Favorite Purchases And Experiences In 2025

 Favorite Purchases And Experiences In 2025

I think I've shared here before that I maintain a very detailed spreadsheet of our spending. It serves two purposes - it forces mindfulness in that I have to revisit every single purchase as I log it onto the spreadsheet. If I experience a fleeting sense of annoyance during the process, that's a good sign that the expenditure I'm entering was not made from mindfulness.

And secondly, it allows me to revisit our year and revisit our choices on where we put our money. So far I've only come across one somewhat irritating entry, which I'll list at the bottom of this post. Nicely, the majority delivered a lot of satisfaction or pleasure, both in the moment and in the afterwards.

Some of my favorite 2025 purchases:

• My new hybrid SUV. Such great gas mileage at 41+ mpg so far, so reliable, and so much fun to drive along the coastal highway that I live adjacent to, ideally with the sun roof open and my arm extended.

• My new wardrobe of pants, the result of losing 25 pounds this year. Additionally, I've purchased a few pair that were $100+ each, because they look that good, and this is the first time in my life that clothes shopping has been wholly fun and easy. 😀

• Our front row seats to watch the American Ballet Theatre perform Swan Lake. Even all these months later (we saw it in June), the beauty, excitement and energy we experienced is still lodged in my brain. 

I likewise keep a very detailed calendar, and likewise enjoy going back over it at year's end to remind myself of how I chose to spend my time.

Some of my favorite 2025 experiences:

• Joining a women's club and getting involved with both the women and the various charities we support.
• Becoming more heavily involved at the library where I volunteer, and becoming appointed to it's Board. 
• Losing and keeping off 25 pounds. This has been life altering in that I have also laid down a lifetime of negative messaging that I had become immersed in. 
• Joining a social club with my husband. Even after just a couple of months we have made a number of connections and the club's water view restaurant is a lovely and comfortable place to enjoy and hang out at. No pressure, ever, to buy more drinks or food, or to pay our bill and move along. We can simply sit and enjoy for as long as we care to, including the lovely and prolonged sunsets.

And as I mentioned above, the one entry I reviewed and was annoyed by, meaning it will not be repeated, was a murder mystery dinner event at a nearby golf course. The event was pricey, at $200+ for the two of us, the event was more work than I'd anticipated (we had to solve the mystery vs simply watching it acted out) and the food was mediocre.

But really, that was about the only entry I came across that was a regret, so overall I am very pleased at how things played out in 2025.

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If you likewise have a list of favorite purchases or experiences in 2025, please do share - I would love to know what they were.