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My Go-To Recipes to Make After Apple Picking (That Aren’t Pie)

Despite the early appearance of the PSL, pumpkins themselves are still waiting on deck. Right now, it’s prime time for the wholesome apple. While this sweet fruit is available all times of year, it’s the unofficial ambassador of fall in my book. Whether you’ve recently come home from an orchard with 16 pounds of Jonagolds or you get your harvest from the grocery store, it’s a good time to dust off those apple recipes. Here are 12 of my favorite apple recipes (that aren’t apple pie) to make all season, from indulgent desserts to daily staples. 

OXO Good Grips Apple Slicer, Corer, and Divider

OXO Good Grips Apple Slicer, Corer and Divider,White,NA


$11.96
at Amazon

While there are a few recipes in this bunch that don’t require peeling or coring, most of them do. An apple corer like this one can be a life saver (or hand saver, really) when it comes to prepping a dozen apples or even just four, frankly. When it comes to peeling, I suggest a speed peeler, which angles the blade in a more natural way and reduces fatigue. Then you’ll be ready to tackle a mountain of apples for any of the following.

Silky apple butter

A slice of bread topped with apple butter on a plate.

Credit: Allie Chanthorn Reinmann

Apple butter is a simple spread that packs a massive punch of flavor. It’s made by slowly cooking down loads of peeled apples, way past the point of apple sauce. The fruit pulp browns and the flavors concentrate until you have a pot full of chunky apple mush. Add a generous amount of warming spices and run an immersion blender through it until you have the most luxurious possible topping for your morning toast. 

An indulgent ice cream topping

Surely you’ve topped apple pie with ice cream, but have you ever thought your ice cream could use a scoop of apple pie filling? Cook down cubes of apple with a splash of water, a couple spoonfuls of brown sugar and a squeeze of lemon juice until they’re soft and they’ve released a bit of juice. Stir in a small amount of cornstarch slurry to thicken the sauce and add a tab of butter. Cool the filling and proceed to spoon it over your ice cream (or pancakes, or yogurt, or toast).

Apple as a helper

An apple and bacon sandwich with melted cheese.

Credit: Brent Hofacker / Shutterstock.com

Sure, you can make a whole dessert or condiment that spotlights apples, but apples are an excellent helper ingredient too. Cut apple slices are the perfect ingredient to add a bit of sweetness, acid, or crunch to another dish. Add slices of apple to a deli sandwich, or cube the fruit and toss it into a salad. Tuck apples under a roast along with onions and carrots for a lovely aroma and sweetness. 

Cook a batch of cider

Cider is a great way to use up those 10 or 12 apples lingering from your trip to the orchard. Though you should avoid the core, you don’t have to bother peeling the apples because everything gets strained by the end. Cook the apples with some water, sugar, and seasonings until you have a fragrant mash. Then strain it thoroughly with a layered cheesecloth or nut milk bag. Serve it warmed up or cold from the fridge. Try this step-by-step recipe which includes helpful pictures. 

Tuck into apple cake

An apple cake sliced on a cutting board.

Credit: larik_malasha / Shutterstock.com

A homemade apple cake is the quintessential day-to-night cake for your kitchen table. Make it in the morning and snack on it whenever you walk by. In the evening, dress it with a scoop of vanilla ice cream to get ready for bed. Here’s an old-fashioned apple cake recipe from King Arthur Flour that piles on the apple. The icing is a bit thick for my taste. You could simply dust the cake with powdered sugar to make your life easier. 

Cozy apple crisp

When it comes to classic apple desserts, I’d say pie is the first thing that comes to mind—but in many ways I prefer apple crisp. It’s quicker to make, less fussy, and the texture of the crispy oat topping with soft apple segments is pure comfort. It’s also easier to make a double or triple recipe. You can just use a bigger baking dish (as opposed to making multiple pies). Here’s Ina Garten’s recipe, because I trust her the most with comfort food. 

Air fryer apple turnovers

A broken apple turnover on a plate next to others on a wire rack.

Credit: Allie Chanthorn Reinmann

Speaking of air fryer apple desserts, these turnovers provide all the sweet flavors of fall in a handy, crisp pocket. Simply sautée apple chunks with butter and spices before scooping the plump fruit onto a puff pastry square. Air fry them for about 15 minutes at 300°F and cool. I love these as an inviting breakfast pastry if you’re staying with family or you have house guests in town.

A billowing apple Dutch baby

If you like the drama of a towering popover, you should try making a cast iron skillet Dutch baby. The simple egg-based batter balloons up the sides of the hot skillet to create a voluminous crater of custardy pancake. An edible bowl for fresh fruit, if I may be so bold. Add sliced apples and whipped cream, or even stewed, spiced apples as a cozy variation. This recipe includes a stout beer as the liquid but you can swap the measurement for milk to make it a classic Dutch baby.

Snackable apple chips

If you’re not in the mood for dessert, try apple chips. Simply slice them into thin rounds, about an eighth of an inch thick. Season them, if you’d like, with a light dusting of cinnamon and pop them in a 225°F oven on a wire rack for about two hours, or in an air fryer at 300°F for 10 to 15 minutes. Allow them to cool completely on a wire rack before snacking.

Bite-sized apple puffs

An apple puff on a parchment paper lined sheet tray.

Credit: Allie Chanthorn Reinmann

I love puff pastry desserts. They’re gorgeous and tasty—and frozen, packaged puff pastry dough gives you the excuse to treat yourself to this effortless opulence with much less effort. These apple puffs are great for Rosh Hashanah or any weekday you’re craving something sweet and simple. Start by slicing apples into rounds and sautéing them in butter. Top circles of puff pastry with the softened apples and bake them until risen and browned. Drizzle with honey and enjoy. (You can use other fruits like this, too. I used up my last summer peaches in a similar way.) 

A gorgeous galette

A galette is kind of like a single layer fruit pie without the pie dish. You can make tempting summer galettes with stone fruits or berries, so why not swap those out for a heap of sliced apples? Roll out a round of flaky pie dough, unceremoniously pile on the pre-cooked apple filling (this technique will keep the crust from getting soggy), and pleat the edges with egg wash before baking. Soon after, you’ll have a rustic-chic apple dessert.   

A classic tarte tatin

An apple tarte tatin on a white plate.

Credit: hlphoto / Shutterstock.com

In case I didn’t make it clear, apples and puff pastry are great partners. The combination of sweet, soft apples set upon a background of crisp, buttery pastry is utterly satisfying. It doesn’t have to be complicated with spices and seasonings, but the pairing is undeniably open to embellishment. Tarte tatin is exactly the type of dessert that can be crafted with apples, butter, sugar, and puff pastry, or zhuzhed-up with vanilla bean and fresh ginger. This recipe uses quartered apples (cored), so you can put five or six of them to use in this tasty treat.

Hopefully these ideas can help you make a sizable dent in your bounty of apples. Luckily, apples store remarkably well in the fridge so you can keep cooking as the days march on toward winter.

Use Productivity ‘Sprints’ When Your Attention Span Is Low

When you have a lot of work to do, a short attention span can be disastrous to your productivity. But instead of fighting it, you can use it to your advantage by working in “sprints” rather than trying for a marathon session. Like the Pomodoro technique, the sprints method has you work in a series of shorter bursts, so you can get your tasks done without your attention or productivity lagging.

What is the sprints method?

When using the sprints method, you’ll be doing short bursts of work with breaks in between. That’s really all it is, but since taking breaks is fundamental to being truly productive, it’s effective.

Though, as noted, the sprints method has some elements in common with the popular Pomodoro method—which sees you work in tightly timed bursts interspersed with breaks that are also tightly timed—this one is a little more fluid. With the Pomodoro method, you work for 25 minutes, then take a five-minute break. After four cycles, you take a longer break. When you’re doing sprints, however, you determine beforehand how long you need to (or are able to) focus, and set your timer based on that.

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The trick to using sprints rather than the more rigid Pomodoro method is goal-setting: You should set a longer-term goal, like completing a big work project by the end of the week, and sprint to get there, using however many sprints that takes you. Each sprint should get you to a smaller goal, like finishing a chunk of the project, and you should time it to encompass exactly the amount of time that smaller goal will likely take. By modifying the timing instead of relying on the 25-minute rule, you won’t be interrupted by your timer before you’re done with the mini task. You’ll stay in focus mode until the task is complete, while remaining fully aware that a break is coming.

If you’ve having a hard time figuring out how much time will be necessary for each task chunk, consider forgoing the timer altogether and instead committing to just working in a sprint until the task is complete. One of the most important elements of this approach is staying in deep focus for the amount of time it’ll take you to get the task done—so keep your phone away from you and shut out any other distractions. Then buckle down and concentrate, whether the task takes you 10 minutes or 30. It may be helpful to track your time the first few times you do this, so you get a general idea of how long specific tasks usually take when you’re in a completely focused state. You can do this using an Excel spreadsheet or a note in your phone, but I recommend using time-tracking software to get the most accurate data. After a few weeks of doing this, you’ll have a better sense of how long you need to do certain things.

That’s going to come in handy because you should be time blocking, or scheduling these sprints and breaks down to the minute and inputting them into your calendar. Doing that helps you visualize your day and how much time you really have to do everything while also keeping you on track and forcing you to work at your pre-determined times. Plus, if you do this on an office-wide calendar, it will send a signal to your coworkers that you are busy and shouldn’t be bothered, helping you stay in deep focus.

Things to keep in mind when using productivity sprints

Since your goal isn’t just to work for a predefined amount of time, but to get a specific task accomplished, you can (and should) work as hard as you can without focusing too much on how long it’s taking you or if you’re getting everything right. If you’re writing a paper, for instance, one sprint can be dedicated to getting the words you need down. After your break, the second sprint can be about editing for clarity.

Getting full tasks done during your sprints will give you a feeling of accomplishment that you might miss if you rely more on the timing than the output, which is why chunking your responsibilities up into smaller tasks is so important. Besides, getting interrupted by a timer in the middle of a major focus is a drag, while sprints allow you to be more task-focused.

Breaks should be half as long as productivity sprints

Don’t skimp on the breaks—however long a mini task takes you, give yourself about half that time to recover before moving on to the next one. If it takes 30 minutes to get the words on the page, pause for 15 before editing. These are sprints, not a marathon, so prioritize the bursts and the recovery periods.

Make a Better To-Do List With the 1-3-5 Method

No matter what kind of productivity goals you have and which techniques you plan to use to get it all done, you still probably start with a to-do list. Learning to formulate a solid to-do list is the key first step to being productive, since you need it to move on to other planning stages, like using the Eisenhower matrix to prioritize tasks or Kanban to organize them. Try using the 1-3-5 rule for a while and see how this to-do list system works for you. 

What is the 1-3-5 rule of productivity?

The 1-3-5 rule acknowledges that in a typical day, you just don’t have time to do it all. What you do reasonably have time for is one major task, three medium-sized tasks, and five little ones. 

These can be related or they can be separate. For instance, a big task might be going to meet with your financial advisor, which is unrelated to your three mid-sized tasks: grocery shopping, preparing for a meeting at work, and picking up a gift for a friend’s birthday. Small tasks can be anything from answering emails to laying out your clothes for the week, depending on what you consider large, medium, and small, but they’re usually things that require less thought, resources, and time.

Used another way, the rule can also apply to major tasks and involve batching them into smaller groups. Say you’re planning a vacation. The 1-3-5 rule can help you break up everything you need to do. The big task can be booking flights and hotel accommodations. Three medium tasks might be getting tickets to whatever you’ll be doing while you’re at the destination, shopping for what you’ll need, and securing a pet sitter. Little tasks can be anything from setting an OOO to emailing your travel partners the itinerary. 

How to use the 1-3-5 rule to be productive

Start each day with a brain dump, writing down every single thing you have to do for the day in no order other than how fast you remember them. You’ll prioritize them later. Once everything is down on the paper, make note of anything especially timely. Here’s where a knowledge of that Eisenhower matrix, which helps you prioritize responsibilities by urgency and importance, is going to be useful. From that group, identify one big task, three medium ones, and five little ones. That’s your to-do list for the day. If you struggle with what might be “big” or “small,” think about what it would take to get each done. Emails that take just a few seconds don’t require a lot of time, so they can be small. Cleaning the kitchen could be “medium” or “big” depending on how much needs to be cleaned, how many products and resources you need, and how much time it’ll take. A project that is due in two weeks could be “medium,” but if that same project is due tomorrow, the urgency makes it “big.” These are subjective classifications based on your own resource allocation.

Acknowledging upfront that you can’t and won’t get it all done in a single day helps you stay focused on what you can and will do, rather than stressing about the remainder that you’re saving for tomorrow. It’s helpful to see everything written out or represented visually, so try using a physical planner, like this one:

Daily Planner Undated, Asten To Do List

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Next, block out time in your calendar for each task, whether you do it in that planner or on a digital calendar. Use time blocking, or the technique of giving every single thing you need to do in a day a designated time on your calendar, and consider giving yourself just a smidge less time than you think you need for everything, to defeat Parkinson’s law, which is the idea that you’ll waste time if you give yourself too long to do anything. Once you’ve laid out your day, start with that big task. Known as “eating the frog,” the big-task-first approach will give you a sense of accomplishment on completion, propelling you forward into those mid- and smaller-sized tasks. Plus, it stands to reason that the major responsibility will take the most time and resources, so knocking it out first ensures you have the time and resources it needs.

Finally, be flexible. Unexpected assignments or duties crop up all the time and may not be easily categorized into the 1-3-5 boxes. You may also not finish one of your tasks for the day. The goal here isn’t to beat yourself up or be super strict. Rather, it’s to help you feel less overwhelmed by the sheer volume of things you need to do, prioritize them, and get a good amount done every day. If something doesn’t get taken care of, make sure to stick it back on the list the next day and keep going. 

Three Nintendo Switch Deals to Consider Before the Holiday Rush

Amazon’s Prime Big Deal Days is around the corner, forcing other retailers like Best Buy to have their own fall sales ahead of the holidays. One of the biggest hot ticket items for the holidays, the Nintendo Switch, already has a few impressive deals and bundles available, but they usually don’t last long.

Best Buy has two bundles that include 12 months of free Nintendo Online membership: the Mario Kart Nintendo Switch Bundle for $299.99 and the Mario Kart Nintendo Switch OLED bundle for $349.99. If you don’t care for a bundle, the Nintendo Switch OLED is currently $299.99 (originally $349.99) at Woot. Keep in mind Woot only ships to the 48 contiguous U.S. states. If you have Amazon Prime, you get free shipping; otherwise, it’ll cost $6. 

(USA Model)
Nintendo Switch OLED

Nintendo Switch OLED


$299.99
at Woot
$349.99
Save $50.00

Digital Game + 12mo. Online Membership
Nintendo Switch: Mario Kart 8 Deluxe Bundle

Nintendo Switch: Mario Kart 8 Deluxe Bundle


$299.99
at Best Buy

Digital Game + 12mo. Online Membership
Nintendo Switch OLED Model: Mario Kart 8 Deluxe Bundle

Nintendo Switch – OLED Model: Mario Kart 8 Deluxe Bundle


$349.99
at Best Buy

Earlier in June, Woot had the OLED Nintendo Switch for $314.99, and it didn’t last too long before it sold out. This is the best OLED Nintendo Switch deal without a bundle that you can find right now from a reputable retailer. If you know you want one before the craziness from the holiday sales start, this is a solid deal.

Best Buy’s bundles are also very well-priced. The new addition is the 12-month Nintendo Online membership, which hasn’t been offered before with this bundle.

If you’re not sure which console version to get, the main difference is the OLED has a better 7-inch OLED screen, but if you plan on playing mostly on the TV in docked mode, that may not matter to you. (Check out this guide to help you decide if it’s worth paying for the OLED upgrade.) The other main difference is storage space: The OLED has 64GB of storage, twice that of the regular model. It also has an improved kickstand, and the docking station is sleeker-looking. But if you plan on playing the Switch docked most of the time, the OLED screen won’t make a difference for you.

Eight Ways to Free Up Kitchen Counter Space

We spend a lot of time in our kitchens—about 400 hours every year, according to one survey—which works out to more than an hour every day. That’s more than just preparing meals—it’s making coffee, it’s grabbing snacks, it’s hanging out and chatting with friends and family. Since we spend so much time in our kitchens, it’s not surprising that we fill them with a lot of stuff; although you don’t need much to have a basic, functioning kitchen space, we love our gadgets (even the unserious ones). As a result, the kitchen counters become crowded with stuff, sometimes forcing us to prep food in unusual places.

There are basic things we all do to clear off some counter space, like using the extra space above our cabinets or even remodeling the kitchen with an eye toward storage. But there are some really clever, simple ways you can grab back a lot of that counter space without doing a full remodel or renovation while still maintaining the functionality and efficiency of your kitchen. Here are eight ways to make more counter space that will also make your kitchen better.

Finnish Dish Cabinets

America gave the world jazz, but Finland has given us astiankuivauskaappi. These dish-drying cabinets get the dish rack off your counters, allowing you to put damp dishes in a cabinet over the sink (or a bowl or towel, though that reduces the efficiency level because it’s still taking up counter space). An open bottom allows the dishes to drip-dry right there, meaning you can skip all the towel-drying and get back precious counter space. It’s hard to find pre-made dish cabinets in the U.S., but you can DIY one from your existing cabinets if you’re adventurous. You can also try some similar solutions like this over-the-sink drying rack, which at least clears off your counter.

Backsplash wall hanging

Your backsplash is an untapped resource for storing stuff that might otherwise lounge on your counters. This could be as simple as a magnetic strip for knives and other cutlery, adhesive hooks for temporary (and renter-friendly) hanging, or a more robust and permanent solution like this kitchen pegboard. Any wall storage you choose will make some room on your counters.

Drawer outlets

One way to keep your counters clear is to get all the charging devices and plugged-in small appliances off of them and into your drawers by installing drawer outlets. All you need is a plug somewhere behind the drawer in your lower cabinet and you can pretty easily install an outlet in the rear of the drawer box. This lets you move a bunch of stuff that would normally hang out on top of the counter near the wall outlets into drawers, where the clutter won’t bother you (as much).

Sliders

Placing small appliances on appliance sliders like these and sliding them into cabinets or into otherwise inaccessible areas of your counters can help clear up some usable space while keeping your appliances within easy reach. You can also leverage the magic of sliding by installing some lower cabinet slide-outs. If you have a power outlet in a lower cabinet as well, you can place small appliances on the slide-out drawer and tuck that toaster or blender away when you’re done using it.

Shelf risers

Sometimes solutions are so obvious we overlook them—like shelf risers. A set of cheap, expandable risers can double the capacity of your wall cabinets, allowing you to clear a boatload of stuff off your counters without driving a single screw or replacing a single piece of cabinetry.

Burner covers

One way to make more counter space is to install a cover over your stovetop and/or sink. These are removable, so you can have more counter space during food prep but still use your stove and sink when it’s time to cook and clean up. You can have custom covers made if your sink is an unusual shape or size, but even an inexpensive cover will give you a few feet of space to work with that you didn’t have yesterday.

Under cabinet mounts

You can mount a lot of stuff under your wall cabinets, including small kitchen appliances like coffee makers, toaster ovens, microwaves, or even can openers and paper towel holders. Getting all those gizmos and pieces of hardware off your counters and under your cabinets will open up a lot of work space and help keep that space neat and tidy.

Behind door storage

Your cabinet doors offer a lot of opportunities to get stuff off your counters. Hanging door organizers can store a ton of stuff that would otherwise wind up taking up space, knife holders mounted to the rear of cabinet doors can get that enormous knife block off your counters, and spice racks can do the same for those dusty bottles of garlic salt and cinnamon you rarely use.

USDA Announces Approval of D-SNAP for Louisiana Disaster Areas

WASHINGTON, September 24, 2024 – The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced that low-income Louisiana residents in eight parishes (Ascension, Assumption, Lafourche, St. Charles, St. James, St. John, St. Mary, and Terrebonne) recovering from the impact of Hurricane Francine that began on September 11, 2024, could be eligible for a helping hand from the USDA’s Disaster Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (D-SNAP).

Today’s Wordle Hints (and Answer) for Tuesday, September 24, 2024

If you’re looking for the Wordle answer for September 24, 2024 read on. We’ll share some clues, tips, and strategies, and finally the solution. Today’s puzzle is easier; I got it in three. Beware, there are spoilers below for September 24, Wordle #1,193! Keep scrolling if you want some hints (and then the answer) to today’s Wordle game.

How to play Wordle

Wordle lives here on the New York Times website. A new puzzle goes live every day at midnight, your local time.

Start by guessing a five-letter word. The letters of the word will turn green if they’re correct, yellow if you have the right letter in the wrong place, or gray if the letter isn’t in the day’s secret word at all. For more, check out our guide to playing Wordle here, and my strategy guide here for more advanced tips. (We also have more information at the bottom of this post, after the hints and answers.)

Ready for the hints? Let’s go!

Does today’s Wordle have any unusual letters?

We’ll define common letters as those that appear in the old typesetters’ phrase ETAOIN SHRDLU. (Memorize this! Pronounce it “Edwin Shirdloo,” like a name, and pretend he’s a friend of yours.)

There are four common letters from our mnemonic today. The fifth is uncommon.

Can you give me a hint for today’s Wordle?

Good with tools, for example.

Does today’s Wordle have any double or repeated letters?

There are no repeated letters today. 

How many vowels are in today’s Wordle?

There is one vowel and one “sometimes” vowel.

What letter does today’s Wordle start with?

Today’s word starts with H. 

What letter does today’s Wordle end with?

Today’s word ends with Y. 

What is the solution to today’s Wordle?

Ready? Today’s word is HANDY.

How I solved today’s Wordle

I started with RAISE and TOUCH, then guessed HANDY because it was both a possible solution and helped eliminate common consonants. 

Wordle 1,193 3/6

⬛🟩⬛⬛⬛
⬛⬛⬛⬛🟨
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

Yesterday’s Wordle answer

Yesterday’s Wordle was easier. The hint was “a gaming platform, or a form of water” and the answer contained four common letters and one pretty common letter.

The answer to yesterday’s Wordle was STEAM.

A primer on Wordle basics

The idea of Wordle is to guess the day’s secret word. When you first open the Wordle game, you’ll see an empty grid of letters. It’s up to you to make the first move: type in any five-letter word. 

Now, you can use the colors that are revealed to get clues about the word: Green means you correctly guessed a letter, and it’s in the correct position. (For example, if you guess PARTY, and the word is actually PURSE, the P and R will be green.)

  • Yellow means the letter is somewhere in the word, but not in the position you guessed it. (For example, if you guessed PARTY, but the word is actually ROAST, the R, A and T will all be yellow.)

  • Gray means the letter is not in the solution word at all. (If you guessed PARTY and everything is gray, then the solution cannot be PURSE or ROAST.)

With all that in mind, guess another word, and then another, trying to land on the correct word before you run out of chances. You get six guesses, and then it’s game over.

The best starter words for Wordle

What should you play for that first guess? The best starters tend to contain common letters, to increase the chances of getting yellow and green squares to guide your guessing. (And if you get all grays when guessing common letters, that’s still excellent information to help you rule out possibilities.) There isn’t a single “best” starting word, but the New York Times’s Wordle analysis bot has suggested starting with one of these:

  • CRANE

  • TRACE

  • SLANT

  • CRATE

  • CARTE

Meanwhile, an MIT analysis found that you’ll eliminate the most possibilities in the first round by starting with one of these:

  • SALET

  • REAST

  • TRACE

  • CRATE

  • SLATE

Other good picks might be ARISE or ROUND. Words like ADIEU and AUDIO get more vowels in play, but you could argue that it’s better to start with an emphasis on consonants, using a starter like RENTS or CLAMP. Choose your strategy, and see how it plays out.

How to win at Wordle

We have a few guides to Wordle strategy, which you might like to read over if you’re a serious student of the game. This one covers how to use consonants to your advantage, while this one focuses on a strategy that uses the most common letters. In this advanced guide, we detail a three-pronged approach for fishing for hints while maximizing your chances of winning quickly.

The biggest thing that separates Wordle winners from Wordle losers is that winners use their guesses to gather information about what letters are in the word. If you know that the word must end in -OUND, don’t waste four guesses on MOUND, ROUND, SOUND, and HOUND; combine those consonants and guess MARSH. If the H lights up in yellow, you know the solution.

One more note on strategy: the original Wordle used a list of about 2,300 solution words, but after the game was bought by the NYT, the game now has an editor who hand-picks the solutions. Sometimes they are slightly tricky words that wouldn’t have made the original list, and sometimes they are topical. For example, FEAST was the solution one Thanksgiving. So keep in mind that there may be a theme.

Wordle alternatives

If you can’t get enough of five-letter guessing games and their kin, the best Wordle alternatives, ranked by difficulty, include:

How We Bought Our First Home: A Content Marketer and a Government Contractor in South Carolina

Welcome to “How I Bought My First Home,” a Lifehacker series where I ask real people how they actually sealed the deal on their first home. This week, I chatted with Mark* (a content marketer) about how he and his wife (a government contractor) navigated the home-buying process for the first time, and how you might be able to follow in their footsteps.

First off, let’s get to know our homebuyer

Here’s what to know about Mark and his wife:

  • Age: (at the time) 38 years old

  • Location: Charleston, S.C.

  • Marital status: Married

  • Household income: SEO/Content marketer and government contractor, $220K

Now, let’s take a look at the home-buying costs

Mark shares the cost breakdown of his first home:

  • Cost of home: $545,000

  • Down payment: $70,000

  • Closing costs: $19,000

  • Moving: Around $4,000 (with help from in-laws)

  • Mortgage payments: $3,400 monthly

  • Insurance/taxes: $500 monthly

  • Loan lengths: 30-year fixed at 5.75%. Fortunate to lock in when rates dipped early last year.

Now, here’s my Q&A with Mark about the ins and outs of securing his first home in the current market.

How did you approach setting a budget and deciding how much home you can afford?

We looked at what monthly payment we could afford without significantly changing our lifestyles and worked backward from there. This isn’t probably the best way to do it, if only because the online calculators do a bad job of capturing things like taxes and insurance. But it felt more realistic than convincing ourselves we could suddenly become complete spendthrifts to stretch what we could afford.

What should first-time homebuyers know about mortgages?

That who you choose as a mortgage officer is arguably more important than who you pick for your realtor. The mortgage origination process is infinitely more complicated (and significantly less fun) than shopping for a house, and it’s vital to have someone who knows their stuff and can explain it to you in a way that makes sense. The good ones will pick up their phone at all hours of the night to answer questions (though you shouldn’t actually do that), and will shoot you straight about your finances.

How much of your income goes towards your mortgage?

About 19% of our gross. If I had to guess, I’d say about 30-35% of our net.

What unexpected costs cropped up?

Taxes and insurance shouldn’t be considered “unexpected,” but they can raise your total monthly payment in a hurry. And while it was pure luck that both our realtor and mortgage officer were phenomenal people, others should know that you absolutely have the right to walk away if you don’t like the way they treat you.

What would you have done differently?

There were several times in the craziness of 2021-22 when we would’ve ended up with much more house in as good or better of a location if we’d simply offered a bit more. Obviously there’s virtue in having a budget and sticking to it, but the market doesn’t care about what you think a house “should” cost. If you find one you want and you can truly afford what it costs to buy it, pay it.

What tips do you have for other first-time buyers?

It’s tough because this market is totally different than the one we dealt with a couple of years ago. Here are some tips that should apply to most people, though:

  • Do not dismiss a house over cosmetic things. You rarely look at the outside of your own house anyway, and you’d be surprised how quickly “ugly cabinets” start to blend into the rest of the house. And always remember you can change practically anything about a house, aside from its location.

  • If you can, view the home a second time when it’s raining. Flooding is an issue where I live, but thankfully not for our house. It would’ve been nice to know that everything in one section of the garage gets wet when it rains a certain way.

  • To see if a location can work for you, aside from the commute to work, walk or drive around and find your go-to spots. If you’re a bar person, is there one nearby? Parks, stores, gyms? Buying a house is a little like marriage in that it will not fundamentally change who you are as a person, even if you think it will. Your hobbies and interests won’t suddenly change, and if the location makes it hard or impossible to do those things, you will eventually begin to resent your home.

  • Buy a house for your immediate and near-term lifestyle, not some distant version of yourself. If you like nightlife and walkability, don’t pass up on something that puts you close to that because you have vague plans for a future family.

  • Do not waive any of the usual contingencies. Waiving something like an inspection is a terrible thing to do for your first home considering how much money you’re spending.

How long did the home-buying process take you, start to finish?

Technically, the timeline was around two years. We had the misfortune of starting our search in 2021 when the market was wild with low interest rates and cash investors looking to capitalize on rising prices. But once we settled on our house, the process was remarkably fast, maybe 40-45 days at the most.

*Name changed to keep the subject anonymous. This interview has been lightly edited for clarity.

A final note for readers: When it comes to buying a home, one of the biggest challenges is figuring out exactly how much house you can reasonably afford. And when you’re doing your research, coming across, say, a 24-year-old engineer in Maryland or a youth pastor in Ohio, it’s frustrating to see that the solution is loan sizes or lifestyles you simply can’t relate to. I get it. So, if you’d like to share your experiences buying your first home, drop a comment below. Maybe you can help paint a wider portrait of what it looks like to navigate the housing market these days—particularly without generational wealth.

The Best AirPods Pro Settings Everyone Should Be Using

Apple’s AirPods Pro are among the best wireless earbuds you can buy, especially if you’re already entrenched in the Apple ecosystem. Like many Apple products, AirPods Pro are pretty simple to set up and use. However, there are also plenty of settings you should be using (and changing) from the default.

Because many of the features are found in the same settings page, here’s some advice: When I refer to AirPods Pro settings, I’m talking about those found in Settings > [Your AirPods] (iOS). You can also find these options in Settings > Bluetooth (iOS), or System Settings > Bluetooth (macOS), then by tapping the (i) (iOS) or Options (macOS) next to your AirPods Pro in the list.

Note that your AirPods Pro need to be connected to your device to access these settings.

Disable device auto-switching

If you have multiple Apple devices, you might notice something interesting when using AirPods Pro: When you play media on a device not connected to your AirPods Pro, they’ll automatically connect to that device. This feature is great in theory, but can be a real pain if you need to use multiple devices at once. Tapping a video on your iPhone will move your AirPods Pro from your Mac to the phone, even if you don’t want it to happen.

While you can simply select the notification that appears on the original device to return the connection, there’s a way to disable this feature if it isn’t right for you. In your AirPods Pro settings, head to Connect to This iPhone or Connect to This Mac. Now, choose When Last Connected to This iPhone or When Last Connected to This Mac and your AirPods Pro won’t automatically switch to that iPhone.

Quickly switch between devices with a tap

Here’s the method for switching between devices that I prefer: When you want to move your AirPods Pro to another one of your devices, head to Control Center, press the AirPlay button in the top-right corner of the Now Playing window (Sound window on Mac), then choose your AirPods Pro from the list. Give the earbuds a moment to connect, and you’re all set.

Enable AirPods sharing

One really cool iOS feature that works with compatible headphones is the ability to share audio to two different sources at once. That means you can listen through your AirPods Pro while your friend listens through their AirPods or Beats.

To get set up, head back to the AirPlay button in your Control Center’s Now Playing window. Tap Share Audio. If pairing AirPods or AirPods Pro, hold them close to your device with the AirPods inside the case and open the lid. If pairing AirPods Max, hold them close to your device. If pairing Beats wireless headphones, put them in pairing mode and hold them close to your device.

Customize stem controls

Apple packed quite a few controls into the stems on AirPods Pro. You can long-press them to switch between Noise Control settings (Noise Cancellation, Transparency Mode, and Off), but you can also use quick presses to control other areas:

  • One press to play or pause.

  • One press to answer or hang up a call.

  • Double-press to skip forward.

  • Triple-press to skip back.

Adjust the volume directly from the stem (AirPods Pro 2)

If you have a pair of second-generation AirPods Pro, you can also adjust the volume of the audio from the stem. Just place your thumb on the stem, then use your index finger to drag up or down on the touch control to increase or decrease the volume accordingly.

Use Adaptive Audio (AirPods Pro 2)

Transparency Mode is a great feature that pumps in the ambient sound around you, so you can either keep up with a conversation or be aware of traffic. AirPods Pro 2 improve upon Transparency Mode with something called “Adaptive Audio” (previously Adaptive Transparency) which block out sounds that reach 85dB or higher in real time. You can even wear second-gen AirPods Pro to concerts because of how well this feature works: You’ll be able to hear everything below 85dB as-is, and any noise louder than that comes through comfortably, like dynamic, high-tech earplugs.

You can enable Adaptive Audio from Control Center: Long-press the volume slider, then long-press Noise Control and choose Adaptive. From here, you can customize the amount of sound that your AirPods let in with this setting enabled. Head to Settings > Bluetooth, then tap More Info next to your AirPods. Tap Adaptive Audio, then adjust the slider to your preference.

Set up Conversation Awareness (AirPods Pro 2)

Another AirPods Pro 2-exclusive is Conversation Awareness: With this feature, your AirPods can detect when you start talking to someone, and will lower the volume of audio playback and turn on Transparency Mode. If you’re listening to spoken media, like a podcast, your AirPods will pause playback after a few seconds. To turn this feature on or off, head to your AirPods settings and enable Conversation Awareness. You’ll also find this option by long-pressing the volume slider in Control Center.

Choose Personalized Volume (AirPods Pro 2)

In this same settings page, you’ll also find Personalized Volume. When enabled, iOS uses machine learning to understand your listening habits, and adjusts the volume of your AirPods automatically.

Quickly switch between noise control modes from Control Center

Instead of using your AirPods Pro stem to switch between Noise Control modes, you can do the same from Control Center. Just long-press or click on the volume slider, then tap the “Noise Control” option in the bottom left. Here, you’ll find your three Noise Control options, “Noise Cancellation,” “Off,” and “Transparency.”

Customize your stem controls

By default, pressing the stem on your AirPods cycles between the Noise Control modes (well, all but “Off,” but more on that in a second). You can actually customize these settings. You’ll find the options under Press And Hold AirPods in your AirPods Pro settings. You can choose “Left” or “Right,” depending on which AirPod you want to customize.

At the top, you’ll find the option to have a stem press activate Noise Control, or Siri. If you choose Noise Control, you can opt into any and all of the three options listed. This is a great opportunity to add “Off” to your list, since Apple doesn’t include it by default. I enjoy using that setting when I can to save battery life.

Turn on Spatial Audio

Spatial Audio is a three-dimensional audio experience that follows the movement of your iPhone. (You can also choose to keep Spatial Audio fixed in place.) Enabling it is easy: Just open Control Center, long-press on the volume slider, then make sure that Spatial Audio.

Personalize your Spatial Audio experience

Spatial Audio doesn’t have the be the same for everyone. In fact, you can use your iPhone to take a scan of your ear and head shape in order to personalize your Spatial Audio experience. Your iPhone uses this scan to crease a Spatial Audio profile for you, which syncs across your Apple devices. That way, Spatial Audio will render the sound the same when listening on your iPhone, iPad, and Mac.

To get started, head to your AirPods Pro settings, choose Personalized Spatial Audio, then hit Personalized Spatial Audio once more to walk through setup.

Check your case’s wireless charging light indicator

All AirPods Pro come with a wireless charging case, unlike AirPods, which require you to buy the wireless charging model. As such, they all have this neat trick: With your case on the wireless charger, tap the top of the case to bring up the charging indicator. Orange indicates that your AirPods Pro are still charging, while green means you’re good to go.

Find the perfect fit

airpods seal

Credit: Jake Peterson

Another difference between AirPods and AirPods Pro concerns the varying sizing options. Unlike the one-size-fits-all approach of AirPods, the Pro models give you three or four different sized tips to use. If you don’t want to pick a size yourself, your iPhone has you covered.

Head back to your AirPods Pro settings on iOS, then tap Ear Tip Fit Test. Tap Continue, make sure your AirPods Pro are tight in your ears, then tap the play button to get started. Your iPhone will begin playing music, testing the seal created by your AirPods. If the test finds all is good, you’ll see “Good Seal” underneath your AirPods. If not, you might see “Adjust or Try a Different Ear Tip.” It’s possible you’ll need a different size for each AirPod.

Rename your AirPods Pro

“Jake’s AirPods Pro” is fine, but what if I wanted to call these earbuds something a little more fun? If you feel the same, head to Name in your AirPods Pro settings, then type whatever name you’d like into the text field. On macOS, right-click on your AirPods Pro from the Bluetooth list and choose “Rename.”

You can ping your misplaced AirPods Pro

If you ever lose your AirPods Pro, don’t panic. If they’re within range of a connected Apple device, you can have them make a chirping sound letting you know where they are.

To start, open Find My, then tap the Devices tab. Locate and tap on your AirPods Pro, then tap “Play Sound.” If they’re within range, iOS will let you know your AirPods are playing a sound. It actually gets quite loud, so you might want to double-check that nobody is wearing them first.

See exactly where your second-gen AirPods Pro are

While you can ping your AirPods to find them fast, you might not even need to with AirPods Pro 2. The newest Pros support precise location, which means you can see exactly where both earbuds and the charging case are through the Find My app. Just tap Devices, then the name of your AirPods, then Find.

The music doesn’t have to stop when you remove an AirPod Pro

At this point, it’s a bit of an AirPod staple to have your music stop when you take out one of the earbuds. While certainly useful, some of us would prefer to disable this feature, especially if you frequently trigger it when readjusting your AirPods. Plus, you can pause music on AirPods Pro with a quick press of the stem, so it’s not quite as essential a feature as it is on standard AirPods.

To disable the feature, just tap the toggle next to Automatic Ear Detection in your AirPods Pro settings.

Choose which AirPod Pro you want to be the mic

Both of your AirPods have microphones in them, but only one of them is ever active at once. By default, the system switches between mics automatically, but you can choose to have one microphone always active. This is particularly useful in cases when one of your AirPods’ mics is broken.

To choose, head to Microphone in your AirPods Pro settings, then tap Always Left AirPod or Always Right AirPod.

Keep your AirPods Pro above 80% when charging

AirPods Pro have what’s called Optimized Battery Charging. This basically means your AirPods Pro charge up to 80%, then hold the charge there until it thinks you’ll need them fully charged. It’s a great feature in theory, because it cuts down on battery degradation, but it does mean that sometimes your AirPods Pro are only charged to 80% when you go to use them.

To disable this feature, head to your AirPods Pro settings on iPhone, then tap the toggle next to Optimized Battery Charging. You’ll have the option to Turn Off Until Tomorrow, if you only want to disable the feature temporarily, or Turn Off to shut the feature down for good. You can read more about this feature and why it can be really helpful here.

Enable noise cancelation when using one AirPod Pro

You don’t need to be wearing both AirPods to enjoy noise cancellation. To unlock noise cancellation when only wearing one AirPod, head to Settings > Accessibility > AirPods on your iPhone, then tap the toggle next to Noise Cancellation with One AirPod.

Announce Notifications and Calls with Siri

Whenever you receive a new message with Announce Notifications with Siri, the digital assistant will politely interrupt whatever you happen to be doing when listening to AirPods in order to read incoming texts. It’s a great feature, but it’s not for everyone. Here’s how to manage it.

On iOS, head to Settings > Siri > Announce Notifications. To disable the feature entirely, tap the toggle next to Announce Notifications. You can also tap the toggle next to any app in the list to disable the feature for that app only. Some apps may let you choose between announcing all notifications as well as just “time-sensitive” alerts.

There’s also Reply Without Confirmation. Disabled by default, this setting lets Siri send your responses without reading it back to your first. It can be convenient, but also dangerous. You won’t know if the assistant misheard you before sending off your reply.

You can do the same for calls: Head to Settings > Siri > Announce Calls, then choose either Always, Headphones & Car, Headphones Only, and Never.

If you do keep this setting on, and you have a pair of second-gen AirPods Pro, you can address these requests silently by nodding or shaking your head. If Siri announces you have an incoming call, you can nod to accept the call. If the assistant says you have a notification, you can dismiss it by shaking your head.

Tune your audio to your liking

While AirPods Pro sound great by default, you might be someone who enjoys fine-tuning their audio experience. Apple lets you do that on your iPhone in Settings > Accessibility > Audio & Visual > Headphone Accommodations. Here, you can tune your audio for Balanced Tone, Vocal Range, or Brightness, and have soft sounds boosted slightly, moderately, or strongly. Apple lets you change these settings around and tap “Play Sample” to hear the differences.

You’ll find an even more custom experience by tapping Custom Audio Setup. Apple will walk you through customization for phone calls, movies, music, and Transparency Mode. By the end, you’ll have a totally unique sound experience with your AirPods Pro.

Enable Conversation Boost

Conversation Boost is a great feature tucked away in these Headphone Accommodations settings. When enabled, your AirPods focus on the person in front of you while reducing other noises, making conversations easier to hear in noisy environments. You can learn more about Conversation Boost from our guide here.

Enable Live Listen

Live Listen turns your iPhone into a microphone that can help you hear your surroundings better through your AirPods. To enable the feature, head to Control Center on your iPhone, tap the (+), then search for “Live Listen.” Add this setting tile to your Control Center, then return to Control Center and tap it. When you do, your AirPods will pump in all the sounds your iPhone mic can pick up. You can also fine-tune your Transparency Mode settings here, if you tweaked it in Custom Audio Setup.

Control your AirPods Pro modes with your Apple Watch

If your AirPods Pro are connected to your Apple Watch, you can switch between Noise Control modes from there. Pull up Control Center on your watch, then tap the AirPlay button. Here, you can choose between “Off,” “Noise Cancellation,” and “Transparency.”

Unpair your AirPods if they’re acting up

If your AirPods Pro just aren’t acting right, sometimes the best thing to do is to simply unpair them. You can do this easily on iPhone by heading to your AirPods Pro settings, then by tapping “Forget This Device.” Tap “Forget This Device” once more on the pop-up, and your AirPods will be removed from your device’s memory. You can do the same on Mac by right-clicking your AirPods from the list and selecting “Remove.”

Now, you can just hold the case open by your iPhone as you did when you first got your AirPods Pro to re-pair them.