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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
...($0 @ 1/1/25)
...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

[ ]$10,000 to savings
...($0 @ 1/1/25)
...$1,000/month, plus interest
...Topping off with snowballs

[ ]$5,000 to investments
**STRETCH GOAL $7,500**
...($0 @ 1/1/25)
...$300/month, plus snowflakes
(Snowflakes: credit card rewards and dividends)
...Topping off with snowballs

[ ]$1,700 to mortgage
...($0 @ 1/31/25)
...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% @ 1/31/25)
...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 @ 1/1/25)
...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.

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

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.

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

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

Halloween Preparations

October 27th, 2012 at 08:56 pm

This weekend is the polar opposite of last weekend. Mellow and chore-filled.

I am lucking out on the Halloween front. The kids had asked for some Halloween decorations, and I said "Heck no." No need to spend money on useless crap, and even worse to accumulate worthless crap. I am kind of "out" of the holiday decorating thing. But I was at Target for whatever reason a couple of weeks back and saw a bunch of decorations in their $1 bins. I figured "whatever," and spent $2. The kids were delighted, so win-win.

I have been having so much fun at Michael's lately (it is seriously better than the dollar store) that I figured I might stop by there sometime too. I just didn't have any coupons printed out so wanted to do that first. I am sure they have some super cheap decorations that will appease the kids and won't make me too cranky (won't take up a lot of storage space).

Glad I waited, because apparently we could use some foam board. Never even heard of it, but sounds very useful for costume making.

Anyway, dh lent the kids' Mario & Luigi costumes to a relative in another city. Rolleyes I was kind of annoyed because though the kids did wear them the past two years, I had already told them I wasn't going to buy them any new costumes this year.

Never fear. Today we decided we better get our act together (very unlike us to wait so last minute).

LM settled on a spider man costume we have - it fits like it was made for him. He is 7, and I think BM wore it when he was 5 or 6 (it was a little large at the time). Perfect!!

BM is making his own Minecraft costume. It's a video game with blocky characters, so we are just printing out the blocky graphics onto a cardboard box to wear over his head. Dh told me he needed some nylons for the eye holes (such a good idea!!). The pickaxe he needs was recommended to glue onto some foam board. They already have some foam swords, so may just be able to tape over the swords they already have. Will see what we can find.

When the kids were younger I was way too exhausted to go the DIY route. Maybe it's easier because they can do most the work now. Big Grin

So, I am pleased, I think I got off pretty easy. We already got Halloween candy free at CVS a while back.

Posted in Just Thinking | 5 Comments »

5 Responses to “Halloween Preparations”

rob62521 Says:
October 28th, 2012 at 03:14 am 1351394044
1351394044

some of the store bought costumes are so junky and still cost a fortune.
Joan.of.the.Arch Says:
October 28th, 2012 at 03:19 pm 1351437574
1351437574

A few days ago, I noticed that Deal$ dollar store was selling foamcore/foamboard. I payed a pretty penny for it "back in the day".
FrugalTexan75 Says:
October 28th, 2012 at 03:31 pm 1351438306
1351438306

Sounds like some great costumes.
Looking Forward Says:
October 28th, 2012 at 06:14 pm 1351448066
1351448066

What a cute idea for a costume. It's great BM can pretty much create it himself.

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Monkey Mama*s Monkey Money Blog

Over Prepare, Then Go With The Flow

Halloween Preparations

5 Responses to “Halloween Preparations”

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