<< Back to all Blogs

About Me:

Monkey Mama

Just a 47-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.

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
...($156 @ 6/30/24)
...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
MM YEAR 5

DL YEAR 1 ✔
DL YEAR 2
DL YEAR 3

[ ]$10,000 to savings
...($7,121 @ 8/31/24)
...$1,000/month, plus interest
...Topping off with snowballs

[ ]$7,500 to investments
...($3,691 @ 8/31/24)
...~~$350~~ $400/month, plus snowflakes
(Snowflakes: credit card rewards and dividends)
...Topping off with snowballs
...Note: Bumped up to $400 9/1, re: reduced food expenses

[ ]$2,025 to mortgage
...($0 @ 8/31/24)
...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% @ 8/31/24)
...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 @ 8/31/24)
...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>
2023: +$ 90,000
TOTAL: +$570,000

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

Picture Mayhem & Other Ramblings

November 12th, 2008 at 03:28 pm

I was offered a wonderful deal by a "friend" to get 20 Christmas cards done for $99. (Regular value $250!!!). I was actually annoyed because I was mass spammed. Gee, thanks but no thanks.

This is one area the market is over saturated. I know about 10 SAHM-turned-photographers - and they all do a wonderful job. They are all great. But I figure in this economy they probably aren't doing so hot. (& they probably aren't). All I figure is people mortgaged their houses for photos. I have a few friends who do like quarterly sittings and pay a few hundred each time. (It's INSANE). I haven't done one because I can't stomach the prices. My dad has a professional quality camera and we get much the same for free anyway.

I don't know. A few hundred dollars for photos? Maybe once every 10 years. Maybe if my spouse were working - once every 10 years.

It's some Joneses thing I don't *get*

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

Weather is s'posed to be record breaking this next week, 70 - 80 degrees. It is looking good for the house front. If the outside does not dip below 40 over night, and it stays below 80 outside during the day, the house is just in the comfort zone. It's hovering between 68-70 this last week, inside the house. So, not even tempted to turn on the heat. It has certainly been warmer than usual.

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

Today I am taking the TV box (from last spring) to the dumpster at work. (It will be recycled). I got dh to load it in the van yesterday. It's the LAST of the boxes. For now...

Dh went to Best Buy yesterday and did not drop off our PDAs for recycle. Bah to him. I may have to run there this weekend myself. (He had some gift cards from last Christmas to use up, there). But after the PDAs I think we have pretty much purged the old electronic stuff from the house. Thank You Best Buy!!!!! (We dropped off about 10 items there, all told).

Since I went clothes shopping last week I went through my closet. I found 16 tops to donate. (Egads). There's plenty more I should probably just toss. I am not much of a pack rat, except when it comes to clothes. Clothes I have outgrown due to pregnancy? I will wear again someday!!!! It's a frugal thing - why be rid of perfectly good clothes (I certainly have the space - half our monstrosity closet is not even used). It seems every sweep though I am able to let go of more. I let go of some old college sweatshirts with college logos and such. I hadn't worn them in a decade - it was time to LET GO. & a few shirts on the small side - I give up. If nothing else I can say I am getting rid of more clothes than I am bringing in. The tide has turned...

We also went through the kids' toys and got rid of very few. In prep for the Christmas avalanche. But between the shirts and the few toys, I have a nice big bag for charity. & a charity is driving by for pickups this week! I am getting addicted to this. So easy. I think they are coming by more than usual with the holidays. Will be 3rd time in last few weeks, for me. Just set it out on the curb and be rid of it all...

I have about $40 in items for Craigslist to sell. All baby nursery stuff. It's been rather hit and miss. One of these days...

This week I am volunteering for the bank program at school. I didn't want to organize the thing, but I am helping out. I think I probably found my niche.

Posted in Just Thinking | 4 Comments »

4 Responses to “Picture Mayhem & Other Ramblings”

mom-sense Says:
November 12th, 2008 at 04:32 pm 1226507541
1226507541

My dancing daughter was photographed at JC Penney's yesterday in her Irish dance dress. The Midamerica championships are in Columbus. Packages there start at $59.99. I paid $8.62 ($7.99 plus tax). I am getting 2 8x10s, 2 5x7s, 4 3x5 and 16 wallets. That is plenty for us. I declined the cute little collage that had "Mommy's Dancer" on it. I about died when I saw they put her on the floor in her dress! Once I got over that, I was happy with my $8.
zetta Says:
November 12th, 2008 at 05:21 pm 1226510494
1226510494

Just a thought on your upcoming carpet cleaning experiment -- it's worth pretreating any spots with either OxyClean or Resolve, just squirt the spots and let sit for 5 minutes. I find that as long as I'm not moving any furniture other than the coffee table, using the steam vacuum takes about as long as vacuuming the room twice, so hopefully it won't be too big of a chore for you guys!
whitestripe Says:
November 12th, 2008 at 07:52 pm 1226519564
1226519564

i too keep clothes because i don't want to be wasteful and that I might 'wear them again one day'. (i've come to accept that the size 6 (is that a size 2 in US?) shorts and skirts I wore in year 8, eight years ago, are never going to fit me again - even if i don't eat for six months. somehow i think the 40cm i've grown higher since then might have something to do with that as well.
i have signed high school shirts too - one day im sure i will feel the need to get rid of those too.
monkeymama Says:
November 12th, 2008 at 08:22 pm 1226521366
1226521366

zetta - thanks for the tip. I used some resolve we had on hand, and it helped. But I was going to buy some spot cleaner and try again. (For the bad spots). I am not sure what formula we have - but yeah, we need stain pre-treatment kind of formula.

But overall I am happy with the results. I am glad you saw my post - I was going to send you an e-mail later if I Wasn't sure you caught my posts. I will blog more about it later though. I got most of the family room and was too lazy to finish the rest of the downstairs. Maybe Sunday? I need to get the lower portion of the stairs, a couple of hallways, and the spot where we moved the chair. IT was professional quality results and relatively easily. Maybe not quite as fast as vacuuming, the way I vacuum. LOL. But in the future, probably yes. It was very easy!

& yes, it is the perfect size for the stairs so I am impressed (& light enough to use). So it's a nice perk (I hadn't thought of it when I bought it).

(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

Picture Mayhem & Other Ramblings

4 Responses to “Picture Mayhem & Other Ramblings”

Leave a Reply