Simple way to keep track of receipts

Whether it is with my sock drawer, office, inbox, or in tracking receipts on a business trip, I am constantly striving for organization in my life. I'm sure that years of misplaced and lost receipts have cost me hundreds, if not thousands of dollars. Fortunately after years of trial and error, I finally have an incredibly simple way to keep track of travel receipts.

I no longer randomly stuff receipts into pockets on my laptop bag, store them in an overflowing wallet, or put them in a hotel envelope. These $.49 clear 9"x11" reusable envelopes from Staples save me a lot of frustration and stress from trying to locate a receipt I just know is somewhere!

Exorcising a possessed toilet

I'm not a big believer in the supernatural, but an upstairs toilet has shaken my belief that paranormal activities are a myth. So for the fourth time in as many years, this toilet needed to have the fill valve replaced as it would not stop running. I've decided if a new valve doesn't work, I'm calling a priest to have the toilet exorcised.

In this toilet I've already had fill valves from Fluidmaster, American Standard, Korky, and today I installed a Peerless/FillPro water saver anti-siphon fill valve. It's much smaller than traditional ones and is only about two inches high inside the tank. I'm hoping this will finally solve the problems and am keeping my fingers crossed.

Hopefully getting it right: Valentine's Day

While it's true that once you have kids life is never the same, perhaps it is never more true than on Valentine's Day. I'm so very fortunate to have married a woman who gets the "male logic" that February 14 is just a randomly selected day, and so Valentine's Day can really be celebrated on any day should this date be inconvenient. And so given the complexities of finding a baby sitter and getting a dinner reservation on Valentine's Day, we are going to celebrate it this Sunday evening instead.

As a guy, this is the most intimidating holiday of the year. It has the potential to make my wife see me as man she fell in love with or... not. So my goals on this particular day are to: 1) love and treat my wife as I always wish I did, 2) not fight, and 3) never raise the bar lest I be screwed next year.

So with flowers ordered and the card purchased, there's only one thing left to do, and that's to make the dinner reservation. No, we won't be catching a flight to eat at a White Castle, but I did check DinnerBroker and iSeatz to see if any good restaurants had discounts available. Not finding what I wanted, I went to OpenTable and finding our favorite restaurant available, I booked our reservation.

My home, my castle: Tankless water heater

Today begins a regular feature I'm calling "My home, my castle" where I'll be highlighting some renovations and/or improvements I've either made or am considering making to my home. Today's topic is on tankless water heaters.

Five years ago when my water heater died, I had three options: 1) replace my 40 gallon natural gas-fueled water heater with another one, 2) go tankless, or 3) incur the wrath of my wife. After much research, I opted to install a tankless water heater.

There are several benefits to going with a tankless water heater over a traditional tank water heater. The first benefit is green, both environmental and fiscal. Tankless units use less energy and therefore save you money. Most estimates show that a tankless water heater will use 25 to 45 percent less energy than a tank water heater. While a tankless unit only heats water when a hot water spigot has been opened, a traditional tank water heater is constantly heating water regardless of whether you're using hot water or not. I've personally found the energy savings to be about 20%.

Another benefit to going with a tankless unit is that you never run out of hot water. We have a garden tub in our master bathroom, and our old 40 gallon tank water heater would fill the tub about half way before running out of hot water. With our tankless unit, we never run out of hot water.

And as a real estate investor, I highly recommend replacing tank water heaters with tankless units because they require less maintenance and therefore last longer (often twice as long). It is recommended that homeowners drain a gallon of water once every three months with a standard tank water heater to reduce sediment, whereas tankless units have no tank to drain! And there is little risk in a tankless unit rusting through and flooding a home or basement as can happen with a tank water heater.

One of the few and yet frequent complaints of a tankless water heater is that multiple hot water-using appliances can't be used simultaneously. This, however, isn't a limitation of the tankless water heater itself; rather, this situation is the result of installing a unit too small for one's household use.

I'm guilty of this, but we're making it work for now. Fortunately the situation is pretty easily remedied. The unit I purchased is a Bosch AquaStar 125B-NG and is rated for 3.2 gallons per minute (gpm) at a 55 degree rise (the water flowing out of the unit will be heated 55 degrees above the temperature of it flowing into the unit). This particular model is recommended for 1 major application at a time. That was fine when it was just my wife and I, but having doubled the size of our household, we now take more baths, wash more clothes, and wash more dishes. I ultimately need to either install a second identical unit in parallel or simply swap my Bosch 125B-NG for a Bosch AquaStar 2400E, which is rated for 5.2 gpm at a 55 degree rise and supports 2 major uses at a time.

A very real drawback to tankless units is their cost. A 40-gallon tank water heater will cost around $300 whereas the higher-flowing tankless units will cost around $1,000. In addition to the cost of the appliance, most will need to pay a plumber to install these units. If you're swapping a tank water heater for tankless, expect to pay ~ $500 for installation because of the need to run additional copper water lines (since the tankless mounts to a wall). Installation for a tank water heater used to run ~ $200, though it's now code to install an expansion tank before the water heater which typically pushes the cost to over $400. There is currently a $300 tax credit for gas water heaters having an energy factor (efficiency rating) of .8 or greater, and several Bosch units qualify.

Another reason I opted for the Bosch AquaStar 125B-NG is because I was able to buy a reconditioned unit for $399 with no tax or shipping and with the original manufacturer's warranty from HouseNeeds.com (which still has this same price). And since I installed the unit myself, my labor costs were zero while parts ran me ~ $25 for 1/2" copper elbows, couplings, and pipe.

In hindsight, I look at my move to a tankless water heater as an investment in my home, my castle. And I wouldn't change a thing. I would still go with the smaller unit knowing that I can upgrade later... and knowing I have several rental properties where I can install the smaller unit should I choose to upgrade. If you're a do-it-yourself person or are planning on living in your existing home for a long period of time, I'd definitely go tankless whereas if you're planning on moving anytime soon, I'd save my money to go tankless at the next house.

Reduce taxes by fighting your property appraisal

Until this past week of winter temperatures, it almost felt like spring was in the air. As in many states, each spring in Georgia is met with the arrival of flowering quince, birds singing, and the dreaded local tax assessor's annual Statement of Appraisal for Residential (and commercial) Property. These statements are used as the basis for calculating property tax for every piece of property, and in my experience, municipalities are becoming more and more aggressive in boosting appraised values to increase revenues from property taxes. Rather than falling into the usual routine of filing this document with your mortgage statements, I'm going to challenge you to appeal this year's appraisal in an effort to reduce your property tax bill.

In years past, fighting your tax appraisal (and therefore your tax bill) required access to tools only available to real estate agents, appraisers, mortgage brokers, and those willing to spend a lot of time digging through real estate filings in the county courthouse. Those days are gone. With tools like Zillow's semi-nationwide Zestimate coverage (thank you for finally providing data on metro Atlanta!!), ShackPrices, HomePriceMaps, and HomeRadar, there is no reason to be ignorant of the value of your home. Information is power, and in this case, information can = money in your pocket.

The first step upon receiving the tax appraisal is to read it thoroughly. Read it again. Each tax appraisal should offer several pieces of information: 1) the appraised value, 2) the process for appealing this appraised value, and 3) the deadline for filing this appeal.

For my county, the process is simple: I need only provide a written statement that I wish to appeal the appraised value, and this written appeal must be postmarked within 21 days of the date of the tax appraisal statement. This appeal is one of the annual rites of spring. The appeal costs me nothing, and the worst case is that my assessed value remains the same; in the best case I get a significant reduction on my property tax bills. The steps and process I'm going to describe are specific to Georgia, so please be mindful that this process and corresponding deadline will vary by state, county, and/or city.

Once the appeal has been filed I wait for the county's response, but while waiting I am also gathering information. As a real estate investors with multiple properties, thousands of dollars are on the line, so I'll use Zillow and the other tools referenced previously to help determine the fair market value of my homes. In addition, I'll compile a list of between 5 and 7 properties that have recently sold to serve as good comparables. If you've recently refinanced your home and paid for an appraisal, you can add this to your quiver if it's to your benefit or at least study the comparables from your paid appraisal to see if they would help your argument.

A couple of months later I receive a letter acknowledging my timely appeal along with an optional worksheet to complete and remit to my local Board of Tax Assessors (hereinafter, "Board"). The key word for this worksheet is "optional". The letter also advises that the Board will review all information in 30 days and respond in writing within two weeks after said review. Included in the worksheet they provide is a summary of the characteristics of my property along with a request to verify the accuracy of these characteristics and to provide additional information to support my appeal. If the characteristics of the home reflect less square footage than the home actually has or there are any details which, if corrected, would actually hurt your argument for reducing the appraised value, I would advise against completing this worksheet.

If you wish to avoid the chance of appearing before the board in person, you may choose to complete the optional worksheet or respond in writing with a detailed explanation of why you believe the tax appraisal is too high and provide supporting evidence, and by all means, include your list of comparables.

I've found success by not completing the worksheet and not responding at all. This works best when the home was recently purchased for much less its tax appraisal. Last year I had a tax appraisal reduced by $50,000 in this way. In other cases I've found success by completing the worksheet and providing a detailed explanation as to why the tax appraisal was too high.

While I've yet to encounter them, the Board of Equalization is the means of last resort if all else fails. They hear all appeals should the Board of Tax Assessors not rule in your favor.

In my years of appealing tax appraisals, the Board has always reduced the appraised value when I follow the procedures and complete items by their respective due dates. I've become much more systematic in my approach to this process as the times I've not had a change in the tax appraisal are always due to either failing to follow procedure or simply not completing paperwork by a deadline.

Please let me know your experience!

How to NOT get lucky on Valentine's Day

I grew up in a small town outside of Cincinnati, and to this day, White Castle hamburgers remind me of my youth. We would often drop by the one at 8853 Reading Road on the way home from church and pick up a sack.

Is it any coincidence that the two teams playing in this weekend's Super Bowl both have multiple White Castle restaurant locations? I think not. Regrettably White Castle restaurants extend only as far south as Murfreesboro, TN, so I can only eat them fresh from the microwave or during a business trip up north.

For you romantics fortunate enough to live near a White Castle restaurant in Chicago, Cincinnati, Columbus, Detroit, Indianapolis, Louisville, Minneapolis, Nashville, Cleveland, New Jersey, New York, or St. Louis, you're in luck. White Castle has a special treat on Valentine's Day between 5pm and 8pm where you can enjoy, "hostess seating, candlelit dining, and your own server." Oh, and reservations are required, so check here for the special reservations telephone number in your city. Just don't forget the Beano!

The rest of us will have to fend for ourselves to get a dinner reservation. At least Yan has listed some websites where we can pre-order roses to save us from fighting the crowds after work on Valentine's Day.

Are you average and is your average mean?

When someone asks if I'm average, I immediately wonder if they're asking about mean, median, or mode? If math isn't your thing or you're intellectually lazy, skip to the bottom data elements. Since you're still reading, I'm going to take you back to junior high or high school math class and use Merriam-Webster to define these terms:

mean = a value that is computed by dividing the sum of a set of terms by the number of terms

median = a value in an ordered set of values below and above which there is an equal number of values or which is the arithmetic mean of the two middle values if there is no one middle number

mode = the most frequent value (or values) of a set of data

For those like me who read these definitions and go "huh?", here are the terms portrayed visually:
Practically speaking, let's compute each of these with a dataset of 5 numbers: 29,1,4,1,5.
Mean
29+1+4+1+5 = 40; 40÷5 = 8
Median
The numbers in value order --> 1 1 4 5 26 ... and the middle number (or the median) = 4
Mode
With the data set 29,1,4,1,5... the most frequently occurring or repetitive number = 1

When dealing with statistics about finances and income, the press is often sloppy in their use of the term "average". While most do not use mode, many identify both median and mean as average, which is too imprecise. If you add a few zeros along with a comma or two, the numbers in my dataset could be housing prices or household incomes, and not knowing whether a number is median or mean can have a big impact on how the numbers are interpreted . Because outliers, such as the number 29 in my dataset above, can skew the calculation of mean, many cost and income-based financial statistics are computed as median so that half of all such costs (or incomes, housing prices, etc.) fall above this value and half fall below.

While statistics may not lie, liars use statistics, so know the difference between mean, median, and mode. And with that lesson, here are a few facts about average in the U.S. of A.:

Median home value = $167,500

Mean travel time to work = 25.1 (minutes)

Median age = 36.4 years

Average* household size = 2.6
Average* family size = 3.18
* - assumed to be mean, but it's not clear

ALL
Median household income = $46,242
Mean household income = $62,556

Families
Median household income = $55,832
Mean household income = $72,585

Nonfamily household
Median household income = $28,050
Mean household income = $39,741

And if you're looking for a real-life example of an outlier, Bill Gates has more wealth than the bottom 45% of American households combined.

Note: All stats are from the economic profile of the 2005 American Community Survey from the U.S. Census Bureau unless otherwise noted. This survey breaks the data down further into these other profiles: demographic, social, and housing.

[update added March 13, 2007] For a fantastic essay described as "the wisest, most humane thing ever written about cancer and statistics" read The Median Isn't the Message by Stephen Jay Gould.

The ultimate 99 cent value meal

After years of hearing my wife rave about how great the food is at Taco Bueno, I enjoyed my first meal there on a family trip to Dallas/Fort Worth at Thanksgiving. My wife swears by their bean burritos while I wolfed down a couple of crispy beef tacos. They were good--better than Taco Bell's, so I decided to have another after finishing my two. Fortunately at the top of my receipt was a "Free Beef Taco" coupon for completing a survey. It required me to call a 1-800 number, answer a few questions, and then enter a 4-digit code. I'm a cheap bastard, so I spent the 60 seconds punching responses into my cell phone and got my code.

I walked up to the counter and ordered my free beef taco. I handed the cashier my coupon, fully expecting that I'd missed the fine print and would be charged tax or be told I needed to order something else, but no. I was handed my beef taco along with... you guessed it... a "Free Beef Taco" coupon at the top of my receipt for the free beef taco I just received. It is the ultimate value meal--an all you can eat beef taco buffet for just 99 cents.

My family and I returned to D/FW just before Christmas to give my brother and sister-in-law a hand with their new responsibility. While there we had an opportunity to again eat at Taco Bueno. My wife was craving their bean burritos while I was eager to find out if they still had their 99 cent buffet. They did. It became a game to me, so after buying my first beef taco I used their "Free Beef Taco" coupons the rest of the trip to satiate my hunger. And perhaps because I was respectful to the cashiers, they never hesitated to take my coupon and offer a new one in return.