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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.

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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>
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."}

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My Pages

Frugal Advice - Beauty

February 4th, 2011 at 09:21 pm

The best financial wisdom I have picked up for over the years is that there is usually a way to have something virtually identical for much cheaper.

Just seems to be a constant recurring theme in the discourse of personal finance. A recurring theme in everyday conversation with people around me.

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I don't know how relevant this is to everyone, but I figure I'd share and put it under this category.

Anyway, while my main concern the past few months with this whole thyroid thing has been to tackle it and move on, many people I talk to seem quite concerned about the scar my surgery may leave. Lots of tips on how to minimize scarring!

I was actually a little taken aback at first, but figured maybe I under estimated how much the scarring would bother me. Will see. (It was something I could care less about, initially).

Anyway, I am 3 weeks post-op and I find I am just relieved that I no longer look like frankenstein. Wink In certain angles, I can barely even see the incision, though it is still very loud and obvious at this point.

My doctor recommended massage and told me to avoid sunburn (for the short term). He probably had to say it, but I giggled since I have been keeping it well covered with scarves and turtle necks. Not like any sun will reach my neck!

Anyway, it has healed enough that I decided to invest in some Vitamin E or cocoa butter or whatever. I don't mind doing what I can to minimize the scarring in the long run.

That said, I started to read and research before I bought anything.

Conclusion? The best medicine is a good surgeon, massage, positive thinking, and no sun burning for ONE YEAR. In fact, some of the creams can make it worse. Not that I am *that* concerned about the creams, but why waste the money? The studies done in that area mostly concluded that vitamin e, cocoa butter, etc., merely had a placebo effect. Also, the act of massaging the cream on the incision site meant more than the cream itself. So I have been doing neck massages with soap, in the shower.

All that said, since I apparently should be really concerned about sun exposure, I will probably pick up one of the creams with SPF, for summer. It's really no more expensive than sun block, and then if there really is something to it, I can't say I didn't try. Wink

I didn't save a fortune or anything, on my approach to healing. BUT, every time someone sells me some type of beauty product or miracle cure, I usually step back and make sure if it is really worth the money. IT seems that it rarely ever is, and that constant skepticism has saved me a lot of money over the years.

ETA: Being *cheap* was good, because I have since heard that the thyroid is VERY sensitive and to never rub any chemicals in the area. A friend who is a make up artist was telling me how they do not put any creams on the neck area, etc. Interesting!!! Makes me wonder how many people use these magic healing creams just to end up with more problems in the long run...

Posted in | 4 Comments »

4 Responses to “Frugal Advice - Beauty”

ceejay74 Says:
February 4th, 2011 at 09:38 pm 1296855495
1296855495

When I was 22 I got a HUGE surgery scar (vertical, from just under my breasts, to about 3 inches past my belly button) after a car accident. So I've learned to love it as part of myself. Now I have another scar, going the other direction (horizontally), a few inches under that, from the C-section. I'm just a scarfest but I don't mind! It sure has cured me of any passing fancies about getting tattoos, because that's quite enough body modification for me.
The color has faded on both and the C-section one is really neat and small. But the other one was emergency surgery and it will always be kind of raised and dramatic-looking.
patientsaver Says:
February 4th, 2011 at 10:10 pm 1296857422
1296857422

Time could be your best ally in fading the scar. I have a long scar from my surgery 3 years ago, but without doing much of anything at all, it has really faded substantially.
whitestripe Says:
February 5th, 2011 at 12:47 am 1296866858
1296866858

I have lots of scars and they don't really bother me that much (I have several on my fingers from working in kitchens which actually affect my fingerprints, not that I've ever been fingerprinted officially though). I have never had any surgeries but just tend to be clumsy I did go through a phase of caring, a few years ago, and found that a product called Bio Oil did actually make a difference. But, it's about $20 for a small bottle and after a couple of months I couldn't be bothered. lol.
MonkeyMama Says:
January 10th, 2012 at 08:35 pm 1326227717
1326227717

I am glad I ended up never buying any cream for my neck. I have since been hearing that cosmetologists are being told not to rub creams on women's necks due to huge upticks in thyroid cancer, etc. Anyway, I thought it would be good to add this for anyone who stumbles across this in the future. Being cheap maybe pays off for me (I am not much into makeup, hair dye, all that stuff that is full of chemicals, in the first place, but I wasn't thinking about how extra sensitive the thyroid seems to be to all these chemicals).

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Frugal Advice - Beauty

4 Responses to “Frugal Advice - Beauty”

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