New year’s greetings, dear readers. I meant to blog more in December, but the month got away from me with family obligations and holiday travel. Before I dive into 2025, I wanted to take a look back at the past year in blogging.
It’s been many years since I’ve done one of these year in reviews rounding up the most popular posts. I don’t know why I stopped doing these, but I think I will make this an annual tradition. It’s interesting to see what brings readers to the blog. Who knew that one of my most popular posts of the year would be about dishwashing?
Top 10 Popular Posts
Here are the most-viewed posts of 2024 — regardless of when I first published them.
1. Easy Ikea Hack: Adding Legs to a Kallax Shelf – Even though Ikea now sells a base with legs for its ubiquitous modular bookcase, this post remains popular. I guess many people are still interested in DIY-ing legs to their shelf.
2. Bed Sheets Review: Brooklinen vs. Quince vs. Pact – I had a feeling this would be a hit when I first wrote it in 2023. Who doesn’t like an in-depth brand comparison post?
3. Carry-On Only: What I Packed For 3 Weeks in Japan – From my social media and in real life, it seems that many people are traveling to Japan. No wonder this post is popular!
4. Thuma Bed Review: A Sturdy & Worthy Upgrade – I’m three years into owning this bed, and I have no regrets about this purchase.
5. Switching to a More Eco-Friendly Dishwasher Detergent – There are only two posts from 2024 that made it into the most popular list and this is one of them. I’m glad so many people care about choosing more environmentally-friendly detergents.
What did I pack for Japan? For one, the Baggu medium crescent bag. Shirt // Skirt [review] // Bag [review] // Platform Sneakers [similar]
6. Baggu Nylon Crescent Bag: For Travel & Everyday – This is the other 2024 post that made it onto the list. It’s a thorough review if I do say so myself and includes a comparison to Uniqlo’s similar-looking crescent bag.
7. Everlane Review: The Original Cheeky Jean – It seems I’m not the only one who still loves mom jeans.
8. Motorcycle Jackets: Madewell vs. AllSaints vs. Quince – I think most people who end up finding this post are curious about Quince’s motorcycle jacket since the price is so low. But it was not my favorite of the bunch.
9. Nail Polish Review: Londontown Lakur & Instant Smudge Fix – I’m surprised that this post from 2018 is doing numbers. Suddenly this year, it got popular. I have no idea why.
10. The Best Slim Space-Saving Hanger – I’ve been slowly replacing my old hangers and bought another batch this year.
Some Thoughts About Blogging this Past Year
This photo is not from a particularly popular post. But I did want to point out that I did some comparisons of similar clothing this year, from blazers to T-shirts. Quince Blazer c/o // Mott & Bow T-shirt c/o // Mott & Bow Jeans c/o [review] // Nisolo Boots [review] // Narragansett Leathers Belt
Of the 32 posts I wrote in 2024, half of them are about style. But from the most popular list above, home goods posts perform the best. Hmmm. Maybe I should write more about home stuff.
2024 was a year of ups and downs in blogging. On the one hand, this little blog had some of the best traffic in its history this summer. But this was followed by a noticeable drop in the fall. Like many blogs, Google sends the most traffic my way. But after one of their updates, my blog suddenly didn’t perform as well. It felt like Google defriended me or something.
The decline of Instagram has also been discouraging. It used to be a place where I could connect with like-minded people and gain an audience. But whatever they’ve done to their algorithm is so frustrating. It’s full of ads, and I don’t even see many people that I follow. They probably don’t see me, too, as engagement has gone down every year since 2020. I used to get more than 50 likes on a post. Now I get 7.
I’ve tried doing the things they’ve pushed, like Reels, but to no avail. It’s not fun anymore and doesn’t seem like a good use of my time now so I’ve been on there less. I recently started a Threads account to try it out. But it’s yet another Meta product so I can’t say I’m optimistic.
Anyhow, this is all to say that for a small blogger like me, I sometimes wonder: Is this thing on? Is anyone reading this? If you enjoy what I have to offer in this little corner of the internet, please say hi.
First Image: Monika Borys/Unsplash
Thank you for continuing your blog/website! Love that you have straightforward reviews and regular consumption updates without fluff and flashing ads all over. It really helps my own general shopping habits!