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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

The 100 Thing Challenge

December 13th, 2009 at 02:31 am

I just caught on to this, per Coupon Addict:

http://couponaddict.savingadvice.com/2009/12/11/my-100-thing...

Very interesting - to narrow one's belongings down to 100 things.

I am not particularly interested in narrowing down my belongings (I have been going through stuff for at least 5 years, and have given away a lot of stuff. Though I still have some things I need to get to...). BUT, I am just kind of curious how many things I do have. So, I will probably work on a list, out of curiosity. To see what I have and if there are things I will reconsider parting with. I think from there, I will come up with a figure - though I think it will end up more than 100!

I think this challenge is tough as a married person. There is a lot of stuff I own that is shared. Should I consider that stuff as "half?" Does furniture not count? Things to ponder...

I think this could be an interesting project for 2010.

Posted in Just Thinking | 5 Comments »

5 Responses to “The 100 Thing Challenge”

whitestripe Says:
December 13th, 2009 at 07:56 am 1260690975
1260690975

i was just thinking about that yesterday, of making a list as well! (great minds think alike!). If you're married, shouldn't you then get 200 things? or would it be 300 things? what about children? pets? do they get 100 things too?
lol. i think our music collection covers 100 things - times four.
CouponAddict Says:
December 13th, 2009 at 05:04 pm 1260723888
1260723888

The SHARED items such as furnature and the house or a shared car do not count, if you have your own car it counts though.

The 100 thing challenge is about your personal items. Items that belong to you and only you. If you check out his blog guynameddave.com the author groups some things such as undergarments and books which he gives a reason for. You might after reading why he groups some things find you have different things you might group together and just count as one.
monkeymama Says:
December 13th, 2009 at 06:03 pm 1260727394
1260727394

I think I am just going to make my own rules.
Like we share both our cars, but technically we have one for each - so not sure why I Would not count owning a car. (Even if one is not particularly more mine than his).

Maybe I should get 400 things then? But then, since some items are shares, that wouldn't be 400. I think I will focus on my things though. Dh has a LOT more crap than I do, which I don't really care to count. The kids don't have much so there really isn't anything to pare down there. I am still in pare down mode, so interesting to kind of see where *I* stand, in the mix. Like if I find I own 1000 things, I may rethink paring down more. (For now I just have no idea!)
ceejay74 Says:
December 14th, 2009 at 04:03 am 1260763408
1260763408

Oh my gosh, we could never do this! For one thing, most of our belongings are shared. For another, NT has hundreds and hundreds of LPs and CDs, we have hundreds of books and DVDs, and AS has a room full of craft and sewing supplies. We did cut our book collection down from about 1000 to about 250 last year, but I think it's crept up to 300 by now.
John DeFlumeri Jr Says:
December 14th, 2009 at 04:19 pm 1260807582
1260807582

Are we trying to find 100 things we own that we don't want and could see, give away, or throw away?

John DeFlumeri Jr

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Monkey Mama*s Monkey Money Blog

Over Prepare, Then Go With The Flow

The 100 Thing Challenge

5 Responses to “The 100 Thing Challenge”

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