Thank you for this! Still can’t find an app to fulfill all my needs so creating my own one. Could you maybe expand on how you structured your various tabs in excel? For example your diary tab. Would be a huge help! Thank you!

The client who has the lower rate probably won't be asking -- you might raise that rate, too. If the client with the higher rate was a referral, chances are the friend revealed your rate, which you'll find out if you quote a different (higher, but not a lot higher) one. So you can explain your rates go up periodically, and then, say, describe your recent continuing education or professional honors etc. -- some specialized thing that makes you different from other fine gardeners. (I've observed colleagues leverage high-profile volunteer gigs this way -- the pro bono stuff gets them name recognition, which gets them more referrals, which enables them to charge more...) If the client with a higher rate happens to have a good friend who is one of your other clients, same thing: rates go up periodically, they're still getting a good deal because (cite your skills, knowledge, etc.) and (cite your projects, pro bonos, awards, etc.). Jobs are different, too. I've charged more for steep gardens with poison oak (where I sprained an ankle on the loose steps) than for level sites where it was easier to haul things around. I've heard the same kind of anecdote as INK, where someone tries to set the price too high to force the client to say no, and instead gets the job. The one I heard was a photog, tired of traveling, who quoted what he thought was an absurdly high rate for an annual report for a bank in Asia. The bank had wanted a conservative, dull report, with photos of the suits. The photog said, if I were to do this, I'd take pix of the people in native costumes at specified sites all over the country, and not only my high rate but also first-class travel and accommodations and a big expense account. On the one hand, he was thinking, this would make it worth doing and be sort of a vacation, but on the other he went so overboard that he thought, there's no way they'd go for this. They did. (One of Rick "Day in the Life of..." Smolan's stories.) The art is to set your rate so you can be selective and do mostly jobs you love for people you like.

>>Some people can't tell the difference between average coffee and really good coffee, and so they don't care. Yeh, sure . . . some. But most people can tell because there is in fact a significant difference, so it's not a correct analogy. (And for the group of people that can't tell, why would they want to waste their money on expensive coffee ?) >>The same and the same as between average wine and really good wine. That's somewhat true, because the differences are much more subtle. But that begs the same question. Moreover, there's a problem of hype and expectation there . . . is a $200 bottle of wine really and noticeably 2000% better than a $10 bottle of wine in a blind test ? >>You get the picture. For sound, many have become accustomed to playing crippled lossy files through crappy sound systems and so yes, many can't tell the difference. That doesn't mean there isn't one. I have a medium quality system (several thousands but not several tens of thousands, nor several hundreds) and most people have been able to tell the difference if I do an A-B with high and low quality files. You just made the argument for "there's NO reason to not rip to lossless files" to be false. You're making a case for why some (5% ? - pick a number, doesn't matter) elite group of people might want to use lossless, whereas the rest wouldn't. As well, for some purposes yes, for others, no. We're not talking about "high and low quality files", we're talking about lossless, vs high quality compressed, and often less. Sure, there's a difference, but can a majority of the population (2σ of the mean) with the majority of systems out there tell ? No, and not even on decent systems. The evidence just doesn't support it. Thus, never say Never. There is not a one size fits all. ;-) This post was edited by kbarb on Mon, Feb 2, 15 at 0:38

I have a 25,000 gallon pool with SWG and a 2 speed pump, no heater or spa. Our electric usage went up on average about $100 - $150 per month. I was wondering if it was due to the cost per kwh, but after investigating, noticed that we used approximately 1000 additional units per month. Basically, we went from using around 1500 per month to around 2500. Maintenence is pretty easy and I'm not a big do it yourselfer. Daily: Check and empty skimmer baskets, pool cleaner bag Bi weekly: Check chemical levels, check basket at pump (not sure what it's called) Weekly: Brush pool, brush tile with a small brush while I'm swimming. Plus, every two months we have to backwash the DE filter. This took about an hour but I think it was because it was our first time. It won't take that long next time I don't think. Chemicals have been very cheap. We've had the pool open for three months and I've gone through 6 gallons of acid ($5 each), 2 Canisters of Shock (to suppliment the SWG in the hot part of the summer @ $18 each). I think it's about getting time to add a bag of salt so you might add another $6 to that. Since the weather has cooled off and we don't have so many people swimming, the SWG has generated more than enough chlorine, so that is not a monthly expense. Also, our water bill went up around $10 to $15 per month. It cost right at $175 to initially fill the pool. You might need to figure that into your budget as well. I hope this helps. Even with the expense, it is SO worth it!!!!!!!! p.s. We live in Stephenville, TX so we might be neighbors and our costs might be similar. Here is a link that might be useful: My pool build