Happy 2026!! I am entering this year with way more energy, and I’m excited to delve into what even happened last year now that I’m “out of the tunnel” in some ways. 2025 was very unique for me because I experienced some of my lowest lows in the first half followed by the highest highs of my life so far in the later part of the year. Safe to say this juxtaposition did not do well for my mental health. I began the year pregnant and also pretty sick. It was the coldest, darkest winter in NYC I remembered, but little things made me feel better like my cousin visiting, going back to ATL(so much more sunshine), and hosting some non-drinking NYC activities with friends like flower arranging, lunches, and game nights. I had an unplanned C-section which I wrote about and that was the start of things turning positive!! Our baby was born and it was incredible. I am so grateful for my maternity leave and my family support. I understand everyone is not as fortunate and i’ve become newly passionate about advocating for women in the workplace to be comfortable having children and stepping into motherhood.(if they want). Now lets get into my goals from last year and some new goals for this year!

SAVE:

I achieved a 51% Savings Rate! I use YNAB(You Need A Budget) which has changed my finances since I started using it in 2020. I am very happy with this as I was just trying to survive this year and since I was so sick, I bought and spent whatever I needed to attempt to feel better. Here is a break down of my spending:
Some notes:
- A value my husband and I share is we keep our housing costs AS LOW as possible. This involves living in condos or apartments instead of houses. But this allows us to be confident in our financial future and we spend more on “wants” instead of housing. Its a mindset that I wonder if will change as our kid grows up, but for now…I’m team apartment living!
-I spent ALOT on reformer pilates and personal care because I was not playing around after Csection…my mission was to recover in a healthy way.
- We started buying organic food…its expensive but I stick to Trader Joes mostly.
- No travel expenses at all this year…but still ended up spending 35% more this year with child expenses/etc.

“I don’t have any goals this year except to survive. I should make this thrive, but i’ve been sick for 4 months straight sooo just am taking my time and trying to make small improvements to my 2024 goals” This is what I said for my 2025 goals! LOL! I was not in a good headspace but I am happy to say I did survive, and maybe even thrived a little? This year I gained some mental clarity on my values. An example is I found out that I value Family involvement with our child. I want my baby to spend as much time with family as possible, and so I made that a huge priority for my life and all decisions started to be in this lens versus my previous lens which was what was going to make me the most money or happiness. Those questions just started to be less important to me. I noticed as I made decisions that centered more family…my life became richer than before. This seems cliche but it’s my reality. Did you have any value shifts this year? Id love to talk about it! Lets start fresh with some 2026 goals!

🍀 Life

Health - 250 workout classes

This year I did 128 workouts which I think is pretty incredible since I did 0 workouts in the first 6 months of the year. We are going for 250 work outs this year! I am OBSESSED with reformer pilates and I still love Hot Yoga Sculpt at CPY. I also want to get back into lap swimming in the summer, tennis in the fall, and long walks with the baby at least twice a week!

Travel - Japan

Hamilton has always wanted to go to Japan and he has a friend getting married there this year during the cherry blossom season. We are going to make it work! I really want to continue travel especially international even with baby.

Sleep 8 hours a night

Yes you read that right. The year I had a baby is when I am deciding I want to sleep more. Its the first year I realized how critical sleep is to my mental health. I am going to to accomplish this goal by sticking to a night time routine, reading books instead of scrolling, and going to therapy to manage my anxiety.

💰 Savings

Keep 50% for 2026

Now that I have a couple of years tracking my expenses, I can analyze trends and try to make some impactful change.

Decrease eating out at fancy restaurants : Increase groceries and healthy casual take out
Decrease on bars by cutting out liquor and sticking to wine : Increase on workout classes
Decrease on clothes : Increase on nails, hair, skin
Anyways, I wanted to frame it this way so that it doesn’t feel like I am cutting, but actually just prioritizing different things which will save me money in the long run and hopefully sustainable.

🤑 Business

Increase the value of my Pokemon Card Collection by 1000$

Yes, now things are getting crazy. You read that right, I collect Pokemon cards. I started collecting again in 2023. My collection which I spent around 2-3k has grown to 8k. And no, I do not include any of this in my savings haha, this is all just on the side as “Wants". I am the type of collector that doesn’t even want to sell ever, but I am interested in acquiring some new cards this year and increasing the value of my overall collection 1k. Follow me on @mew.nyc as I start posting more there.

This is all I have for 2025! Thanks to everyone who made it this far! If you have goals for 2026- i’d love to connect!! Don’t be a stranger! I hope everyone has a Happy, Healthy, and Prosperous New Year!

Megna

2025 Review