How To Prepare Yourself for Winter
As much as we all love apple orchards and pumpkin spice lattes, they can distract us from the fact that wintery weather is going to be here before we know it. With winter comes a whole host of issues that can hit us hard if we don’t prepare for them. The earlier we start preparing for the season, the better. If you haven’t started already, here’s how to prepare yourself for winter.
Prep the House
Don’t wait for another polar vortex before you start working to keep the cold out of your house. Now is the time to not only make sure your heater is fully functional, but also that there are no gaps in your windows to let in drafty winds.
The cold doesn’t only affect how comfortable you are when you’re sitting in your living room. It’s necessary to take time to check the insulation of your pipes as well, or else you may wake up to find rain in your bedroom or a flood in your basement. You’ll also want to inspect the roof to make sure it can handle the mountains of snow that start piling on it in a month or two. Even if the roof is sturdy now, a backed-up gutter system can cause damage to the rooftop later, so cleaning out the gutter before winter is a must.
Clean Out the Car
We take for granted how easy it is to clean out our cars in the summer. Once winter rolls around and the temperatures drop below freezing, standing outside long enough to clean the car won’t be as pleasant. Not only that, but winter is flu season, and if there is one place we tend not to clean as often as we should, it’s the car. Taking time to clean out your car’s interior will make driving in winter more enjoyable and will cut back on germs.
Go Through Winter Clothes
It’s amazing how much our kids grow from year to year. Because of this, and because it’s been a few months since we’ve pulled out our kids’ coats, snow boots, and snow pants, our kids may have grown out of their winter clothes without us realizing it. Even if your kids haven’t grown much, it’s still a good idea to take their clothes out and check for broken zippers, rips, and stains that may have happened while the items were in storage.
Check the Snowblower and Salt
Waking up to find that you have to clear the driveway can be inconvenient, and discovering that the snowblower’s out of gas is even more inconvenient. So, is realizing you don’t have road salt. Take a minute before the first snowfall of the year to make sure your snowblower turns on, so you aren’t taken by surprise later on.
So, enjoy our pumpkins and apples now, but make sure preparing yourself for winter is a part of your autumnal traditions too. That way, you can enjoy winter as much as you enjoy fall.
