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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
...($115 @ 2/28/25)
...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
...($2,156 @ 2/28/25)
...$1,000/month, plus interest
...Topping off with snowballs

[ ]$5,000 to investments
**STRETCH GOAL $7,500**
...($700 @ 2/28/25)
...$300/month, plus snowflakes
(Snowflakes: credit card rewards and dividends)
...Topping off with snowballs

[ ]$1,700 to mortgage
...($0 @ 2/28/25)
...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% @ 2/28/25)
...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 @ 2/28/25)
...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.

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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

Oct 15 & 16 - Crazy Days

October 20th, 2024 at 03:57 am

October 15 & 16

$4 Walgreens

$1 Soda

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

Crazy days...

Tuesday I went to two Walgreens, to buy some straws. There's one Walgreens by my home and one by my work. The one by my home doesn't seem to have what I am looking for, most the time any more. No straws there. I stopped by the other one and found one box of straws. It was hard to find, but I found it. I was going to buy two boxes, which would have been excessive. I already had an extra box at work (I didn't realize). So it worked out.

This is another ortho expense. They shaved down my teeth. Not sure if the straws help, but using in case it does keep the soda more away from my teeth while my teeth are re-calcifying or whatever it is teeth do.

Note: I very rarely go to the store. So this month is just crazy. I seem to just be running out of everything.

Wednesday I went into work later and grabbed a fountain soda on the way in.

I don't know that I'd even have the time to write this down (it's past my bedtime and I have some things I want to get done outside of work). But my work file won't back up and I am trying to get that backed up after the 1 hour of work I brought home turned into 4 hours. It's done but I don't think I will be able to back it up. I am ready to give up.

I got home so late Tuesday (MH was working late) that I didn't make dinner. I did offer to make pancakes but DL(19) didn't want them. Thursday may be the same, just scrounging for food in the fridge and cupboards.

I just checked the credit card and confirmed that MH is in 'too busy to spend money' mode.

I sent MM(21) $800 for rent. Not sure if that really counts because I don't have to figure this out from our budget. I have an investment account I pull rent money out of. MH and I both got paid today and there's just too much money in the account. I don't usually pay MM(21) his rent this early but it's random that MH and I both got paid on the same day.

Oh yeah, and we had rain today! I woke up to a beautiful rainbow spanning across the sky. The sky has put on some spectacular shows this week.

Photo credit: A neighbor

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Oct 15 & 16 - Crazy Days

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