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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.

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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.

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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

Frugal Successes

July 31st, 2013 at 02:05 pm

**Well, today is the day. Crossing my fingers that we get our water back. !!! Holding my breath, just hoping there are no surprises and we get everything fixed.

**I need to take BM in for a hair trim, and came across a $5.99 kids' haircut coupon in the mail. Woohoo!

I just went in last month, but it had been so long, and I suddenly felt like my hair was getting scraggly, so didn't think much about paying an entire $15. But now I am feeling foolish for not waiting for a coupon (it was like 1/2 off, for adults - coupons in the mail this week).

**I haven't sorted out August bills yet. I put them all in Quicken, but need to calculate how much to pull from savings for insurance and repairs and such. There's a few small bills due the first of the month that I set to pay online.

Since we charge everything, we use August income to pay for that. The month is not over, but all of our credit cards closed except for the big one. That one goes through the third, but not expecting any more charges on that (aside for this big repair). So, I am looking at August in regards to July spending.

July was kind of interesting because I expected it to be very spendy on the gas side of things. WE drove down to the Bay Area four times. Twice to drop off and pick up BM for his trip. Dh and I both went down separately to hang out with friends. (His friend is moving out of state).

Well, we budget $300 for gas, monthly, which is on the high side, but would cover a month like this (& also covers months of very high gas prices). Our gas spending in July?? $200. Very surprising. That was for one tank of van gas and 4.5 tanks of "gas sipper" gas. Phew!

I am extra relieved because August is not looking a lot better. Dh is going down to the Bay Area for a few days because his friend is having two going away parties (a few nights apart) and he has family/video stuff he can do in between. Then he promised to help friend move on another weekend. I Wanted to go to the beach or something mid-month and am feeling more like we can swing it. Though, don't get me wrong. Our credit card closed for the month and we filled up both vehicles. I think it will be impossible to pull off $200 in August - will have to fill up the van again mid-month.

I did insist on taking the gas sipper down, though we dropped off and picked up family at the airport. IT worked out well, and glad we went through the hassle. LM and I had to be dropped off somewhere for the airport runs, but it was fine. Saved maybe $40 in gas just being a little creative. The default was just going to be to take down the van so that we could all fit.

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If the water gets turned back on I will be doing lots of laundry and cleaning this weekend. Big Grin

Posted in Just Thinking | 4 Comments »

4 Responses to “Frugal Successes”

FrugalTexan75 Says:
July 31st, 2013 at 03:46 pm 1375285570
1375285570

Nice deal on the haircut for BM.

That's great that you're gas category came in under budget, especially with all the extra driving.
creditcardfree Says:
July 31st, 2013 at 04:11 pm 1375287118
1375287118

I hadn't seen your water post until today...glad you will have it back on soon! It will feel great I'm sure.
snafu Says:
July 31st, 2013 at 04:29 pm 1375288175
1375288175

Have you any way to check if others have also had damage to their water line as a result of major utility problem? Have firm you hired had to estimate others? Hope you'll share BM's experiences/assessments in London, was it a positive experience? What did he like best/least? Cope with different food, water, transportation, homesick etc? Was he able to meet British kids of his age group to access whether they had similar interests or was he far more sophisticated vis AM culture?
MonkeyMama Says:
July 31st, 2013 at 05:42 pm 1375292538
1375292538

@snafu - Yes, we have excellent community communication - there are no other water problem reports (not in our 1000-home community). We are waiting for them to dig in, see what the exact problem is. Not enough information, otherwise, at this point. Just to say, we haven't given up on pursuing a claim with the city, but we need a leg to stand on. So will see what they find... We will heavily pick the plumber's brain on this issue.

Yes, I guess I will have to do an England update. IT was definitely a positive experience.

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Monkey Mama*s Monkey Money Blog

Over Prepare, Then Go With The Flow

Frugal Successes

4 Responses to “Frugal Successes”

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