 Responses to “Lost a Lunch Box”

creditcardfree Says:
September 4th, 2012 at 02:26 pm 1346768762
1346768762

My girls take their lunch everyday. We haven't lost a lunch box for more than a day, but one did throw away a piece of silverware (a spoon) in Kindergarten. I think it was actually a staff member, who grabbed her lunch box and dumped everything in!

As it is now, most of the items they pack their lunch in are reusuable, thus minimal packaging to throw away.

Nice job on snagging an extra lunch box at a great price!
ceejay74 Says:
September 4th, 2012 at 03:41 pm 1346773304
1346773304

Maybe LM should just brown-bag it: http://www.latimes.com/business/money/la-fi-mo-jil-sander-brown-bag-20120831,0,474895.story
MonkeyMama Says:
September 4th, 2012 at 04:18 pm 1346775531
1346775531

@ccfree - I was thinking about the extra lunch boxes because a couple have broken middle of school year and it's impossible to find anything. Meanwhile, these seemed pretty decent for $5.

I think his bag ended up in the trash. His name is clearly marked. Aside from the trash, it couldn't have gone too far.
Looking Forward Says:
September 4th, 2012 at 05:13 pm 1346778828
1346778828

We've lost a spoon and a thermos. As far as non-lunch items, we've lost maybe three sweatshirts..Just gone? Other than that DD has been pretty darn good about bringing everything back home.

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Monkey Mama*s Monkey Money Blog

Over Prepare, Then Go With The Flow

Lost a Lunch Box

4 Responses to “Lost a Lunch Box”

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