HOME (4/5)
1) Itemize everything in my home. Burn through one candle every month. Complete! I was very good at my candle goal. Let’s see if I can keep it up in 2026!
2) Buy a new area rug, coffee table, bookshelf, and throw pillows. Mostly complete. I didn’t buy a new bookshelf or coffee table, but I did get a new nightstand and a second area rug for my bedroom so… it counts? Whatever, this is my list. I’m counting it!
3) Move to a two-bedroom apartment. Complete! YASSSSSS.
4) Stick to a weekly cleaning routine. Not complete. Oof. I keep my apartment clean, but I could definitely do a better job.
5) TBD Declutter one space of my home every week. Complete. Maybe I didn’t do it every week, but most weeks, I got it done and I had so many bags of donations to Goodwill!
ADULTING (1/5)
1) Change my primary email address. LOL, this was a complete bust. I changed it for a few accounts, but then just… stopped. And now I keep forgetting to check that other email address regularly, so I probably just need to move everything back to my stephanywrites email. Sigh.
2) Spend 50% less in online takeout from 2024. My goal is to spend less than $100 a month in online takeout. I accomplished this in January and then failed miserably for the rest of the year. (I don’t have October, November, or December numbers, but I’m sure I failed in those months, too.)
- January: $78.38 ✅
- February: $205.51 ❌
- March: $173.07 ❌
- April: $131.79 ❌
- May: $172.49 ❌
- June: $179.77 ❌
- July: $269.93 ❌
- August: $156.66 ❌
- September: $146.51 ❌
3) Pay off my LASIK bill. Complete!
4) Save $3,000 in my emergency savings. Not complete. I was up to $1,500 before the move and then I pulled out $500 to help with some expenses. I’m slowly building this back up and I’m at $1,235 now.
5) Complete the “I’m Dead. Now What?” book. I completely forgot about this goal!
HEALTH (1/5)
1) Improve my posture. Not complete.
2) Lose 20 lbs. Mostly complete. I lost 18 lbs and I’m considering that a huge win, considering it’s the first year in many years that I’ve lost weight.
3) Move my body every day. Not complete.
4) Work on my daily routines. Not complete.
5) Be able to do a sit-up without help. Not complete. I was well on my way, but my joint pain has stopped all workout progress, womp.
HOBBIES (4/5)
1) Read one 500+ page book every quarter. Complete!
- Q1: The Shell Seekers by Rosamunde Pilcher (★★★☆☆)
- Q2: Stamped From the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America by Ibram X. Kendi (★★★★☆)
- Q3: Generations: The Real Differences Between Gen Z, Millennials, Gen X, Boomers, and Silents―and What They Mean for America’s Future by Jean M. Twenge (★★★☆☆)
- Q4: 11/22/63 by Stephen King (★★★☆☆)
2) Go to at least 6 Silent Book Club meetings. Download and organize all of my photos on Facebook. Complete!
3) Read 125 books. (105/125) I did not meet this goal, but it was definitely a stretch goal for me. I’m happy that I read over 100 books, though!
4) Remove all the spammy links that have been added to my blog. Complete! I hope so, at least. These spammy links are so creepy!
5) Complete the Taylor Swift reading challenge. Complete!
FUN (3/5)
1) Watch four movies – one from 1987, one from 1988, one from 1989, and one from 1990. Not complete. I watched Dirty Dancing and loved it so much! And then just stopped watching movies. I’m just not a movie girl!
2) Take a trip to London. Complete!
3) Watch the entirety of these series: Suits, New Girl, and a TBD series. Try my hand at three different baking recipes: cookie dough cupcakes, a three-layer cake, and some kind of pumpkin treat. Not complete. I made a pumpkin treat, but forgot about the other two desserts, ha.
4) Repierce my nose. Complete!
5) Do one new thing every month.
- January: Tried mushrooms, decided I didn’t like them
- February: Visited a romance bookstore
- March: Went to a new-to-me grocery store, Aldi (successful trip, although there are definitely certain items I’ll still need to use Publix/Target for)
- April: Cheesy JC Penney photoshoot with book club
- May: My first drag show!
- June: Tried a whole lot of weird food combos for the podcast
- July: My first ultrasound and colonoscopy (how fun)
- August: Tried peppermint tea, found out I like it a lot
- September: A dachshund meetup
- October: Visiting London
- November: Visited The Book Lounge, a new bookish community space in my town
- December: Made peanut butter balls for the first time
Final Thoughts
In the end, I accomplished 13 of the 25 goals I set for myself. If I’m grading myself, that means I get an F for my annual goals for the year, eeks! But you know what? I accomplished some big goals this year: moving to a two-bedroom apartment, losing 18 lbs, paying off my LASIK bill, taking a trip to London. And I successfully tried one new thing every month (even if that “new thing” was medical-related; it still counts!) and read four big chonkers that have been on my TBR list for a while.
I wish I could have saved more money, spent less on Ubereats orders, read more books, and figured out my cleaning routine, but alas. This was a hard year and I’m just glad I was able to accomplish a few things from my original list.
How did you do on your 2025 goals (if you set them)?
I think that’s a harsh F!! You accomplished some huge things in 2025 and while navigating a lot of medical stress. I love the goal about trying one new thing a month – it’s both doable and fun! My goals were done in by February haha, but I’m excited to try again.
You accomplished some big things this year, my friend, and you know what – you can roll over those goals to next year if you want to. Or you can scrap them! It might be 13/25, but those 13 are pretty big, so I congratulate you!
I didn’t really have any goals this past year, or the goals I had were super nebulous and are goals I have every day (be present! etc) so I guess I accomplished them all! I recommend this approach, lol!
Happy New Year xoxo
My goals were what I labelled “fun ideas” for 2025 and I crossed most of them off my list, but none of them were “stretch” goals and… I’m okay with that. Mostly ditto for my plans for 2026.
I think you accomplished a lot of big things this year, and being settled in a 2-bedroom apartment is HUGE after so many years of having this as a goal!
Do not give yourself an F! Please! You accomplished a lot and it was a hella hard year! Please be kind to yourself! Plus some of the goals were nested goals. Like trying something new is 12 accomplishments!!
For the email goal, are the accounts all Gmail? If so you can next them under one primary account. So my lisa.maiden is my primary account but my marriedname.Lisa and Lisa’s yarns Gmail accounts all go into my primary account. I did that after I got married but kept the maiden as my primary account, otherwise it was a hot mess to have my maiden name emails merge into my new last name account. It was not confusing so I promise you can figure it out. Or heck we can screen share and figure it out together!
I will post about my 25 in ‘25 in the new year. I did 22/25 but I set the bar quite low.
You had an amazing year, especially considering you had to deal with so much pain. I hereby give you an A and a big gold star! And I wish you all the most wonderful things in 2026!
You know these goals posts are my catnip. I think you did amazing. Sure, some stuff didn’t get done, but if you had met all your goals, it would have meant you weren’t stretching yourself!!
I did…mediocre on my goals, but I’m going to give myself some grace. It was a hard year.
I think you did wonderful. And the ones you crossed of are very impactful AND they were your priority. A total win in my book. I am amazed by your weight loss. While I got fitter I have lost nearly nothing in weight.
One of my big issues with setting goals is that if I don’t meet them, I feel like a failure. Which seems counterproductive. I tried to reframe goals as intentions, which helped me a little. But I think what has helped me the most is thinking about goal setting as a way to spotlight my own priorities. It seems – from some of your crossed out original goals – that you already do this. So from my perspective, there’s no way you can fail. 13/25 is great because you identified 13 areas that are and have remained important to you. You are doing great!
The one new thing every month goal was so fun to watch! Even though one was ultrasound and colonoscopy lol. The older I get the more important I realize it is to try new things and hear new ideas!
I did not set/write out any goals for 2025, so there is that. If you don’t have any goals, then you also can’t fail.
So I think every single goal you were able to accomplish is a major win and every goal that didn’t get accomplished last year can be reevaluated for this year.
Good gracious, Stephany, you accomplished half of what you set out to do and did about a million things (ahem, health-related appointments) that you did not set out to do. Be gentle with yourself – chronic illness is hard. Figuring out what is going on is hard. I’m amazed you checked so many things off the list – I would have been curled up on the couch, not doing anything. Hugs to you, friend. <3