At the end of 2024, I noted that things were great within my bubble but bad outside of that. 2025 carried on that theme; everything seems worse around the world and it continually drives my anxiety. I’ve just done my best to tune it out and focus on my life. So with that in mind, I’m focusing on the changes in my life in 2025.
New car
There are never many big changes in my life, but this year my wife and I bought a new EV – a Hyundai Ioniq 5 – and signed a contract to get solar panels installed. Unfortunately, the panels won’t get installed until next year, but the Ioniq 5 has been a really great change. My wife and I both love driving it.
I built a NAS
I also built a NAS and packed in way more space than I really need: 40TB. I’ve spent most of the year ripping DVDs and Blu-rays and creating my own personal streaming service; my wife calls it “Stream Weaver”. It’s filled with our favorite shows and movies, and it’s been pretty great.
Fewer subscriptions
At the start of the year, one of my goals was to reduce the number of subscriptions that we have, and I definitely achieved that one. This goal dovetailed with the NAS build, and the push for AI by the big companies drove me to cancel everything I was paying for. Here’s at least a partial list of what we canceled:
- Nest Aware
- Google One
- OneDrive
- Xbox Game Pass
- PlayStation Plus
- Netflix
- Paramount+
I’m planning to cancel a few more subscriptions: Apple TV+ and HBO Max once we finish watching a few shows, Amazon Prime once I figure out a few alternatives for things.
A rough estimate of the savings comes out to over $1000 this year, and more than that in the coming years as I cancel a few more subscriptions.
I’ve put around $5000-$6000 into the NAS hardware and the media we’ve bought to rip, but it should pay for itself in a few years.
Donations
I wanted to donate a lot more this year, and I managed to give $1200 to NPR when their funding was cut (I figured $10/month for the 10+ years I’ve enjoyed NPR), but I dropped the ball on donating anywhere else. It’ll be one of my goals for 2026.
Met my new niece
I mentioned that my brother and his wife had a baby last year, and they came home for Christmas this year, so I got to meet Zoe. Neither my wife nor I am really into babies or kids (why we don’t have any), but Zoe’s a cute kid. It was a fun way to end the year.
Looking Ahead
I’m planning to get some goals together for 2026 and actually publish a post with those goals. (Maybe that should be my first goal.)