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About Me:

Monkey Mama

Just a 49-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 2023-2025.

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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2026 Goals

[ ]Small monthly Charitable Contribution
...($32 @ 2/28/26)
...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.
...#3 I don't understand why I would find student loan interest rates to be useful, as a middle class person with a high credit score. Would do better to borrow money from anywhere else. I think point #2 is more my 'hells no' reason, but this is my 'I don't get it' reason.

DL YEAR 1 ✔
DL YEAR 2 ✔
DL YEAR 3 ✔
DL YEAR 4
DL Teaching Credential

MM YEARS 1-5 ✔

[ ]$10,000 to savings
...(-$3,880** @ 5/31/26)
...$1,000/month, plus interest
...Topping off with snowballs
**Yes, that's a negative! 2026 started out rough, with some large emergency expenses.

[ ]$7,500 to investments
...($1,740 @ 5/31/26)
...$300/month, plus snowflakes
(Snowflakes: credit card rewards and dividends)
...Topping off with snowballs

[ ]$1,500 to mortgage
...($0 @ 5/31/26)
...Topping off with snowballs and/or excess cash
...Keeps us on track with $10K principal paydown per year

Taxable Investing/Saving rate is 14%.

[/]9% of household income to work retirement plans
...(9% @ 5/31/26)
...This is the minimum for the match; I'd otherwise rather fund IRAs.

[ ]$0 to IRAs 2026
**STRETCH GOAL $17,200 (MAX)**
...($0 @ 5/31/26)
...This seems pointless, other than the 'unexpected money' factor.
...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.

Total investing/savings rate is 23%. Making progress on dialing this down from 30%.

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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**

As of 2026, our primary goal is just to contribute enough to retirement to receive employer match (9%).

~~Have decided to pretty much stay the course. Keep saving 20%+ to retirement. This means taking 401K match & maxing out IRAs.~~

Pre Financial Independence:

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.

Post Financial Independence:

I wish I could contribute 0% to retirement (age 50+). But that free company match... Just to be clear why we are dipping below that magic 10% number at this point in our lives. We are done saving for retirement and are letting the investments (and employer contributions) do the hard work.

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Debt: $60,000 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
2025: +$120,000
TOTAL: +$785,000

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

Smart Watch Voodoo

July 10th, 2026 at 04:25 am

July 3

$31 Dinner Take Out (x2)

MH wasn't feeling great Friday and of course he would have eventually figured it out, but his smart watch ended up telling him his skin was a little hot, late at night or when he woke up the next morning. So he took his temperature and he had a fever, a reaction from the shingles vaccine.

There's a local burger place we have never tried and MH was in a "Whatever, nothing sounds good" mood. I treated myself to a milk shake and it was divine.

July 4

$86 DL(20) Birthday Gift

MH, the gift buyer (and insister on buying material things for holidays and birthdays), asks me if I planned to buy anything for DL's birthday. No?

I guess DL(20) had just played this card game and it was amazing. & asked if we could buy it and play it on his birthday. I presume MH bought some expansion packs and that kind of thing (re: the cost).

Posted in Just Thinking | 4 Comments »

4 Responses to “Smart Watch Voodoo”

Tabs Says:
July 10th, 2026 at 06:48 am 1783666083
1783666083

Ah, I hope your MH recovers quickly from the vaccine symptoms.

I've always wanted to by In-and-Out, but there are none on the east coast. Plenty of good burger joints still, but yeah, maybe some day, I will get around and get that chance.

What kind of card game is it? You mention expansion packs, and my go-to guess is either Pokemon or Magic: The Gathering. Nothing important haha, but just curious.
patientsaver Says:
July 10th, 2026 at 12:17 pm 1783685830
1783685830

I haven't had a milkshake in many, many years, but I did fairly recently, in this extreme heat, make myself a smoothie blending 1 cup of frozen berries, 1 cup of plant milk (I used soy), a half-cup of plain Greek yogurt and 1 frozen banana. It was very good.
MonkeyMama Says:
July 10th, 2026 at 05:05 pm 1783703105
1783703105

@Tabs - I never got the In N Out memo, but MH insisted we eat there once when we were charging our car on a road trip. (I mostly didn't want to go because it was crazy crowded, as they usually are, and is the primary reason I am probably disinterested. This was also probably in a more pandemic-y time, adding to the crowd anxiety.)**. I was pleasantly surprised how inexpensive it is. MH could have led with that, but maybe he didn't know.

**I chose the burger place we went to because I wanted somewhere easy to get in and out of. That's more my speed. Which I suppose is somewhat ironic re: the whole point of In N Out is to be that quick in and out place.

The card game is Binding of Isaac. He told me it's similar to Munchkin, which my family enjoys.
DK62565 Says:
July 11th, 2026 at 02:09 pm 1783778998
1783778998

Sorry about hubby's reaction to the vaccine, but far better than Shingles.

We don't have "In-N-Out" where I live, but I've heard good things. Glad your milkshake was divine.

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Monkey Mama*s Monkey Money Blog

Over Prepare, Then Go With The Flow

Smart Watch Voodoo

4 Responses to “Smart Watch Voodoo”

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