My 2018

Transparency is nice.

Before I begin to highlight my 2018, I'd like to note that if I spend $1 today, it is easy to associate it with "only the cost of X.. Y.. Z". Ex. A Coke, A snickers bar (damn i love snickers), half a gallon of gas... This is a trap. 
$1 spent today on something that is not food, water, shelter, used to get to work (where I generate more cash), or a responsible amount of fun-having/travel/beers with the boys... that $1 is $1 I could have invested or saved today.
$1 in 1980 = $3.06 today
$1 in 1990 = $1.93 today
$1 in a savings account would of course be inflated away to 1/3 or 1/2 its value... BUT what if we invest it...?
In the S&P500:
1980 = $110
12/31/2018 = $2,505
In Berkshire Hathaway:
1954 = $10k
2018 = $240 Million
Warren Buffet's company is certainly a lofty standard to hold yourself to when it comes to investment returns, but you get the point. That Coke I bought yesterday costs WAY more than $1.29. Shit..

Jay's 2018:

1. I started working a real job in July @ GE
2. Paid off car debt completely in the following months
3. Started a 401k with my employer and set my contribution to 5% of my Gross Salary, since my employer match maxes out at 5%. I made sure to set automatic investing so that my contributions don't just sit there as cash; they have a chance to grow over time.
4. Started a Roth IRA with Charles Schwab. I'm not sure if I will quite get to the maximum contribution limit of $5,500 for a sub-50 year old single taxpayer before the 2018 tax year ends (4/15/2019), but I'm $3.3k of the way there. Also setup Google calendar reminders to invest these $ so they will grow for my future. 
5. Invested leftover $ into a Charles Schwab individual account - mostly into indexes and mutual funds. I can pull $ out of this individual account for a future down payment on a car / house.. since pulling $ out of my retirement accounts would result in huge penalties..
6. I used some money to invest in Robinhood, which is where I keep half of my Emergency Fund Dollars. I use Robinhood mostly for following the overall market conditions. Most of my investments are in the S&P500 index and Berkshire Hathaway B Shares, plus some $TSLA shares I bought at a discount while I was employed there. 

More highlights

1. I traveled to NYC, DC, ATL, Cincy, St. Louis, and Houston. Sometimes for work and sometimes for play, or both. However, I spent 175% of my travel budget for the second half of 2018. No bueno, but a solid learning experience that I can apply to next year's budget, which I will complete before the end of January. (Find a budget template in the FIRE google doc)
2. I spent 68% of my groceries budget for the year, but I spent 230% of what I budgeted for eating out at restaurants. WTF.... more effort will be put towards battling laziness and finding ways to convince myself to cook in 2019.
3. Budgeting is a learning experience, not a pass/fail test. If circumstances change, change your budget. In my opinion, a budget does not serve as a rigid rubric for spending, but rather keeps a FIRE Dept member's brain conscious of how they spend their hard-earned cash.