january 2026

less spending 🙅‍♂️ more reflecting 🙇

Feb 18, 2026

First, enjoy this patriotic content.

January is usually a tough month for me. But two things happened that made it better.

trying for a low-spend month
me and Ashley distancing ourselves from our phones

low-spend month

I’ve developed a reputation, especially within my family, as someone who spends money “frivolously”.

I think this is because I get more enjoyment from things than most people. Random stuff like a flashlight or pixel display.

Perhaps because of this reputation, or to prove something to myself, I tried to spend as little money as possible in January.

I ended up saving about 40% more than last year!

learnings

This process made me consider the things I pay for on a monthly basis, and how much I actually use them. I ended up going to the gym and the Victoria Makerspace more frequently as a result.

It made me appreciate experiences that don’t cost money, like going to the library.

Most notably though, it improved my cooking. Working with only the ingredients I had (or what was on sale) forced me to get creative. I very much enjoyed the meals I made this month!

no phone

This point has been hammered to death by so many people, but it’s still true.

On date nights — or when Ashley and I want to spend time together — we switch phones. She gets mine and I get hers.

It’s nice because you still have something in your pocket that feels approximately correct. And you can still take pictures. But it prevents you from scrolling during the gaps.

(we discovered a new TV watching arrangement as a result of the boredom)

penny (the dog)

We met Penny the dog this month! She’s my dad’s dog.

resolutions from 2025

As usual, let’s evaluate how I did on my resolutions from last year. Each resolution is rated out of 10 in terms of how “completed” it was.

drive to Mexico

0/10 did not do this

do one muscle-up

3/10 I’m getting very close to this - just need to nail down some technique

do a backflip on grass

0/10 I did not do this even though I’m quite confident I can (big regret)

50 consecutive push-ups

10/10 I did this

30-second handstand

10/10 no problem

play piano in front of people

10/10 playing with Bonus Round

2 hours of volunteering

0/10 did not do this

do the 5040 hike

0/10 did not do this

go sailing with friends this summer

0/10 did not do this. But made loose plans to buy a sailboat this summer

track calories for two weeks

10/10 did this and I’m still doing it!

always be sore (from training), unless injured, sick, or traveling

7/10? I’m usually pretty sore most days

resolutions for 2026

I need to write down resolutions for 2026! So far, I have:

learn to read and write musical notation
have a conversation in Spanish
do a muscle-up

newsletter stats 2025

Another tradition is looking at some stats from the past year’s newsletters. I actually made a website for this purpose, but here’s the short version:

I’ve been steadily writing less and less over time, both in terms of number of words and number of newsletters.

2023: 13,280 words and 14 posts
2024: 8,181 words and 11 posts
2025: 6,168 words and 10 posts

Along those lines, I’ve also been writing less in each newsletter on average. From 885 → 743 → 617.

I take both these things as a good sign. Hopefully, I’m conveying the same amount of meaning in fewer words — getting more efficient.

A few more points:

Average sentence length rose in 2025: 9.45 → 9.18 → 10.83 words
List ratio rose in 2025: 0.188 → 0.177 → 0.26 (more lists)

sharing stuff online

I’ve been thinking about sharing things on the internet. Not within a network of friends, but out in “public”. Like posting from a public account on Instagram, Tiktok, Youtube, etc.

I used to consider this risky and had an instinct to stay private. Not for any personal safety reasons (which is a valid and separate consideration), but out of an anxiety that people would pay too much attention to me.

Here’s the epiphany I had this month:

Most strangers on the internet don’t have time for you.

People on the internet are busy scrolling, watching Youtube, getting in arguments, etc. There’s literally an entire economy based around trying to engage and distract people. Usually to buy something.

Anyways, I’m no longer as tentative about that kind of thing.

That said, there are certainly strangers on the internet who will pay attention to you in order to steal from you.