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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.

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

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.

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

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 17 - Lots of Dishes

October 20th, 2024 at 03:27 pm

October 17

$13 Groceries

$23 Dinner Out of Town (MH)

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

Today was a little more relaxed than the last couple of days.

I thawed some meat in the morning and realized we didn't have any bread I like, or anything to go with hamburger meat. (MH had told me my bread was "out" at the store). I am glad I even noticed. I picked up some soft breakfast food and bread at the store.

I got out of work early enough that I had the energy to cook, empty the dishwasher, and do a load of dishes. MH will appreciate it because my spaghetti/meat dinner was a 4-pot affair. (DL and I like different types of pasta. & then I cooked up some leftover meat into hamburger patties. That was pan #4.) There's also still 9 containers of tupperware sitting out. If I wanted to be really nice I would do another load of just tupperware.

MH is out of town at a movie premier re: a movie he worked on. He drove and spent $23 on dinner. This was all the spending I anticipated; nothing else popped up.

Posted in Uncategorized | 3 Comments »

3 Responses to “Oct 17 - Lots of Dishes”

Tabs Says:
October 23rd, 2024 at 04:30 am 1729654215
1729654215

Your hubby works on movies?! Like what does he do? Direct? Camera? Sets? ACTOR?
MonkeyMama Says:
October 24th, 2024 at 01:15 am 1729728942
1729728942

My husband is a writer but gets pulled in as a producer a lot (is the only way for most to get their movies made). To-date this is just a hobby but he's working on a full length movie that has potential and might make some money. I mean, I think he likes most aspects of film making. But his most obvious talent is the ideas/writing side of things. & that's where he has put most his time and effort.
Tabs Says:
October 28th, 2024 at 06:49 am 1730098170
1730098170

Very interesting. Thanks for that, and for what it's worth, I hope he succeeds in this full length movie. If so, please let us know what it is, if you don't mind sharing that much.

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Oct 17 - Lots of Dishes

3 Responses to “Oct 17 - Lots of Dishes”

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