my best things of 2024

A non-exhaustive list of some of the best things I spent money on this year

Dec 27, 2024

If I am being honest, and I usually am, I spent a lot of money in 2024. I left the country 3 times, refinanced our mortgage, took the cat in for some expensive vet visits, ate out WAY more than I should have, tried to makeover my wardrobe a couple times, and just generally swiped that credit card with reckless abandon.

Although I’ve forgotten the details of many of the restaurant meals I had, some purchases stand out as things I got immense value from & would happily spend money on again.

This post might be too long to read via email, so click through to view it on the web. Or download the Substack app! And heads up, there are a few affiliate links below.

Mahjong lessons + tile set, accessories, NMJL cards, etc.

When will she shut up about mahjong?, you might be asking yourself. The answer is probably never, or at least not until I convince all my friends to start playing.

I’m so glad I took a lesson last spring & dove in headfirst. Not only did it provide a great social activity, but it also brought me a new friend that feels like an old friend.

If you want to take a lesson, let me know — I’m an instructor now! We always have events happening in Chicago but I’m also hoping to figure out how to do virtual lessons on 2025 if you want to be a guinea pig…

If you already know how to play, here are my tiles, racks, mat, bag, shufflers, & card folio1.

A home printer

My Venmo history actually tells me this was a November 2023 purchase, but I’m keeping it on the list. I spent $20 to buy an inkjet printer from a neighbor on Facebook Marketplace & my goodness, it has been so freeing to be able to instantly print the random things that come up.

(It’s mostly shipping labels.)

Ticket to Europe

In May, I booked a last minute plane ticket to meet a friend in France the following month. The entire trip was worth the cost to be able to spend time with a friend (hi,

Alina Houston

!) and be a bit spontaneous. I’ll always be grateful for the time, money, and health that allows me to travel.

An annual membership to the Chicago Tool Library

I fulfilled my years-long dream of becoming a DIY girlie at the start of the year, but I don’t have the space for a full workshop of tools. I joined the Chicago Tool Library and borrowed a cordless rotary hammer + bits to demo the tile floor, a tile cutter + wet saw to install the new tile, and a corded drill to mix mortar.

That’s easily $500+ in tools that I only needed once, that I got to borrow for free.

Gold herringbone necklace

I generally subscribe to the “buy the thing you want” school of thought, but sometimes I make do with the dupe until I’m convinced to upgrade.

This gold-plated necklace is a perfect example of that. And it’s holding up well enough that I might not even shell out for the real deal!

Four different cookbooks

This was definitely the year of the cookbook. I bought the first one in January to cook through it with Ashley & Alexa Spivey, and the floodgates opened. I borrowed several from the library (hot tip!) but these are the four that I’ve purchased:

Dinner Tonight by Defined Dish | Let’s Eat by Dan Pelosi | What to Cook When You Don’t Feel Like Cooking by Caro Chambers | Sweet Tooth by Broma Bakery

Turkish hand towels

We have these hand towels in only one of the guest bathrooms for now but the other bathrooms will get them as soon as I decide how I want to decorate them.

I found them via Casey (The DIY Playbook) and even copied the way she ties them on the towel ring — scroll down on this post to see!

Jeans that fit my current body

Shopping for denim is one of the worst things to shop for, beaten only by swimsuits & bras. But my body has changed and I needed new options, so I collected a few favorites over this past year:

Darted Barrel Jean (Madewell) | The first time I saw the barrel jean trend, I thought it was awful. But as they continued to show up in new places & on different body types, I skeptically gave them a try. I love them. They’re comfortable, trendy enough but also versatile, and I like the way they fit me. I retract my previous judgment!

Anessa Crop Flare Jeans (Paige) | I’ve struggled finding wide leg jeans that fit the way I want them to; I’ve tried at least a dozen different brands & styles to no avail. I rented these in my Nuuly last summer & knew immediately that I wouldn’t be sending them back.

Cindy Straight Jean (Paige) | These are the same fabric composition as the Anessa pair, and they’re so stretchy & soft. I ended up buying these from a friend before she listed them on Poshmark & now I have an alert set for other pairs.

The Hustler Ankle Fray (MOTHER) | Honorable mention goes to this kick-crop style pair. I purchased them in 2023 but wore them so much that I had to take them to the dry cleaner this fall to have the thighs reinforced (iykyk) so I’m including them in this round-up.

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The car parts that I installed myself

In the spirit of “how hard can it be, boys do it”, I insourced a lot of auto maintenance this year. I changed out my own headlights, cabin filter, engine filter, washer fluid, and windshield wipers.

I don’t have an estimate on how much money this saved, but the skill-building & time saved was far more valuable.

So many domain names

I cannot even begin to tell you the excitement I feel when I search for a domain name & find that it’s available. Any time I have an idea for a side hobby or a far-fetched business idea or even just an inside joke, I hop online & snatch those URLs up.

A niche hobby, perhaps, but for $12 a piece it’s a pretty inexpensive one. And maybe it will pay off one day when I launch a super successful company! (Or someone else does & pays me $$$ for the domain name I own lol)

All the burgers I ate at our neighborhood bar

Nearly every Friday since the end of March, we’ve gone to a bar down the street when they open for happy hour. We each have a burger, fries, and beer (for Brad) or Diet Coke (for me). Befriending the staff there & having our friends know they can join us there every week has built community & created a crucial third place for us.

Temporary lighting solutions

Our back door is at the end of a long hallway & the only lights are the overhead can lights that line the entire hallway. I hated turning them all on just to put on my shoes, so I added some rechargeable motion-sensor puck lights. One day we’ll (maybe) add a wired-in fixture, but for now these solve the problem perfectly.

Along similar lines, I added these solar path lights to the front of our house. They cast a sunburst of light & bring me joy when I come at night.

A portable battery jumper

The start of the year was so cold that our car battery died in the parking lot at the grocery store while we shopped. Our insurance policy offers Roadside Assistance but it was going to take 2+ hours for someone to arrive.

I also have AAA but learned that I never updated my policy from Oregon to Illinois (note to self: you still have not done this so please fix asap, thanks!) so it was going to require a few extra hoops to jump through.

After texting our friends to see if any of them had jumper cables & time to come rescue us, we found a solution: a portable batter jumper. Our friends had Uber Courier pick it up from their house & deliver it to us at the grocery store.

Once we got home & warmed up, I immediately bought one for myself.

Dishsoap dispenser attachment

This one is incredibly lame but I am grateful for it on a daily basis. Our new house has one of those pumps for dishwasher soap that are built-in to the counter; convenient to use but annoying to refill.

I found this conversion kit that connects right into a Costco-sized bottle of Dawn. It’s been 9 months & still going strong.

Resurrecting this newsletter via Substack

I started writing 1 Thing/Week back in 2019, but it sat dormant for years until I felt the pull to start writing again. I’m so grateful for the creative outlet & the weekly writing habit.

I’ll keep bringing you my weekly recommendations of things to see, eat, read, buy, listen, think, try, question, or do in 2025. See you there 😉