You’d be amazed – or even disappointed – at how much waste your home might be responsible for creating. In fact, the average American produces about 4.4. pounds of garbage every single day, which amounts to over 700,000 tons of trash produced daily based on the national population.

Thankfully, many Americans are realizing the errors of their ways and the impact that all this wasteful trash is having on the planet and are taking measures to do something about it. In addition to all the garbage the average American creates every day, they’re also recycling about 1.5 pounds of trash daily.

Recycling is certainly a highly effective way to cut down on household trash, but there are plenty of other ways to create a less wasteful home.

1. Forego Plastic Bags

Perhaps one of the easiest ways to cut down on the amount of waste produced is to start using reusable cloth bags instead of the typical plastic grocery bag. Instead of relying on the bags that the average store provides to carry the goods you purchase, bring your own. More and more stores are encouraging shoppers to do so by actually charging a nominal fee per plastic bag.

All you need to do is store your reusable bags in your car and take them with you every time you hit the shops. They’re even larger and stronger, and therefore better able to carry all those heavy groceries without the risk of them giving out like those thin plastic supermarket bags have been known to do.

2. Start Composting

If you don’t already have your own little vegetable or herb garden, now, is a great time to start. It doesn’t have to be huge, so if your outdoor space doesn’t permit, you can always have a few planters with your favorite veggie plants. To really make your vegetables do well, good soil is key, and you can easily enrich the soil with the addition of some of your household organic waste.

To create healthy soil for your vegetable garden and cut down on kitchen waste at the same time, start composting. Keep a separate container under the sink that’s meant only for specific types of organic waste, including coffee grinds, egg shells, vegetable peels, and others to create a compost that can be regularly added to your vegetable garden soil. 

3. Use Reusable Containers

Forget the plastic Ziploc baggies that are typically used to transport lunches and snacks. Instead, start using reusable containers for your lunch and that of your kids. Better yet, consider investing in glass or stainless steel containers, as these are healthier and won’t emit any chemicals as plastic may do as it starts to break down over time.

Even the food in your pantry should be stored in reusable containers, such as your cereals, pasta, rice, cookies, and so forth. Consider buying in bulk so that the wasteful packaging can be effectively reduced.

4. Ditch the Disposable Plates, Cups, and Cutlery

You might be sick of doing dishes every night, but switching to paper plates and plastic cutlery will just add to the mounting landfill full of non-decomposing substances. Saving time at the sink isn’t worth the impact that all those disposable dishes can have on the environment, so if you’re looking to create a less wasteful home, forget about the paper and plastic and spend a few minutes washing traditional dishware.

5. Switch to Cloth Napkins

Like the paper plates, paper napkins are also wasteful. After one use, they’re garbage. However, switching to something as simple as cloth napkins can help you effectively slash your trash while prettying up your table decor.

6. Unplug

It’s customary for people to leave their coffee makers, toasters, blenders, and other small appliances plugged in 24/7, but why? Unless they’re being used at the moment, there’s really no need to have them plugged in. They’re not being charged like your laptop or smartphone.

Instead, they’re just continuing to draw energy. In fact, the average household uses as much as 10% of energy use from plugged-in appliances that sit idle. Not only can you reduce this wasted energy, you can also save a few bucks on your utility bill just from the simple act of unplugging.

7. Stop Using Plastic Water Bottles

Water bottles are a massive waste of plastic. Instead, get yourself a durable water bottle to use to take your drinks with you wherever you go.

8. Use Old Clothes For Cleaning Rags

Rather than using paper towels to clean and polish, consider using old clothing as rags to clean your home.

9. Cancel All Junk Mail

Like most other households, your mailbox is probably inundated with all sorts of mail, most of which you probably throw out without even looking at it. All that junk mail that’s being tossed in the trash is very wasteful. To cut down, consider calling each of the places that are sending all those flyers and brochures that you don’t need. While this will certainly take some time and can be a bit of a nuisance, it will save on all the clutter and garbage that will just end up filling your trash cans.

The Bottom Line

When it comes to taking care of the earth and being less wasteful, there are always little things that can be done. Adopting a few effective habits can help you create a less wasteful home. All it takes is a handful of changes to make a big difference in your waste production.

Foreclosure is not nearly as rampant as it was a decade ago when the housing market crashed, but it’s still a very real scenario for many homeowners across the country. No homeowner wants to be the victim of foreclosure, but it can easily happen if mortgage payments aren’t kept up with.

If you default on your mortgage, you could face foreclosure. But before you let things get ugly, there are a few measures you might be able to take if you’re proactive.

Sell Your Home

Selling your home is an option only before you’ve missed three mortgage payments and received a Notice of Default (NOD) from your lender. At this point, you might want to consider getting your home off your hands before being told that your lender may take legal action to repossess your home. If you are having a tough time making every mortgage payment and face an inevitable loss of your home, you might want to cut your losses and sell right away. At least this way you may be able to sell for as much as what you bought it for.

Rent Your Home

If you’ve been struggling to recover from the housing bubble a decade ago and still haven’t managed to get ahead as much as you’d like to, then perhaps renting all or part of your home may help you with the mortgage before you start falling behind. Again, this is a viable option only if you have not yet been served with a notice from your lender of three missed mortgage payments.

If the city you’re in commands decent rent prices, you could rent out your home and move into a more affordable one to help offset the mortgage. Or else, you may consider renting out part of your home while you’re still living there to help cover the mortgage payments. While being a landlord certain comes with some work and legal obligations, you can take advantage of some tax breaks on your rental property and deduct things such as mortgage interest, property taxes, and any repair costs.

Refinance

If you’re not financially strapped to the max, then refinancing your mortgage may be an option. Refinancing simply means taking out a new home loan at a lower interest rate and using that money to pay off your existing mortgage. A refinance will require your lender to go through all the same steps as your first mortgage to verify your credit and financial background before you’re approved.

Refinancing can offer you lower mortgage payments thanks to the lower interest rate, which can help you better keep up with your payments if your current mortgage payments are simply too much for you to comfortably handle. However, just keep in mind that there are some costs associated with refinancing, such as application fees, appraisal fees, and origination fees. in addition, it’s possible that you may be paying more in interest over the long run because you’ll be starting all over on your home loan.

Reverse Mortgage

Homeowners who are 62 years of age or older may qualify for a reverse mortgage, which provides them with a lump sum or monthly payments against the equity in their homes. The biggest advantage of a reverse mortgage is that it doesn’t have to be paid back while you live there. Not only that, but the money received is usually tax-free. If you’re 62 or older, a reverse mortgage may help provide you with the funds needed to keep up with your mortgage payments before things go awry.

It should be noted that reverse mortgages come with some snags. For starters, you will still have to pay the property taxes and homeowner’s insurance on your home. And once the reverse loan reaches settlement, you will have to pay closing costs too.

Contact Your Lender

If you’ve already missed a few mortgage payments and your lender has filed a NOD, foreclosure could be on the horizon if you don’t take immediate steps. The first thing you should do in a case like this is to contact your lender right away. The longer you wait, the more imminent foreclosure will be.

Speak with your lender and see if something can be worked out with you in order to avoid foreclosure. Make sure you’re willing and prepared to explain why you’re unable to pay your mortgage, regardless of what the reason(s) may be. Maybe you’ve lost your job and are currently seeking a new one, which might make this just a temporary setback. Or perhaps you’re no longer able to work because of a medical catastrophe, in which case the situation may be a more long-term one. Whatever the case may be, discuss the reasons with your lender and see if there is some sort of resolution that can be devised.

Lenders don’t like foreclosures either because they’re time-consuming, expensive, and often leave them with less money than what they loaned to you. Your lender may try their best to come up with a solution to help you keep your home, but only if you’ve expressed a desire to keep it and the effort required to pay your mortgage. If you’ve already given up and are unwilling to put in the effort, a foreclosure may be more of a certainty than a probability.

Short Sale

Just because your lender files a NOD and notifies you about it doesn’t automatically mean that foreclosure is the next step. You may still be able to short sell your home if you are able to find a qualified buyer who puts in an offer on your home. In this case, your lender will need to consider the offer before they schedule an auction.

A short sale occurs when a lender lets a homeowner sell their home for less than what is owed on the mortgage. This may be a better alternative to foreclosure if you are not that far behind on your loan payments and don’t have a slew of missed payments on record.

As stated earlier, lenders do not like foreclosures. They would have to try selling your home afterward anyway, so it may be worth their while to find a buyer in the typical market. This will certainly save them a lot of time, money and effort. Even if your lender starts the foreclosure process, it’s still in your best interests to market your home for sale with the help of an experienced real estate agent and find a buyer for it.

Deed in Lieu of Foreclosure

With a deed in lieu of foreclosure, you’ll still end up losing your home, but you may still be able to recoup some money from the deed in lieu if there is equity in your property. A deed in lieu is also much less time-consuming than a full-blown foreclosure. In addition, you may be able to obtain a mortgage for a new home in as little as three years compared to at least seven if you foreclosure.

A deed in lieu of foreclosure will require you to voluntarily hand over the deed to your home to your lender, at which point the home is no longer considered yours. Basically, this option is “in lieu” of foreclosure, hence the name. It’s usually not grated until foreclosure is inevitable and the home is unable to be sold at a decent price for whatever reason.

The Bottom Line

Considering the financial obligation of owning and paying for a home, it goes without saying that doing your due diligence before you even make such a purchase is vital. This will help ensure that you’re not investing in anything that you won’t be able to afford. That said, anything can happen over time that can hamper your ability to continue to keep up with your mortgage payments. If you’ve fallen on dark times and are having trouble making your payments, be sure to speak with your lender, a financial advisor, and even a credit counselor to see what options are available to you.

An evening in Andersonville is one of my favorite ways to spend a night in the city. After seeing a Christmas show at Mary’s Attic, we wanted to find a bite to eat. We stopped in at Jerry’s Sandwiches. The atmosphere is so inviting- there are gorgeous wine bottle chandeliers, dark wood tables, and a huge seating area. We came in at 10 on a Friday night and were seated right away. The menu is huge- there are so many delicious options to choose from! I love appetizers and I was intrigued by a few of their options. The Fried Chicken Poppers sounded awesome, served with buffalo ranch dressing or Korean mayo. I also wanted to try the Fried Green Tomato Bruschetta, topped with basil, pimento cheese, hot sauce, and a Southwest mayo drizzle. Ultimately, I decided to go with a lighter option. I chose the Cobb salad. Served on a huge bed of house romaine and frisee mix, the salad was topped with blackened chicken, bacon, cucumber, avocado, radish, red onion, tomato, Danish blue cheese, croutons, and ranch. I asked to take off the cheese, bacon, and croutons. I was so pleased with this salad! The blackened chicken was delicious. Sometimes blackening spices are so heavy, but this was the perfect mix. The veggies were fresh and crunchy and they served the dressing on the side, which I love. My best friend ordered the Ansel A Sandwich: fried chicken, buffalo sauce, American cheese, avocado, house pickles, cilantro, southwest mayo, and lettuce on challah bread. Each sandwich comes with two “taster” sides, smaller versions of their side dishes. She chose the pickled veggies and the macaroni and cheese. She said her sandwich was very tasty, but felt like the chicken was more thinly sliced than she would have liked for a fried chicken sandwich. The macaroni and cheese looked awesome, and since I didn’t try it myself, I’ll have to come back for it!

Jerry’s has a location in Lincoln Square as well, located at 4739 N. Lincoln Ave. Both the Andersonville Jerry’s and the Lincoln Square Jerry’s open at 11 am every day and stay open late. Sundays through Mondays, closing is between midnight and 1 am, and 2 am Thursdays to Saturdays. Last call for the kitchen is at 10 pm Sundays through Thursdays and 11 pm Fridays and Saturdays. Jerry’s takes limited reservations for parties of 6 to 14 people. Find more information about this great spot on their website and plan your visit today!

RACHEL HOOVLER & DEAN’S TEAM CHICAGO

As the malls are bustling with busy holiday gift shoppers and airports and bus terminals are filled with travelers eager to visit family, you might have your mind set on something completely different – buying a new home. But is this really the time to buy? Shouldn’t you wait until the spring season that has traditionally been known to be the best time for buyers and sellers?

While springtime is certainly a great time to buy, the holidays can bring their own set of advantages for buyers who are looking to settle into a new place before the New Year ball drops. Here are just a few to consider.

1. Fewer Buyers on the Prowl

During the holidays, people are typically preoccupied with other things besides house hunting. This time of year isn’t generally when most people focus on buying a home; rather, they tend to be more fixated on holiday parties, visiting with family and friends, holiday gift shopping, and taking advantage of some time off work and school to go on vacation.

As such, there are often fewer buyers on the market looking for their next house to purchase. That’s great news for you, as that translates into less competition to fight against. You may be able to have an easier time finding a home and negotiating a deal without having to worry so much about other prospective buyers putting the pressure on.

Compared to the spring when the real estate market is generally the busiest, you’ll be more likely to have less of a fight with other interested buyers if you start and finish your house hunting process during the holiday season. Shopping around for a new home when there are fewer buyers can really pay off.

2. Motivated Sellers

The holiday season is not always the ideal time for sellers to put their homes on the market considering the possibility that there may be fewer people interested in their listing, as discussed above.

Sellers who do decide to put their homes up for sale during this time of the year are therefore more likely to be very serious and even extremely motivated to get the home off the market sooner rather than later. Nobody wants to have their listing drag on for longer than necessary. With fewer buyers looking for a new home during this time of year, sellers may be more open to an offer you may have.

Many sellers who choose to put their homes up for sale throughout the holidays likely have a very good reason to do so. Perhaps they’ve been transferred to a new job location and need to get settled in before the new year, or maybe their kids have been enrolled in a new school in another district and start class right after the holidays.

Whatever the reason for deciding to sell during this time of year, sellers are typically very motivated. This can be very good news for you as it often means they are more open to negotiation and anxious to close a deal.

3. Tax Benefits Before Year-End

Selling before 12am on December 31st can bring certain tax benefits to buyers. Purchasing a new home before the end of the year can provide you with some savings by the time tax season rolls around in April. There are several tax perks that come with homeownership, including deductions of property taxes, mortgage interest, or any points you pay at closing, as long as you itemize your taxes.

You might also be able to save on capital gains if you sold a house earlier in the year and made a profits from the sale. As long as you purchase another property within 180 days of selling your previous home, you can potentially avoid paying capital gains tax, which can add up to a hefty amount.

Speak with your accountant about any tax questions you might have when it comes to buying a home before year-end. Even if you’re not necessarily buying a home during the holidays specifically to take advantage of tax benefits, it might still be beneficial to you to close before January 1st arrives.

4. Quicker Closing

Just about everyone involved in a real estate transaction is looking to close quickly. Sellers may want to close on a deal to start anew come January 1st, while real estate agents may want to get their commission checks by year-end.

As a buyer, you may also have your own reasons for wanting a quick closing that may be similar to the sellers’. Perhaps you have a new job to start and want to be settled into your new home by then, or maybe your kids are starting in a new school district after the holidays and you need to be all moved into your new abode. Whatever your particular reason for wanting a quick closing, the holiday season might be the best time to get that.

The Bottom Line

There are plenty of positives that come along with buying a home during the holidays. From less competition, to more motivated sellers, to faster closings, the advantages to buying during this festive time of the year are plenty. That said, anything can happen, and not every housing market is the same nor will they all follow specific seasonal trends year after year.

You’d be well-advised to seek out the advice of a seasoned real estate professional to identify what your particular needs are and the perfect time for you to start house hunting in order for you to realize a successful deal.

Despite the fact that the prevalence of foreclosures has decreased since the housing crash a decade ago, it still happens quite often. In fact, almost 1 million U.S. homes were in the middle of foreclosure proceedings last year.

Foreclosures not only wreak havoc on your financial health and your credit rating, they can also be emotionally devastating. Being forced out of your home is a nightmare that no homeowner wants to go through, but if you default on your mortgage, you risk going down that ugly path.

Fortunately, there are ways to curb foreclosure proceedings if you find yourself in default of your mortgage, and one alternative is to work out what’s known as a ‘deed in lieu of foreclosure’.

What is a Deed in Lieu of Foreclosure?

Basically, a deed in lieu of foreclosure is a specific type of arrangement whereby you voluntarily give up the deed to the house to the bank in an attempt to avoid the full foreclosure process. Foreclosure is a long, drawn out, exhausting process that is not just an unpleasant experience for you, but for the lender as well.

Like foreclosure, you will still have to vacate the home with a deed in lieu, but you’ll be able to avoid involving the courts as would be the case with a formal foreclosure. But once all of your interest in the property has been handed over to your lender, your defaulted mortgage will be considered completely satisfied.

The actual nitty-gritty details of a deed in lieu of foreclosure will vary depending on the bank, but the process typically starts off with a few missed mortgage payments. The bank will then notify the borrower of the defaults, and if both the lender and homeowner agree, a deed in lieu of foreclosure process can start. At that point, you’ll be asked to move out of the home and submit the deed to the bank who will then be considered the owner of the property.

After the deed in lieu documents are signed by the homeowner, the process is complete.

Are You Eligible For a Deed in Lieu of Foreclosure?

Before you set your sights on this alternative to foreclosure, you will have to see if your lender agrees to this process and if you are even eligible for it.

For instance, if your bank thinks that they will be able to recoup more of their money by going the foreclosure route, you might be turned down for a deed in lieu. You might also be rejected if there are any subsequent liens filed against the home. In this case, these liens will become the lender’s responsibility if they’re not released before a deed in lieu of foreclosure is agreed upon.

A property with more than one loan against it may also not be eligible for a deed in lieu of foreclosure. The lenders holding the second (or third, etc) mortgage will probably not agree to a deed in lieu of foreclosure because it will be extremely difficult for them to get their money back by taking this route. Once the home has been sold, the odds of there being any funds left from the proceeds of the sale to pay off all other lenders are quite low.

Why is a Deed in Lieu of Foreclosure the Better Alternative to Foreclosure?

It might be tough to even imagine there being any pros to a situation whereby you’re being kicked out of your home. But a deed in lieu of foreclosure can come with certain benefits over enduring a full foreclosure.

If you’ve been given the green light to go ahead with a deed in lieu of foreclosure, you may be able to get away with not having to repay your lender back any money if there is a discrepancy between what the lender is able to sell the home for and what you still owe on the mortgage. In the case of a foreclosure, lenders often take the defaulted borrower to court in an effort to get back this difference. With a deed in lieu, you’re more likely to be forgiven for this deficiency.

A deed in lieu of foreclosure is also a much faster and less invasive procedure compared to the alternative. Once you leave the home and it’s sold by the lender, the mortgage is cleared and the process is typically over. This can be done and over with in a matter of a couple of weeks compared to a foreclosure process which can take months and even a year or more to complete.

While your credit score will take a hard a hit with a deed in lieu just like it would with a full foreclosure, you will probably have an easier time getting approved for another mortgage or other type of loan in a shorter amount of time, usually within two or three years compared to at least seven with a formal foreclosure.

The Bottom Line

Defaulting on your mortgage likely result in heavy consequences, including being forced out of your home after foreclosure proceedings have begun. But you can effectively stop this process from starting by immediately contacting your lender after your first missed mortgage payment. It’s possible that your lender may be willing to work something out with you if you show that you are eager to settle the matter.

If you and your lender are unable to come up with a resolution, contact a credit counselor who may be able to offer you some counseling and introduce some workable debt management strategies that might make it possible for you to make additional money available to make your mortgage payments before going into default.

If foreclosure is imminent, a deed in lieu of foreclosure may be your last resort in order to avoid the nasty and lengthy process that inevitably follows. While you will still wind up losing your home, the end result is slightly better for your financial health ove