A 3-Step Mid-Year Money Reset

It's not too late to reach your 2025 goals!

Author

Michela Allocca
July 15, 2025

🚨 Get started on your personal finance journey with one of my budgeting tools! Check out the Personal Finance Dashboard and the Basic Budgeting Template! 

What to expect in today’s newsletter (5 min read)

  • How to reflect on your finances so far

  • Tactical steps to make changes

  • An emotional check-in

MONEY
Mid-Year Money Routine: The Step-By-Step Breakdown

Everyone always says this - but I can’t believe its MID-JULY and that we’re already halfway though 2025. For me, this year hasn’t felt like a total breeze, but the passage of time always throws me for a loop.

Anyways, I like to think of July sort of as January 2.0. It’s the mid-point of the year and it’s the perfect opportunity to review and recalibrate our goals.

I wait until after the 4th of July holiday and will sit down for a full audit and review of my finances, from my goals to my spending to my (updated) budget.

It usually takes about an 45 minutes, and it provides such clarity and momentum to go into the back half of the year.

Today, I am going to deep dive on everything you need to do to work through a mid-year reset yourself! And if you want some extra guidance or accountability, I recorded mine for Youtube and you can watch it here!

Let’s get into it!

Step 1: Reflect on Your Finances So Far 💸

The first part of the process is to review your goals and finances to this point. Ask yourself:

  • What goals did I set in January and what progress have I made?

  • What are my spending totals for essential and non-essential expenses?

  • How has my net worth grown over the last 6 months?

All of this information is available to you if you use the Personal Finance Dashboard!

I share my main financial goals in the youtube video, but a few conclusions I came to for my own finances were:

  • I tend to spend less in the first half of the year and I plan accordingly

  • I am doing just OK with consuming less and need to pay closer attention to shopping, but overall I am making progress here

  • Despite the stock market fluctuations, my net worth still grew!

Step 2: Reset Your Budget

The next step of the process is to incorporate some changes into your budget. I like to create a baseline budget that functions as my monthly “average” spend, and then I will make small adjustments each month depending on whatever plans I have going on.

The back half of the year tends to be spendier for me and include a lot more travel, so I like to factor this in.

For example, in September I will have 3 unusual expenses:

  • A trip to LA to visit friends

  • A keratin treatment

  • A wedding in Maine

I factored these plans into my September budget, but also made adjustments to August and October knowing that I will want to even things out where I can!

A few other steps I like to take during this part of the process:

  • Review and cancel unused subscriptions

  • Audit my credit cards and benefits (more on this coming soon)

  • Revisit any automations for savings/investments

Step 3: Emotional Check-In

Let’s not pretend that financial decisions and planning are solely rooted in data - because they’re not. There is a very real emotional element to our money, and it’s important to take time to acknowledge it.

Here are a few questions to ask yourself:

  • How do you feel about your spending habits this year? Are they aligned with your goals and targets?

  • Where are you over-consuming to feel better?

  • Do your current financial routines support the life you want?

  • What does financial peace actually look like for you?

This year is the first year where I truly feel financially free. As I audited my money and looked at my spending and how I feel, I FINALLY feel like I’ve reached a point where I am truly spending on my values and am enjoying the fruits of my labor!

You can learn more about a mid-year money reset via this post on Instagram and this week’s youtube video!

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RESOURCES
What’s Happening This Week at Break Your Budget

  • This week on Don’t Depend on Daddy: I am sharing 30 non-cliche lessons I’ve learned by 30! I am officially in my 30s and feeling good about it (finally). I’m getting real about some of the tough lessons I learned in my 20s in this video!

  • Mid-Year Money Reset Routine: If you enjoyed this newsletter and want more details around how to work through a mid-year reset routine, OR you just want a partner to work on it alongside you, check out this video!

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xoxo,

Michela