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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
...($6,653 @ 4/30/24)
...$1,000/month, plus interest
...Topping off with snowballs

[ ]$7,500 to investments
...($2,220 @ 5/31/24)
...$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% @ 4/30/24)
...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>
2023: +$ 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

Spinach Manicotti

May 20th, 2008 at 08:13 pm

http://www.tasteofhome.com/Recipes/Spinach-Manicotti

Dinner last night!

Yes, I did have a meatless day. Actually had cheese enchilada at lunch so, yes, meatless. We don't eat meat every day. (Just seems like we have been lately).

Anyway, this recipe is DIVINE. Love it.

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

Dh and I are spoiled this week. We had date lunch yesterday, so he could run an errand for me.

Tonight he has a volunteer appreciation dinner. So we will drop off the kids for 2 hours and get a "free" dinner. Daycare will be around $25, but will be worth it. We may even win some prize? Kids will be in daycare about 10am - 8pm. They couldn't be happier. (Weird kids. Grass is always greener... They wish they could go more - and this week they get their wish).

The local public TV station does a great job on their appreciation dinners - we always enjoy. For the longest time it was our only standing date night. One night a year out?

Not much else up this week.

Today BM had an evaluation at the school - for Kindergarten. Dh told me while they were waiting he read a sign about how they had won $10k (a teacher had won some award). NEither of us knew he could read "$10,000." Don't ask me - nothing I showed him. LOL. (Dh figured I had been showing him bank accounts or something).

We imagine he did well enough in the evaluation... He knows things we didn't even know he did. Kids are scary sometimes...

I don't think we have much planned for the weekend, though I may pull for a local hike if the weather is nice. Dh wants to drive to San Jose next weekend, so no driving for us. The car needs a break and so will the gas budget. After all the driving this month... 2 trips to SJ & a trip to LA. Yeesh.

The pool opens Monday and we will enjoy. But mostly low-key, and low-spend, in the plans. We will eat in, watch some TV, run around in the background, go for walks, and go swimming. All free free free. If the weather is awful we will hole up indoors and increase the TV watching I guess. But if not so bad we may go for a drive I guess. Just not too far... OF course if it is bad we will go to the gym. We'll still get our workout but harder for the kids to run off their steam. But these are all very low cost activities.

The calm of it all sounds rather attractive after our big vacation... The low cost sounds even better!

Oh yeah - and free lunch tomorrow - from a vendor. I honestly usually don't get this much free food. Big Grin

Posted in Just Thinking, What We Eat | 2 Comments »

2 Responses to “Spinach Manicotti”

sagegirl Says:
May 20th, 2008 at 09:08 pm 1211317696
1211317696

You know, its funny what kids learn. My four year old always asks if we can go get books at "our local public library". LOL. I know he got that from watching Wishbone on PBS, because they tell you to look for books at you local public library. He has been home with hubby during the day since hubby's lay off, which I think he thought was fun originally but now the new-ness has worn off because he asked dad the other day "when can I go back to school? (daycare) So he is missing it too.
monkeymama Says:
May 20th, 2008 at 11:12 pm 1211325124
1211325124

Hehe. I don't know how many times I wondered where they picked up some strange phrase and later saw it on a TV show or in one of their books.

I remember one day BM told grandma to bring him something (on the phone) and blurted out, "Be Quick About It!" He was like 2 and we were like, "where the heck did THAT come from?" Like MONTHS later we found that phrase in one of his books.

They also had another book with a line about being nervous, so LM often tells me he is nervous. It took me a long time to figure out where he learned that word. (One of his favorite words when he was 2). IT is such an odd word for a 2-year-old! LOL.

They do pick up the funniest things.

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Spinach Manicotti

2 Responses to “Spinach Manicotti”

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