And just like that, another year is over. I’d say they’re going by too fast, but to be honest, 2024 was a long one for me. The second half sure flew by though; one minute it’s Halloween and the next I’m fretting over my Christmas shopping lists. Today’s post is a wrap-up of 2024 here at the Life on a Dime house and my 2025 word of the year.
2024 in review: January – june
January was off to a good start, with what I thought were realistic expectations. My word of the year was celebrate. I picked four books I wanted to read for education or self-growth, and we had plans to travel more with the kids.
February saw a rather simple no-spend challenge, with reduced dining out, no clothing purchases, and an increased savings goal. We went out to eat three times, spent a bit more than planned on groceries, but managed to more than double our monthly savings. For as laid back as it was, I’d say this year was another success.
March kicked off Minimalism in March, a monthly tradition at a Life on a Dime where I blog about why I love minimalism and declutter like crazy. March also fell during Lent this year. I work in a church office, and we had a major staffing upheaval. During Lent. Long story short, I took on some extra duties and learned a lot of new things (like reteaching myself how to use Publisher) until the situation resolved in July.
Life took precedence and I guess you could say I went minimalist with my online presence. I have a few pictures on my phone of the trash bags full of items we donated, so I did declutter at some point. It wasn’t all bad though; we took the kids on a state park trip for spring break, made some memories, and put several new stamps on their state park passports.
April through June were pretty quiet on the blog. School wound down and the kids went to work with me for the summer.
july – December
Things started going a bit smoother in July. The hubs and I went on our annual weekend getaway to celebrate our 18th anniversary (a few months early).
August saw a change in vehicles; we sold my husband’s 2013 hatchback after some seemingly fluke issues that turned out to be caused by rabbits (I can just see Elmer Fudd shaking his fist), and thankfully relatively inexpensive to fix. It didn’t quite fit our needs anymore, so we decided we were in the market for a used truck (or I decided, and convinced the hubs in the end?).
We’re now the owners of a 2012 Ridgeline and it has been a great truck for us so far. That being said, that landed us back in vehicle debt. We put 1/3 down and financed the rest and do not plan to take the full term of the loan to pay it off. I also turned forty, but we won’t dwell on that..
September saw another three day weekend, and a rather rainy state park trip. We covered a lot of parks, but ask my kids what they remember and they’ll probably tell you they saw a Sonic with a playground (we didn’t even stop there). C’est la vie.
October saw me a little more active on the blog for spooky season. Our kids had a great time as Thing 2 and a cop. Thanksgiving and Christmas came and went, and now we find ourselves on the brink of a new year.
2025 word of the year
All in all I’m not so sure celebrate fit my outlook or experience at all in 2024. I was very excited when I took the Dayspring word of the year quiz again this month and got the word breathe. I think I’m going to appreciate this reminder to slow down and not get so into my head. Once I’m there, I tend to stay there.
Also, after the stress of this year, I’m ready to unwind a bit; all the stress may have aided my weight loss goals substantiallly, but it’s not my preferred method for sure! Either way I’m down 20 pounds, so I guess I’ll just celebrate that.
Happy New Year from a Life on a Dime! I wish you a great one. See you in 2025!