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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."}

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

My Pages

Interesting Dinner

June 7th, 2013 at 01:19 pm

We had an interesting dinner last night. Sausage-stuffed acorn squash. VERY good! Interesting, just because it was very different - had a lot of different flavors.

http://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/sausage-stuffed-acorn-squ...

Squash seems to becoming a large staple in our diet. (Love butternut squash soup, dh has been experimenting with acorn squash of late, and spaghetti squash is one of our more recent finds).

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

While sitting here and typing I kicked the cat out of the room because he was so insistent on taking a nap on the keyboard.

So... He instead figured out how to open the traditional round door knob to get back in. OMG. He is quite the little trouble maker. (Dh and I were just talking about this the other day. I said Siamese cats can easily handle lever door knobs - though I have yet to see him try because we don't leave many doors closed in the house. Dh said "at least the theater room has a round door knob." Since the cat seems to have a lot to get into in this room. HA!)

Posted in Just Thinking, RECIPES | 6 Comments »

6 Responses to “Interesting Dinner”

creditcardfree Says:
June 7th, 2013 at 03:39 pm 1370619593
1370619593

Amazing...might need to put child proof covers on some of those that you definitely don't want him getting into.
MonkeyMama Says:
June 7th, 2013 at 03:53 pm 1370620425
1370620425

It's funny because I am finding a lot of our childproofing to be handy with this cat (though we no longer need for the children). IF nothing else, means this stuff isn't costing me money since we already have a lot of childproofing stuff. (I am even pulling stuff out that we had never used before or was put away a long time ago).
ceejay74 Says:
June 7th, 2013 at 04:16 pm 1370621778
1370621778

Our cat figured out how to open lever doorknobs -- he could never get into our bedroom if the door was closed, though he could make a TON of noise trying; but he did open the bathroom door once when I tried to shut him in there so I could get a bit more sleep. LOL. We changed our bedroom doors to round doorknobs, and he hasn't been able to get in, though he still can make a fair amount of noise scrabbling at them. Just not the loud upsetting TWANG that he used to be able to do with our lever knob.
Joan.of.the.Arch Says:
June 7th, 2013 at 05:52 pm 1370627562
1370627562

!!!Funny cat!!!
PatientSaver Says:
June 7th, 2013 at 07:07 pm 1370632024
1370632024

My, my, that looks delicious. And acorn squash, and squashes in general, are so easy to grow!

Luther pries open my kitchen and bathroom vanity cabinets all the time! I also have a black lacquered Chinese cabinet he likes to open, as well as a barnboard cabinet with a wood handle that just needs to be pushed.
FrugalTexan75 Says:
June 9th, 2013 at 12:44 am 1370738645
1370738645

Kari hasn't figured out how to turn doorknobs, she just will chew and scratch at the doorjam until I open the door (or pay attention to her!)

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Monkey Mama*s Monkey Money Blog

Over Prepare, Then Go With The Flow

Interesting Dinner

6 Responses to “Interesting Dinner”

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