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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. 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.

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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.

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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: $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

Our Garage Door Broke Last Night

August 5th, 2013 at 04:07 pm

Murphy is getting on my last nerve. !!!

That is all...

Posted in Just Thinking, Home Ownership | 11 Comments »

11 Responses to “Our Garage Door Broke Last Night”

creditcardfree Says:
August 5th, 2013 at 04:18 pm 1375719505
1375719505

Oh, MM! You have not had the best luck in recent days. I hope it is a relatively simple fix. Our opener is malfunctioning, just ordered replacement sensors on Amazon to fix the problem.
scfr Says:
August 5th, 2013 at 04:36 pm 1375720582
1375720582

Haven't you already hit your 3? Murphy can move along now ...
LuckyRobin Says:
August 5th, 2013 at 04:59 pm 1375721997
1375721997

My goodness! Your last two weeks have not been pleasant. Sounds like Murphy needs a swift kick to the rear.
IndianGal Says:
August 5th, 2013 at 06:07 pm 1375726073
1375726073

Ouch!
Petunia 100 Says:
August 5th, 2013 at 06:20 pm 1375726854
1375726854

Is it the door itself or the opener?
rachel021406 Says:
August 5th, 2013 at 06:59 pm 1375729166
1375729166

Man...when it rains it pours. Hope its a simple fix.
MonkeyMama Says:
August 5th, 2013 at 07:54 pm 1375732446
1375732446

It's the door.

We've been wanting to replace it because it is really loud and low quality. But, I didn't expect it to break! IT was more of a want than a need, which is why we haven't gotten to it. So, we will just replace it. It beats wasting a penny on repairing it, since we did plan to replace it in the nearer future. So it's maybe kind of sort of a good thing and why I am not freaking out too much today. I am sure it probably would not be too much to repair it, either, if that is what we wanted to do.
FrugalTexan75 Says:
August 6th, 2013 at 01:14 am 1375751660
1375751660

That is frustrating. Hope it doesn't cost too much!
rob62521 Says:
August 6th, 2013 at 01:49 am 1375753799
1375753799

Yikes! Hopefully this is the last thing to break.
Kiki Says:
August 6th, 2013 at 04:45 am 1375764345
1375764345

So sorry there have been so many things going wrong lately!
Thrifty Ray Says:
August 7th, 2013 at 04:43 am 1375850586
1375850586

Holy crud...if you didn't have bad luck youd have no luck at all. Murphy needs to move along!

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Monkey Mama*s Monkey Money Blog

Over Prepare, Then Go With The Flow

Our Garage Door Broke Last Night

11 Responses to “Our Garage Door Broke Last Night”

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