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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. We've always saved 100% of MH's income, but we are starting to dial that down a bit in 2023-2024.

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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2025 Goals

[ ]Small monthly Charitable Contribution
...($115 @ 2/28/25)
...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
DL YEAR 4

[ ]$10,000 to savings
...($2,156 @ 2/28/25)
...$1,000/month, plus interest
...Topping off with snowballs

[ ]$5,000 to investments
**STRETCH GOAL $7,500**
...($700 @ 2/28/25)
...$300/month, plus snowflakes
(Snowflakes: credit card rewards and dividends)
...Topping off with snowballs

[ ]$1,700 to mortgage
...($0 @ 2/28/25)
...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% @ 2/28/25)
...This is the minimum for the match; I'd otherwise rather fund IRAs.

Goal savings rate = 25% of gross salary, plus funding IRAs from other sources.

[ ]$6,000 to IRAs 2024
**STRETCH GOAL $14,000 (MAX)**
...($0 @ 2/28/25)
...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 2025 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: $75,000 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: +$ 90,000
2024: +$95,000
TOTAL: +$665,000

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

Daily Expense Challenge

April 4th, 2012 at 07:58 pm

April 4:
?? Gas for minivan

April 3:
$60 Dentist
?? Gas for "gas sipper"

April 2:
$4 Togo's sanwich*

April 1:
$13 Groceries
$10 Sushi***

*My favorite sandwich is on special Mondays, so I generally buy one - it lasts for lunch for two days.

***We went out while hungry and so stopped for about $10 of sushi to bring home for lunch. While there, got some needed groceries. $10 sushi very avoidable, but it is what it is.

I think dh filled up his car yesterday, and the van today, but I don't have the totals yet.

On our credit cards I can see "pending transactions" for everything ASAP, but the gas never shows the true total until it goes through, AND we are using one-time reward credit cards that aren't as nice. Just to say unless dh gives me a detailed account of all his comings and goings, I might not see some charges for several days. The only indication I have on the gas is his car had a full tank this morning, and I left the van at home with an empty tank. Wink

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So what is the point of the challenge? To just list what you are spending? To share and be mindful?

What does it say about me that I want to compile a big spreadsheet of everyone's spending? Ha! It says I am an accountant? {Don't worry, it's tax season, so I won't}.

Anyway, I have some commentary on the subject, and then I will just stick to the expense listing, after this post.

I hope April is better than March. Not sure what it was about March, but everything needed replacing, or this and that. March is historically a pretty darn low-spend month. So it was annoying!

April? I won't be spending much of anything the next 2 weeks, most likely. Work, work and more work. WE tend to be pretty low-spend this time of year, but I won't even have time to shop if I wanted to, these next two weeks! {Primarily since Easter is Sunday, so I don't see any free time in my near future}.

BUT, the second half of the month might be spendy. Because I am hoping for a big check on the 15th, and have some things to take care of. So basically, I expect these next two weeks to be pretty boring on the spending front. & maybe I Will be making huge purchases the end of the month...

Posted in Daily Expense Challenge | 3 Comments »

3 Responses to “Daily Expense Challenge”

ThriftoRama Says:
April 4th, 2012 at 08:22 pm 1333567358
1333567358

I'm in the April challenge, too, and wondered if there are any "rules"
ceejay74 Says:
April 4th, 2012 at 09:14 pm 1333570453
1333570453

I'm in the challenge from a curiosity standpoint. I'm comfortable with our budget and feel that it's balanced, but I'm interested to see how my daily spending fluctuates since that's not something I've ever tracked. I'm going to also total each day's spending to see what the highest and lowest days are like. (Hopefully my highest days are behind me! Oops, except I probably need to pay the lawyer this month; THAT will be my spendiest day!)
Swimgirl Says:
April 4th, 2012 at 09:26 pm 1333571164
1333571164

Ditto what Ceejay said. I'm okay with our budget, but haven't really tracked for a while. Just curious...

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Monkey Mama*s Monkey Money Blog

Over Prepare, Then Go With The Flow

Daily Expense Challenge

3 Responses to “Daily Expense Challenge”

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