Many people make resolutions for the New Year that involve making radical changed in order to lead a longer, healthier life. While a complete change of diet or committing to hit the gym everyday would be a major change for most people, some smaller decisions can also help improve health and vitality.
Consider committing to simply spending less time each day sitting down, and spending more time up on your feet. In recent years, researchers have been taking longer looks at what effect being seated for extended periods of time has on health. Research has connected extended periods off your feet with higher incidences of obesity, diabetes, heart disease and shorter life spans.
If you work a job at a desk, you are already in a chair for almost eight hours a day. When you add in time spent going to and from work and time spent relaxing at home, all the accumulated time spent sitting down could be harmful. Of course regular exercise can help counteract these effects, but getting out of your chair is the best bet.
Ulf Ekeland, a professor at the Norwegian School of Sports Science released a study this year where he and his team found that one half hour spent exercising per four hours spent sitting could help reduce some of the associated risks. For most people, this means that 60-75 minutes of exercise a day would be beneficial. All of this activity does not have to be at once, so a 15 minute walk during downtime at work could pay off in a healthier you.
Another small change that can be applied is to use a standing or adjustable height desk. These desks allow you to work on your feet, an option that also helps to reduce the risks associated with extended sitting. Standing or adjustable desks are becoming increasingly popular, and are available at many furniture stores, or you can go the DIY option and construct your own with instructions available online.
Unfortunately, having bad credit can affect many different aspects of your life, from job applications to apartment hunting. If your credit is bad, you can rent an apartment, but the process will probably be more challenging. Here are some tips for getting an apartment lease on bad credit. Check your credit If you think you might have bad credit, the first thing you'll want to do is look at your credit report. You can order a free copy from each of the three major credit-reporting agencies: Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion through AnnualCreditReport . You'll want to look at all three, as one or more may have an error. If you do see errors on your credit reports, take steps to fix them immediately and be prepared to explain these to your prospective landlord. Since the formal dispute process for fixing a credit report takes time, you may try and get statements from the bank or credit card company involved explaining the mistake. Think like a landlord If your credit reports accurately reflect your credit situation, your challenge will be to convince your prospective landlord that you will be able to pay rent on time. It may be helpful for you to take a moment and role-play a would-be landlord, and think: what would you need to be willing to rent an apartment to a person with your credit profile? This can help you anticipate landlords' objections and be able to react with less fear. Repairing your credit One strategy is to ask the institutions that reported delinquencies on your credit report to send letters stating that you have met, or in the process of meeting, your obligation. (Remember that a mark on your credit can stay for up to seven years.) You can also include letters of recommendation from previous landlords, especially those who have rented to you most recently. And you can write a letter yourself, explaining how you are meeting the debts and how you will be able to pay rent even though you have debts to pay. The more evidence you can amass that shows that you've thought hard about this problem and are tackling it, the more convincing your case. Get a cosigner Another possible strategy - for renters with very little credit history, as well as those with bad credit, is to find a co-signer on your lease. A parent, relative, or close friend might be willing to do this for you. Keep in mind, though, that if you end up falling behind on this obligation, you'll be in trouble not only with your apartment community but with the person who put their credit at risk to help you. Pay a larger deposit There's a third strategy, especially for an apartment you really love: offer a larger initial deposit. Some apartment communities have set rules as to how deposits are set; others can be more flexible. If your larger deposit is accepted, make sure it's reflected accurately in the lease you sign. If you stay in the apartment for a year, paying rent on time, and choose to renew, you might not need to make as large an upfront payment for the second year's lease. If none of those options work well for you, there are apartment communities which don't conduct credit checks. But even if your credit situation is negative, don't give up hope on finding an apartment until you've used the above strategies!
One of the most common dilemmas renters face is whether or not your rates will go up when your year-long lease is up. Sometimes you might just have to pay $10 more, but some places can charge upwards of $200 or more per month. Rest assured we would never hijack your rent like that, but we understand you might not live at 520 Park forever, and want you to be aware of this at other communities. Here's your guide to this common issue and what you can do to fight it.
Why Do Rates Typically Rise Every Year? Aside from the obvious financial motive, raising the rent every year makes sense (even if the amount is trivial) simply to set expectations Property managers want tenants to simply assume that rents will go up every year so that tenants don't balk at rent hikes. Rents are also both a cause of and caused by inflation - they rise together, and while inflation may slow, it almost never reverses, says Brian Davis, director of education for SparkRental a company that educates owners about investment properties and a real estate investor with 15 rental properties. Davis also points out that rates will also rise depending on need. If the property manager has recently rented an apartment in your building for $1,000 and 50 people applied for it, it was priced too low. So the next time the lease is up for renewal, the property manager will hike up the rate. Kass Management Services Principal Mark Durakovic, whose company manages more than 5,000 apartments in Chicago, also points out that maintenance and taxes usually do cost more each year for the property management company - another reason for rising rents. What's a Fair or Average Increase? According to Durakovic, an increase of 2 to 4 percent is fair. If you're paying $700 a month, an increase of $14 to $28 would be common. If rental rates of the buildings around you are rising, you should expect yours to rise too.
Negotiation Tips Some property managers will negotiate. Others won't. If yours will, be sure to look up what other apartments in your building are renting for so you can use that for leverage. If the property manager is asking for significantly more than what other apartments are listed for, you might be able to lower your rent. According to Davis, you'll have better luck negotiating with a private property manager as opposed to a larger corporation. Try to think about the situation from your property manager's point of view to win the negotiation. Property managers want more than just money; they're also searching for stability. A long-term tenant who pays on time and will be there for many years. They want minimal damage to the rental unit, and peace and quiet for the neighbors. They want security, the best assurance possible that the tenant won't cost them money, says Davis. He recommends the following to get a lower rate: -Offer to sign a long-term lease -Offer a higher security deposit -If your property manager lives in your building or nearby, consider offering free babysitting, dog walking or cleaning services to him or her. -Davis once offered to pay the rent early every month at his current rate. If he ever defaulted on this deal, the property manager could charge more. Ways to Tell If Your Rates Might Drastically Increase If you're worried about skyrocketing rental rates, compare what you're currently paying to what other similar apartments in the area rent for. If you're paying below market, you should expect an uptick in rent When Is a Rental Hike Justified? If your property manager has recently made upgrades to your apartment or the community, your rent will probably rise. Likewise, if your neighborhood is improving, you might pay more, says Durakovic. Above all, remember that a price increase has to do with demand for the apartment, not with your needs as a renter. Demand can rise based on changes that have nothing to do with the unit itself; maybe the local schools get better, or maybe the neighborhood suddenly becomes attractive to a group of people who have more money. Maybe more businesses are opening nearby and more jobs become available. Rent increases only need to be justified by one thing: other people willing to pay more to live in the unit, says Davis. The good news here is we may not raise your rent at all. We look at each resident on a case-by-case basis and determine your rent for the following year based on certain criteria and negotiation. So, basically, you should just live here forever.
What's Thanksgiving without America's #1 favorite side dish? Next to the turkey, no Thanksgiving is complete without the best stuffing, and you can find the perfect recipe here:
INGREDIENTS
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter plus more for baking dish
1 pound good-quality day-old white bread, torn into 1" pieces (about 10 cups)
2 1/2 cups chopped yellow onions
1 1/2 cups 1/4" slices celery
1/2 cup chopped flat-leaf parsley
2 tablespoons chopped fresh sage
1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary
1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 1/2 cups low-sodium chicken broth, divided
2 large eggs
PREPARATION
Preheat oven to 250ºF. Butter a 13x9x2" baking dish and set aside. Scatter bread in a single layer on a rimmed baking sheet. Bake, stirring occasionally, until dried out, about 1 hour. Let cool; transfer to a very large bowl.
Meanwhile, melt 3/4 cup butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat; add onions and celery. Stir often until just beginning to brown, about 10 minutes. Add to bowl with bread; stir in herbs, salt, and pepper. Drizzle in 1 1/4 cups broth and toss gently. Let cool.
Preheat oven to 350ºF. Whisk 1 1/4 cups broth and eggs in a small bowl. Add to bread mixture; fold gently until thoroughly combined. Transfer to prepared dish, cover with foil, and bake until an instant-read thermometer inserted into the center of dressing registers 160ºF, about 40 minutes. DO AHEAD: Dressing can be made 1 day ahead. Uncover; let cool. Cover; chill.
Bake dressing, uncovered, until set and top is browned and crisp, 40-45 minutes longer (if chilled, add 10-15 minutes).
YIELD: Makes 8 to 10 servings
Planning a move in the near future (hopefully here!)? Where do you start? Read our guide below for some tips on ensuring a smart and relatively stress free move when your deadline has come down to the wire. 1. Get Started When planning your move on short notice, you'll want to begin by properly assessing everything that may be required for the weeks (or even months) ahead. Confirm the fundamental info of your move before delving into the more complicated steps that require making paid reservations and the like, knowing an exact move-in date, etc. will help lay a fundamental groundwork that will allow the process to go much smoother overall. 2. Begin Pre-Packing You don't need to wait for every bit of paperwork to be filled out before beginning to pack, in fact, preliminary packing of less commonly-used rooms can prove to be an outright requirement. A good rule of thumb is to start packing at least a few boxes per day once you're sure you'll be moving in the near future. And start getting your place cleaned up if you are able to, this will save you cleaning time later. 3. Make Reservations This one is no joke, moving during the summer means dealing with the busiest and most booked-solid mover schedules of the year. Arguably the most important factor in avoiding major issues will be to contact your movers of choice the moment your move in date is confirmed. Otherwise, there's an unfortunate and potentially disastrous chance that you may find yourself without any movers available in time, definitely the furthest thing from a fun situation to have to deal with. 4. Set Your Own Deadlines Managing an arduous task like moving on short notice means you'll need to pay special consideration to the importance of deadlines, in this case, managing your own self-discipline and ensuring things get done in time will be extremely important. Set your own personal deadlines for when moving milestones should be completed, and before you know it you'll have formed a realistic (and informed) moving timeline that gives you a clearer understanding of what to expect. 5. Recruit Help from Friends As challenging as moving tends to be, you can expect to take those challenges and multiply them tenfold if you're facing them on your own. Recruiting the help of even just one or two friends can go an extremely long way in making the process much faster and much less of an overall burden a committed team of friends can even sometimes knock out an apartment move in as little as one afternoon. Just be sure to reward them with pizza afterwards! 6. Compare Rates A major factor in ensuring a smooth move without much time to spare will be to lock down an affordable overall rate as early as possible, you won't want to scramble for a moving package at the last minute, only to find that the one you had in mind will run you considerably more than you wanted to pay. Price can (and should) serve as a large deciding factor in your choice of movers and services, so there's certainly nothing wrong with shopping around based primarily on price! Knowing how much you'll be able to spend will most likely prove to be one of the earliest things you'll need to get done before you proceed. 7. Label Boxes Smartly One of the simpler ways to keep your moving process running smoothly can be to come up with a simple method for labeling your personal possessions a few rolls of colored painter's tape or something similar will usually be all you need. Before moving in, coordinate the layout of your destination by deciding on a color (or similar labeling distinction) for each room or major area across your new home. Then, label your boxes and containers appropriately so that the contents intended for each room match their corresponding color. This will allow you to quickly unload the contents of each room without having to give it too much thought. If your move is extremely short term and you don't have colored labeling materials on hand, you might consider something as simple as labeling boxes by number or letter.
Straddling the line between fall and winter, plenty and paucity, life and death, Halloween is a time of celebration and superstition. It is thought to have originated with the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain, when people would light bonfires and wear costumes to ward off roaming ghosts. In the eighth century, Pope Gregory III designated November 1 as a time to honor all saints and martyrs; the holiday, All Saints' Day, incorporated some of the traditions of Samhain. The evening before was known as All Hallows' Eve and later Halloween. Over time, Halloween evolved into a secular, community-based event characterized by child-friendly activities such as trick-or-treating. In a number of countries around the world, as the days grow shorter and the nights get colder, people continue to usher in the winter season with gatherings, costumes and sweet treats.
ANCIENT ORIGINS OF HALLOWEEN
Halloween's origins date back to the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain (pronounced sow-in). The Celts, who lived 2,000 years ago in the area that is now Ireland, the United Kingdom and northern France, celebrated their new year on November 1. This day marked the end of summer and the harvest and the beginning of the dark, cold winter, a time of year that was often associated with human death. Celts believed that on the night before the new year, the boundary between the worlds of the living and the dead became blurred. On the night of October 31 they celebrated Samhain, when it was believed that the ghosts of the dead returned to earth. In addition to causing trouble and damaging crops, Celts thought that the presence of the otherworldly spirits made it easier for the Druids, or Celtic priests, to make predictions about the future. For a people entirely dependent on the volatile natural world, these prophecies were an important source of comfort and direction during the long, dark winter. To commemorate the event, Druids built huge sacred bonfires, where the people gathered to burn crops and animals as sacrifices to the Celtic deities. During the celebration, the Celts wore costumes, typically consisting of animal heads and skins, and attempted to tell each other's fortunes. When the celebration was over, they re-lit their hearth fires, which they had extinguished earlier that evening, from the sacred bonfire to help protect them during the coming winter. By 43 A.D., the Roman Empire had conquered the majority of Celtic territory. In the course of the four hundred years that they ruled the Celtic lands, two festivals of Roman origin were combined with the traditional Celtic celebration of Samhain. The first was Feralia, a day in late October when the Romans traditionally commemorated the passing of the dead. The second was a day to honor Pomona, the Roman goddess of fruit and trees. The symbol of Pomona is the apple and the incorporation of this celebration into Samhain probably explains the tradition of bobbing for apples that is practiced today on Halloween . On May 13, 609 A.D., Pope Boniface IV dedicated the Pantheon in Rome in honor of all Christian martyrs, and the Catholic feast of All Martyrs Day was established in the Western church. Pope Gregory III (731-741) later expanded the festival to include all saints as well as all martyrs, and moved the observance from May 13 to November 1. By the 9th century the influence of Christianity had spread into Celtic lands, where it gradually blended with and supplanted the older Celtic rites. In 1000 A.D., the church would make November 2 All Souls' Day, a day to honor the dead. It is widely believed today that the church was attempting to replace the Celtic festival of the dead with a related, but church-sanctioned holiday. All Souls Day was celebrated similarly to Samhain, with big bonfires, parades, and dressing up in costumes as saints, angels and devils. The All Saints Day celebration was also called All-hallows or All-hallowmas (from Middle English Alholowmesse meaning All Saints' Day) and the night before it, the traditional night of Samhain in the Celtic religion, began to be called All-hallows Eve and, eventually, Halloween.
HALLOWEEN COMES TO AMERICA
Celebration of Halloween was extremely limited in colonial New England because of the rigid Protestant belief systems there. Halloween was much more common in Maryland and the southern colonies. As the beliefs and customs of different European ethnic groups as well as the American Indians meshed, a distinctly American version of Halloween began to emerge. The first celebrations included play parties, public events held to celebrate the harvest, where neighbors would share stories of the dead, tell each other's fortunes, dance and sing. Colonial Halloween festivities also featured the telling of ghost stories and mischief-making of all kinds. By the middle of the nineteenth century, annual autumn festivities were common, but Halloween was not yet celebrated everywhere in the country. In the second half of the nineteenth century, America was flooded with new immigrants. These new immigrants, especially the millions of Irish fleeing Ireland's potato famine of 1846, helped to popularize the celebration of Halloween nationally. Taking from Irish and English traditions, Americans began to dress up in costumes and go house to house asking for food or money, a practice that eventually became today's "trick-or-treat" tradition. Young women believed that on Halloween they could divine the name or appearance of their future husband by doing tricks with yarn, apple parings or mirrors. In the late 1800s, there was a move in America to mold Halloween into a holiday more about community and neighborly get-togethers than about ghosts, pranks and witchcraft. At the turn of the century, Halloween parties for both children and adults became the most common way to celebrate the day. Parties focused on games, foods of the season and festive costumes. Parents were encouraged by newspapers and community leaders to take anything "frightening" or "grotesque" out of Halloween celebrations. Because of these efforts, Halloween lost most of its superstitious and religious overtones by the beginning of the twentieth century. By the 1920s and 1930s, Halloween had become a secular, but community-centered holiday, with parades and town-wide parties as the featured entertainment. Despite the best efforts of many schools and communities, vandalism began to plague Halloween celebrations in many communities during this time. By the 1950s, town leaders had successfully limited vandalism and Halloween had evolved into a holiday directed mainly at the young. Due to the high numbers of young children during the fifties baby boom, parties moved from town civic centers into the classroom or home, where they could be more easily accommodated. Between 1920 and 1950, the centuries-old practice of trick-or-treating was also revived. Trick-or-treating was a relatively inexpensive way for an entire community to share the Halloween celebration. In theory, families could also prevent tricks being played on them by providing the neighborhood children with small treats. A new American tradition was born, and it has continued to grow. Today, Americans spend an estimated $6 billion annually on Halloween, making it the country's second largest commercial holiday.
TODAY'S HALLOWEEN TRADITIONS
The American Halloween tradition of "trick-or-treating" probably dates back to the early All Souls' Day parades in England. During the festivities, poor citizens would beg for food and families would give them pastries called "soul cakes" in return for their promise to pray for the family's dead relatives. The distribution of soul cakes was encouraged by the church as a way to replace the ancient practice of leaving food and wine for roaming spirits. The practice, which was referred to as "going a-souling" was eventually taken up by children who would visit the houses in their neighborhood and be given ale, food, and money. The tradition of dressing in costume for Halloween has both European and Celtic roots. Hundreds of years ago, winter was an uncertain and frightening time. Food supplies often ran low and, for the many people afraid of the dark, the short days of winter were full of constant worry. On Halloween, when it was believed that ghosts came back to the earthly world, people thought that they would encounter ghosts if they left their homes. To avoid being recognized by these ghosts, people would wear masks when they left their homes after dark so that the ghosts would mistake them for fellow spirits. On Halloween, to keep ghosts away from their houses, people would place bowls of food outside their homes to appease the ghosts and prevent them from attempting to enter.
HALLOWEEN SUPERSTITIONS
Halloween has always been a holiday filled with mystery, magic and superstition. It began as a Celtic end-of-summer festival during which people felt especially close to deceased relatives and friends. For these friendly spirits, they set places at the dinner table, left treats on doorsteps and along the side of the road and lit candles to help loved ones find their way back to the spirit world. Today's Halloween ghosts are often depicted as more fearsome and malevolent, and our customs and superstitions are scarier too. We avoid crossing paths with black cats, afraid that they might bring us bad luck. This idea has its roots in the Middle Ages , when many people believed that witches avoided detection by turning themselves into cats. We try not to walk under ladders for the same reason. This superstition may have come from the ancient Egyptians, who believed that triangles were sacred; it also may have something to do with the fact that walking under a leaning ladder tends to be fairly unsafe. And around Halloween, especially, we try to avoid breaking mirrors, stepping on cracks in the road or spilling salt. But what about the Halloween traditions and beliefs that today's trick-or-treaters have forgotten all about? Many of these obsolete rituals focused on the future instead of the past and the living instead of the dead. In particular, many had to do with helping young women identify their future husbands and reassuring them that they would someday, with luck, by next Halloween, be married. In 18th-century Ireland, a matchmaking cook might bury a ring in her mashed potatoes on Halloween night, hoping to bring true love to the diner who found it. In Scotland, fortune-tellers recommended that an eligible young woman name a hazelnut for each of her suitors and then toss the nuts into the fireplace. The nut that burned to ashes rather than popping or exploding, the story went, represented the girl's future husband. (In some versions of this legend, confusingly, the opposite was true: The nut that burned away symbolized a love that would not last.) Another tale had it that if a young woman ate a sugary concoction made out of walnuts, hazelnuts and nutmeg before bed on Halloween night she would dream about her future husband. Young women tossed apple-peels over their shoulders, hoping that the peels would fall on the floor in the shape of their future husbands' initials; tried to learn about their futures by peering at egg yolks floating in a bowl of water; and stood in front of mirrors in darkened rooms, holding candles and looking over their shoulders for their husbands' faces. Other rituals were more competitive. At some Halloween parties, the first guest to find a burr on a chestnut-hunt would be the first to marry; at others, the first successful apple-bobber would be the first down the aisle. Of course, whether we're asking for romantic advice or trying to avoid seven years of bad luck, each one of these Halloween superstitions relies on the good will of the very same "spirits" whose presence the early Celts felt so keenly.
