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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
...($4,529 @ 3/31/24)
...$1,000/month, plus interest
...Topping off with snowballs

[ ]$7,500 to investments
...($1,750 @ 4/30/24)
...$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% @ 3/31/24)
...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 @ 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.

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

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>
2022: +$ 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

Oct 14 & 15

October 18th, 2021 at 12:33 am

October 14

$70 Target (Groceries)

$20 MH Allowance Spending

$0 Movies

Dinner: Leftovers

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I guess my boss didn't realize I was working yesterday and is out of town Thursday through Friday. Makes for a *very* quiet week. 👍

MH is off seeing a "free" movie with his unlimited pass. & he went to Target after work today. Not sure what all he got, but probably just groceries. We were out of cat food.

Edit: Found the receipt later. Dishwasher detergent, granola bars (lots on sale), cat food, soap, etc.

& later I saw $20 spending pop up. I will confirm with MH that it's legit, but was some sort of movie spending (which pretty much sums up all of MH's spending). I did think, "whoa, MH is getting spendy this month." Probably spurred by being back at work. But I glanced at our spending for the year and we are both up to $500 of our $600 annual allowance spending. We both seem to be on track. I usually do little more than glance at my accounting software at the end of the year. We have the same personal spending budget from 20+ years ago so we just subconsciously seem to be aware.

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October 15

$12 MH Allowance Spending

Dinner: Indian Butter Chicken

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Yeah, MH is definitely enjoying a little extra cash flow. More movies.

I couldn't remember which weeks MH gets paid (every other week), after having 18 months off. I didn't really care enough to figure it out. But I just had this lightbulb moment today. I still had his paychecks set up in Quicken (it pops up every 2 weeks and I have just been clicking on "ignore"). So I peeked and payday is next week. That's nice because I pay all the bills the first of every month. October is done and paid for. But he will get one October paycheck. It won't be enough to pay for our vacation last week but it will cover most of it. I will just send his paycheck to the credit card when it arrives, to cover vacay expenses.

Posted in Just Thinking, Daily Expense Challenge | 3 Comments »

3 Responses to “Oct 14 & 15”

scfr Says:
October 19th, 2021 at 11:16 pm 1634685375
1634685375

Good to see you are keeping on keeping on.
Just reading "Indian Butter Chicken" makes me hungry - I've never had it. Will have to try it some time.
rob62521 Says:
October 24th, 2021 at 06:33 pm 1635100424
1635100424

Now I have to look up that recipe! It sure sounded good!
MonkeyMama Says:
November 1st, 2021 at 01:14 am 1635729257
1635729257

I just saw your comment Rob. This is the recipe I use (and seems closest to our favorite Indian cafe): https://damndelicious.net/2020/02/18/butter-chicken-meatballs/

Off the top of my head, I believe that we also add a little cumin (1 tsp?) and cayenne pepper powder (to taste), to the sauce. It's traditionally a spicy dish but wasn't spicy enough without the cayenne. I don't use the meatballs, I follow the recipe but just crumble the meat instead (cooking it first on the stove, before I make the sauce). The meatball part is not traditional at all and we didn't really care for the meatballs. But the meat/spices are good and crumbling the meat is just how we are used to it.

We have some other butter chicken recipes, but this one is my favorite.

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Monkey Mama*s Monkey Money Blog

Over Prepare, Then Go With The Flow

Oct 14 & 15

3 Responses to “Oct 14 & 15”

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