I am back from my extended Christmas vacation. I had a great Christmas and New Year’s Day. It was pretty low-key working and spending time with my family and friends. I hope all of your holidays were an amazing time!
2012 was a great year for me overall. I’d like to celebrate the start of a new year by taking a look back at some great milestones from this past year:
Getting my finances in order. After finishing school and getting a full-time job, I have for the first time in my adult life been making enough money to cover my expenses and then some. I also finally made the financial changes I needed to. Starting a budget and figuring out how much money I could afford to spend each month has opened my eyes, and since the summer I have consistently paid down my student loans more than the minimum payment each month.
Starting Drop That Debt. Working as a server for a few months after school I was starting to feel like I wasn’t making any progress in my career. My degree is in marketing management, and I was thinking working in social media was a pretty great option. Starting up a blog began as an idea to improve my resume, but it has turned into so, so much more than that. I felt an instant connection with the personal finance blogging community, and my love of writing has been reignited because of this blog.
Buying my first home. My boyfriend and I got to purchase our first home this year. Thanks mostly to him, this is much sooner than I thought I would be able to. I am very thankful that I now get to start saving equity into a home instead of getting nothing back while renting.
Getting my first paid social media gig. I am happy to be working for Bridget over at Money After Graduation in my first ever social media / writing position. It has been a lot of fun and I hope to start getting a few more clients in the new year.
Finishing school. It was a long 6.5 year haul and I am very happy to finally be done with school. I did enjoy my program and the school itself, but all of the financial stress as well as having to work two jobs during school meant I was way too busy all of the time. I truly appreciate the free time that leaving school has left me (which I have used to start this blog, for example!).
What were some of the great things that happened to you this year?
I bet you are happy that school is done now I know how long the years feel from beginning to end. Like you I started blogging in 2012 and felt an instant connection to many personal finance bloggers whose Blogs I still visit today. I think if a Blogger sticks around you know you must have something good going on. Congrats on working with Bridget. I’d like to pick up some side jobs in 2013 although I’m more excited about going self hosted and my new website design! Cheers mate. Mr.CBB
Thanks Mr. CBB! And congratulations on all that’s new for your blog, a lot of good stuff to look forward to :)