In no particular order, this year I am thankful for:
Technology
Laptops and smartphones are cheap and plentiful and always connected. They provide entertainment on demand through Netflix, Hulu or other services (no more commercials!). They open a window into other countries without the hassles or expense of travel. They speed the flow of information through youtube and wikipedia, and offer instant access to free online universities like Coursera. Getting a snapshot off all our finances and investments is a click away with Personal Capital. It has never been easier or faster to be entertained, educated, and informed.
Avoiding the consumption culture
I don’t care what the Joneses have. Shopping and consuming take too much energy and would “consume” all my free time. I’m thankful I’m not addicted to consumerist culture.
Social media
Keeping in touch with anyone and everyone I want to to the extent that I want to. If you want to keep in touch with me, subscribe on Facebook, Twitter, or by email or RSS reader (in the column to the right).
That social media wasn’t in common use while I was in high school and college
I would have been too distracted to do anything!
Highly efficient capital markets and exchanges
It costs almost nothing to invest well these days. We lose only a tiny fraction of our investment returns to investing costs. Without efficiency in the financial markets, we wouldn’t be as wealthy as we are today.
Family and friends
I’ve written about the benefits of living near family before. From a helping hand to kid’s hand me downs to being sounding boards to offering loaner pick up trucks, it’s nice to have family and friends nearby to be there when you need them.
Having enough
At this time of year, that means being able to put food on the table for 30 guests at Thanksgiving without putting a dent in our monthly budget.
A working oven
Last year we were trying to prepare food for those 30 guests with a broken oven. I’m thankful that we were able to afford a new oven (since we budget for routine appliance repairs).
Cooking awesome food
It’s the season of eating and I’m thankful for plenty of nearby grocery stores to get awesome low cost ingredients (like Aldi and the Asian and Mexican grocery stores). I’m also thankful for the ability to instantly find any recipe through google and watch youtube videos with cooking demonstrations.
A frugal wife
Mrs. RootofGood is 100% on board with our financial independence plan and we are working together as a team to ensure we have many financially successful decades ahead of us.
What are you thankful for this year?
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I’m thankful for good health..well goodish health because l am positive l could do better 🙂 . I am also thankful for family, friends and life. Fragile stuff!
Somehow I missed health. This morning while walking back home I realized not everyone has two fully functional legs. So I’m thankful for my two working legs. 🙂
These are all great things to be thankful for. I’m thankful for my family, my health, my business, my friends, and more! 🙂
Really nice list Justin. I’m incredibly thankful for my wife, my life changed dramatically for the better nearly 9 years ago when I met her. And I can’t be thankful enough for my wonderful daughter, I never imagined I’d have such a special little person like her in my life – everything else I have is just a bonus 🙂
This is a great list! I’m with you on all of these–though I’ll sub in husband for wife on the last one :). I’m impressed you’re cooking for 30! Wow! We’re hosting Mr. FW’s parents and sister for the week, but it’s nowhere near 30 mouths to feed. I’m thankful for Mr. FW, family, health, Frugal Hound, hiking, yoga, our good jobs that are enabling us to save so much, oh and, right now–I’m thankful that our shower works. It decided to bite the dust on Sunday, but–thanks to the internet–Mr. FW was able to figure out how to replace and fix it himself. So, woohoo for cleanliness this Thanksgiving!
I was just thinking how nice a working shower with hot water is. Our water heater went out this summer when it wasn’t that bad to take a cold shower (when it’s 95 F outside, the cold water is probably 70 degrees). I would hate to shower in water that is now closer to 40 degrees. What did humans do before hot water and the internet? 🙂
Great list. I’m really thankful for a wife who shares my goal as well. My mom stayed with us for 8 months this year and it was great to spend time with her. Life is short so we need to enjoy it with the people we care for most.
Have a great Thanksgiving!
You have a great Thanksgiving, too Joe!
Along with so many of the things others have contributed, I’m most thankful this year for discovering the FIRE concept – well that Mr. Maroon discovered it for us. This time last year, we were unhappy with seemingly everything going on in life. But since we started this journey, we are closer than ever before with each other. We feel a greater sense of purpose. And have certainly found more joy in the day-to-day. I’m also thankful that we have found others pursuing the same dream so that we can share our separate journeys with each other from across the country and world.
That’s wonderful! A shared goal and teamwork to get you there. Can’t beat that!