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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.

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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>
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

Food Spending & College Update

November 13th, 2021 at 04:20 pm

When I thought that MM(18) would blow through his college dining dollars too quickly, I decided to cash out the kids' high school lunch money. I had about $250 prepaid. MM(18) never went back to school (in person) and so I transferred his money over to DL(16). But he's getting free lunch indefinitely. Initially I liked the idea to have senior year just paid for (while also having big expenses like college). But I don't even know if DL will have to pay for lunch next year. It took me a few tries to reach someone but just got confirmation that they are mailing me a check. Yay!

In the meantime, MM(18) has things figured out pretty well. The max college dining plan came with coffee and soda bonuses that seemed pretty useless (MM is not a coffee or a soda drinker). But he figured out that he could buy food at the coffee shops and it counted as "coffee". So he has an extra $300 to spend down. It sounds like he will probably squeak by this first quarter.

My very rough estimate from grocery spending at home was that MM(18) was about half of our grocery spending. How did this shake out in October? We spent $550 of our $850 grocery/household budget, allowing me to save $300 towards college food expenses. I am very pleased with this first month. That $550 included some food bought for MM(18), feeding a film crew, and also a *lot* of food waste. We are figuring it out but it will take some time to adjust to our eating habits. Plus, we've just been in survival mode and will continue to be for a while.

I think that $500/month will be a good estimate going forward (saving $350/month to offset college food costs). But it will take many months to average out.

MM(18) is not spending any money on campus. He is enjoying the all-inclusive lifestyle. He's traveling to LA some weekends to work on a joint project with another college. So he does spend some money on food on the road. I expect he also has to contribute some to gas. I've seen a couple of ATM and venmo withdrawals (from his money/accounts) but haven't asked him about those in any detail. I know he had some club dues to pay, and I just presume he is contributing gas when he gets rides to LA.

We get him home for Thanksgiving break, so we are excited about that.

Posted in Just Thinking | 1 Comments »

1 Responses to “Food Spending & College Update”

CB in the City Says:
November 13th, 2021 at 04:41 pm 1636821660
1636821660

That reminds of when DS1 was in college, and he had one of my credit cards to use only at the bookstore. I checked it regularly to make sure he was following the rule, and he was. However, it turned out he was buying a lot of candy and snacks as well as school supplies. LOL. He supplemented his food budget that way, though not very nutritiously!

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Monkey Mama*s Monkey Money Blog

Over Prepare, Then Go With The Flow

Food Spending & College Update

1 Responses to “Food Spending & College Update”

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