Yodlee.com Manage all those accounts

Checking, savings, mortgage, car loan, credit cards, insurance, cable, telephone the list is endless. Too many accounts too many places to login too many passwords to forget and who has a clue what the whole picture is? Many banks allow you to link other accounts so you can view them all in one place but what if you don't bank with one of those banks? Well why not go direct to the source of who probably provides that bank the functionality in the first place?

Yodlee.com allows anyone to create an account and link up all your accounts so you can view them in one place. The only thing scarier than seeing the ugly details of all your finances in one place is the thought of someone else being able to do the same. However it looks like Yodlee can be trusted to do security right judging by the companies that use their services Yodlee Clients & Partners.

Adding accounts to Yodlee is very easy and they seam to have pretty much every company covered. Once you've done that you can setup alerts, transfer money and even pay bills till your hearts content.

Modular Homes - no it's not a double wide

Modular Homes seams like a great idea to me particularly as I get daily updates from a friend that is having a house built the traditional site built way. Why drag a bunch of materials and people outside in all kinds of weather to build a home when it can be done in the comfort and order of a factory?

The homes are subject to the same Federal and State building codes and are actually structurally stronger than a site built home as they have to survive delivery on the truck. They are also built faster, to higher quality and are better insulated as the manufacturers can take advantage of equipment in the factory that is not viable in on site.

There are not many houses that cannot be built Modular so you can take your own plans or modify those offered if you do cannot find what you like in one of their existing plans. While wishing for the day I can have my own modular home built I often look the web site for the modular builder close to me. www.altamonthomes.com I'm sure I could find something to make me happy there and one day I'll finish reading this book. Then I just need to find that perfect lot.

Tankless Water Heaters

I'm originally from Europe where higher energy costs and space restrictions have long since persuaded people to move over to tankless water heaters and even heating. I have often looked into doing the same thing since I moved to the USA. It still seams to be a relatively new idea here although there are many products available. But I guess that is unsurprising since energy is much cheaper and most people have a basement or garage to install those large hot water tanks. However as energy prices are rising even in the USA and with the increasing focus on protecting the environment I think they are sure to become more popular.

What are the benefits?

• A traditional water heater stores hot water in a large tank (40 gallons +). That water is kept hot 24x7 whether you need it or not. That wastes a lot of energy however well the tank is insulated. A tankless water heater heats the water on-demand so there is no energy wasted heating water that you are not using.
• When you take away the tank you greatly reduce the size of the water heater leaving you with more precious space to store those things you just can't live without.

What are the options?

• Natural Gas - If you have Natural Gas in your home this is the best option.
  
• Electric - If like me you don't have Natural Gas in your home all is not lost as there are also many Electric Tankless Water Heaters available.

How Much will it cost?

• Natural Gas - $800 - $1000 + installation should cover most homes.
  
• Electric - $500 - $800 + installation should cover most homes.
  

How Much could you actually save?
Tankless Water Heaters should save 10-20% in energy costs. How about looking at some real figures created by the people selling them?

"The United States Department of Energy has calculated that a family of four will use 64.3 gallons of hot water per day, not including dish washing or clothes washing. The chart below provides an approximate monthly operating cost comparison between a 40 gallon hot water tank and the TANKLESS™ Whole House Electric Hot Water Heating System."

120 Gallons Per Day Monthly Cost		60 Gallons Per Day Monthly Cost	30 Gallons Per Day Monthly Cost
40 Gallon Hot Water Tank	$112.25	$56.20	$28.10
-VS.-	-VS.-	-VS.-	-VS.-
TANKLESS™	$26.95	$13.48	$6.74
Savings	$85.30	42.72	21.36

paragraph and chart from here

That's quite a saving. If you take the middle example of 60 gallons the new Electric Water Heater should pay for itself in 2 years.

So why don't I have one yet?

If my current Water Heater goes up in smoke then this will be a no brainer. However I'm not sure I can bring myself to throw away a Water Heater that probably still has many years left in it.

GE, Kenmore, Hotpoint and Eterna Dishwashers recalled

Dishwashers are going up in flames so they are being recalled.

2.5 Million GE Potentially Flammable Dishwashers Recalled

Is yours on the list?

List off General Electric Recalls Dishwashers Due to Fire Hazard

Why yet another blog?

A combination of researching everything to death and an interest in many things means I often find myself with a web site/insight for the conversation de-jour. So rather than promising to send someone a link and 90% of the time forgetting I thought it might be nice to be able to send everyone to one place.


No one has thought of this before... right?