The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly of my 2025

2025 has it been a good year?

I love taking some time to reflect on the year and how it is going. For the first three months of this year I have not enjoyed it. There have been hard times, but when I look back those moments seemed to fly by. 

It is absolutely unbelievable that this year is almost halfway done. I barely blinked and it zoomed away. The older you get the faster it goes, and I have felt that. What have I done with my year?

In relation to 2024, I thought I was doing terrible. Losing $1700 to taxes and not making it back had me really down on myself but overall, I have been having a better year.

I have had some things slow down for sure. My investing has slowed down, my emergency fund has thinned out some, and mostly money has thinned out. Having to fall back on mental gymnastics to try and enjoy experiences all while saving up for big plans. I have been maxing out my first HSA and have utilized my 3% company match in my 401(k). I was nearing $50,000 of net worth last year which was a large jump from the year before. This year, I am not sure if I will increase it. I will have $4,500 in my HSA along with my 401(k) hitting $5,000 recently. I have $23,000 in my Roth which will obviously be nice to max out this year and hit a $30,000 mark but with the market being in a weird position it might now happen. I still have almost 12 months to hit $5,000 more to max out Roth but I am also attacking other goals.

In January I completed my first marathon, which I loved doing. It will turn into a regular thing. Especially after the feeling of having nothing to train for at the moment. I miss it. A few days after the marathon I got to see my niece for the first time which is always nice to be at home and seeing a newborn.

In February I got to see snow for the first time. I enjoyed it a lot and Boston was a nice city with plenty of history and delicious food. It snowed while we were there, which made it an incredible trip. I failed during the skiing section and why would they make ski shoes so uncomfortable? Overall, I loved the experience that I got to share with people I love. New Hampshire is also a hidden gem. The views from the roads were incredible and the small towns were charming. The place we stayed at had a Christmas charm which made the trip great. I wish we had a few more days to spend in New Hampshire.

At the end of February, with taxes killing my emergency fund and flat tires and more issues popping up left and right this is where the harder times through the year happened.

March things got bad. There was sickness in our house that held us throughout a couple weeks and when one thing goes bad sometimes it all goes bad with the largest being a child in the family got cancer. This was my first adult experience with cancer from someone in my life. It was hard to see. Luckily, three months later and the future seems bright. The way that family powered through those hard moments have my full respect. The extended family coming together to put on fundraisers and other support for the child made me proud to be a part of the family. March was a tough month for our household and for our family.

 In April, I got to experience a brand-new theme park. Universal’s Epic Universe. One of the coolest experiences I got to have this year, and I felt very blessed for the life I was able to create here in Orlando. I get to experience a lot of these one-time events now and it makes me have a great sense of gratitude and I am so happy I moved down here.

Somewhere around here I finished up my college semester to an A and a C…. But an A!!! That hasn’t happened in some time.

In May, we moved into our first home together. An asset we live in, no more throwing money into the void of rent. After several projects, and Facebook marketplace purchases I think we have come to a place where it settles out. I got to mow my own lawn. Rake my own leaves. Something in my brain felt great satisfaction in being able to do these things. I also have a pickleball court ten minutes away from my house and I even won my first competitive game there! During the move it was awesome to see both families come together and get us moved really quick. After all of our purchases I don’t think they will be coming back to help with our next move. Four moves in four years. Hopefully this move is the last one for 5-10 years. I will be 31-36 years old in that span of time. It goes quick. I feel like I am just hitting my stride in adulting. Knowing my strengths and weaknesses. Being smarter. Just to have that all thrown out when a kid comes into my life.

A week after we moved, we went on our first cruise of the year. We will be taking three more in the fall.

A week after that, I bought my first Disney DELUXE hotel stay. Using credit card points and rewards of course but it was awesome to do that.

In June, I will be using my first travel agent perk after hitting my $30,000 sales goal with a Disney cruise out on one of their newest ships with my parents. About 50% off. I am hoping for many beach days and a more relaxing month. This is also the month where I have a mortgage and rent to pay in the same month. Which will be a rough month financially but with all of the mental gymnastics I am going to be able to afford life. Luckily, I also have a separate job which will be paying me a thousand dollars for this month to hopefully pay for every overage and MAYBE even go into my savings goals. Which are retirement based, home based, and relationship based. I’m 26. It is time to start moving some things.

I only know of couple things I have in store coming up in my year. A few cruises and a dog are coming in the near future. A dog will shake up the daily routine, but everything should work out well. Here is to another successful year with new experiences and all sorts of fun things.