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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 @ 1/31/25)
...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
...($1,098 @ 1/31/25)
...$1,000/month, plus interest
...Topping off with snowballs

[ ]$5,000 to investments
**STRETCH GOAL $7,500**
...($400 @ 1/31/25)
...$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 @ 1/31/25)
...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.

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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

Need HELP with London Trip!

March 15th, 2017 at 03:33 am

Just wanted to throw out another request for any hotel recommendations in London.

We are probably going to go the end of August. We figured it would save us money and be infinitely easier if MH did not have to request time off work. He is off work in August. I did not think it was wise to be gone when the kids start school (or too early in the school year) but the kids start August 9th this year. UGH! Totally insane! But I guess it works in this instance.

So we looked up school calendars and perused hotel and airfare in August. It was the same as Ocotober/November. Unreal! We will probably get airfare and hotel under $2,000. Tail end of August and/or early September. We are going without the kids, if you hadn't realized.

I'd buy airfare today, but MH wanted to wait and make sure we are taking a proper number of days to do everything. I think 10 days is probably about my limit though. Should be fine. Obviously we won't be able to do EVERYTHING. Big Grin

I also wanted to request any must-sees. What are all the things we should really do? Trying to make sure we have enough days to hit the highlights. I am guessing this may very likely be the last time we ever go to Europe, so I guess also keep that in mind. (We both very much dislike longer travels and flying abroad).

Thanks in advance!

Posted in Just Thinking | 11 Comments »

11 Responses to “Need HELP with London Trip!”

Kiki Says:
March 15th, 2017 at 04:56 am 1489553762
1489553762

Oh my goodness! My dream is to visit Ireland and the UK. I was looking at a trip to Ireland in September/October with these rates.

I have no recommendations but will certainly follow your planning. Did you hear that our airport may start more international fights next year? No more going to Oakland or SF to get out of town.

Happy travel planning!
scottish girl Says:
March 15th, 2017 at 09:40 am 1489570850
1489570850

Wow, that's brilliant! I've never been but you should definetly go on the hop-on hop-off buses to see the sights.
creditcardfree Says:
March 15th, 2017 at 11:20 am 1489576832
1489576832

My daughter will be in London for two days in June. I looked at the itinerary and it wasn't super specific, but did mention the Imperial War Museum (it's a World War II themed trip) and Churchill War Rooms. Otherwise it talks about viewing Big Ben, Houses of Parliament, St. Paul's Cathedral and Changing of the Guard, and Windsor Castle. Not sure if they will be going on all of that.

My daughter's Europe trip is two weeks (which I imagine will leave her quite exhausted), but only two days in London. Have you thought of going other places? I'm sorry I don't currently know the hotel, although I think they will be staying in Americanized hotels chains.
VS_ozgirl Says:
March 15th, 2017 at 11:46 am 1489578393
1489578393

I loved staying in London! One of the first things in my travel book I was given (which I didn't really read and should have) said just how spread out London is, and that is the truth! We stayed in Hyde Park near Kensington Gardens and it was a half hour walk from Oxford Street (which is really cool), and then everything else was further; so definitely research where to stay- do you want to use the subway (Tube)if so look for something close to there. The hop-on hop-off bus tour is a must; also Buckingham Palace, the London Eye, Big Ben, Tower of London and Crown Jewels where Changing of the Guard is also. We were only there two days so you could definitely see a bit more and find some interesting places to see that suit your tastes (for example I loved being in an old English pub but you may want to try an English high tea). I don't know about now but accommodation last year was extremely expensive; we paid $175 for a 2 bed room and bathroom at a 3-star hotel (the hotel was dated but very clean and comfortable, so it was fine by me - the location was a bit out of the way though). You can probably do a couple of day trips to see other English places (like Stonehenge for example or Bath) also. Good luck! If you want the name of the hotel we stayed at let me know and I would be happy to look it up.
MonkeyMama Says:
March 15th, 2017 at 03:05 pm 1489590329
1489590329

Thanks everyone!

@ccfree - I think we are really most interested in the museums and want to spend several days in London. But we did figure that we'd probably do day trips to Stonehenge/Bath and Paris.

@VS - I think it's because the US dollar is strong right now, but the hotels are cheap! To the point where I guess we should probably pre-pay or make sure we are locking in the price in US dollars. I mean, we will probably end up paying $100/night, but I would have expected London to be significantly more expensive.
MonkeyMama Says:
March 15th, 2017 at 03:08 pm 1489590491
1489590491

P.S. & I ask of course, because someone might say, "While you are there you *have to* go to this or that country or city. We are open to suggestions.
Jennifer Says:
March 15th, 2017 at 03:41 pm 1489592478
1489592478

I LOVE London. Look into a day trip to Bletchley Park, where they did code breaking during WWII. It's a short train ride, but a fascinating place. It was amazing to see where that all happened.
bluesfemme Says:
March 15th, 2017 at 05:10 pm 1489597820
1489597820

Sep is a good time - summer hols finished but weather ok. If you were staying Aug, I would a recc a hotel with aircon, as it can get quite humid. Great price for accom. I would recc close to a tube station, for maximum flexibility. Buy an oyster card on arrival and take the tube into London.

If you intend to do Stonehenge, we had a magical experience doing the early morning private inside the stones access. We hired a car for a day, stayed at a close b&b the night before, then walked the surrounding area afterwards. Then off to Avebury circle, which is astonishing. If you do this tour book direct at www. english-heritage. org. uk/forms/stone-circle-access - tour companies charge much much more.
London is my favourite city. Hope you really enjoy it 😊.
MonkeyMama Says:
March 15th, 2017 at 05:17 pm 1489598258
1489598258

P.S. I am completely enamored with this hotel
Text is https://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g7377416-d7390381-Reviews-Urban_Villa_Hotel-Brentford_Greater_London_England.html and Link is
https://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g7377416-d7390381-R...
I am just torn if we want to stay that far away. The reviewers of the hotel make it seem like it's much closer to London (20 minute tube ride) versus google maps (1 hour transit trip). I can see it's easily an hour once you factor getting to the tube (walking or bus). I know many of you spend a lot of time in UK, so throwing that out for opinions. This is probably about exactly how far out we stayed from DC, and it was fine. That hotel just had a shuttle that left every hour, for the subway, so this is probably even more convenient than our DC hotel was. More frequent public transit. (In the meantime, we are thinking maybe first few days in central London, and maybe moving to this hotel where we can do laundry and cook our own meals. Heck, maybe just first 2 nights in central London, and then settle in this hotel for a week).
VS_ozgirl Says:
March 16th, 2017 at 10:57 am 1489661829
1489661829

The hotel does look gorgeous but is definitely further away. We stayed in Paddington just near Hyde Park and that was a half hour walk to the city centre. Maybe it would be a good idea to like you say stay central for a couple of nights and then move out for the remainder of the trip there. London is so spread out that when you look at their maps you think it's only a couple of blocks but in reality each block is huge; it's an incredibly spread out city, it's massive.
SAK Says:
March 26th, 2017 at 09:25 pm 1490559916
1490559916

Stay as close in as you can - use the time to explore London. Look at Viator.com for good deals on sightseeing deals - very good low cost options, lots of sales and sign up for emails and get 10% off too - I have used them world wide. Google "changing of the guards tour" - seems silly but was totally worth the ~$12 per person we spent - didn't stand in one place and see what went by but hopped around and got to see all parts of it and get a great history lesson. British Museum is free - you could spend days there alone. And British Library is worth a free visit!

I usually watch the currency rates and exchange see spending money before hand. Wells Fargo has had the best rates consistently. Much better then at airport.

Churchill War Rooms - totally worth it - there is TONS there to see - the War Rooms plus a full museum really on Churchill. Boat ride to Greenwich is great too and of course the Tower!

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Need HELP with London Trip!

11 Responses to “Need HELP with London Trip!”

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