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| Photo Source: http://tinyurl.com/springclocks |
Moving our clocks forward one hour can be a cause of grumbles over losing an hour of sleep. But here's the thing, we all get used to it and the extra hour of sunshine is worth it! Your evening commute is bright and sunny and there is more daylight to spend outside playing in your yard. Here are a few things to do to help you prepare for
Springing Forward on Sunday:
- Replace the batteries in your Smoke Detector and Carbon Monoxide Detector.
- Reverse the direction on your ceiling fan. In the Spring fan
blades should rotate counter clockwise to help cool down the rooms.
This measure helps save cost on heating and cooling.
- Flip and rotate your mattress to help promote even wear and tear. Unless you have a no flip mattress. Then just rotate it.
- Replace the filters in your heater and air conditioner. This should actually be done several times a year to ensure they run as efficiently as possible.
- If you have a fireplace, take some time to clean up the fireplace and brush down the walls.
- Drain your water heater. It is recommended that you drain
one quart of water from your water heater every three months. Make sure
to check the owner’s manual for your water heater for further
recommendations and how to drain the water correctly.
- Go through you medicine cabinet, 72-hour kits, and first aid kits and
discard any expired or discolored products. Dispose of any
prescription medication that is expired or no longer needed. You can
search on FDA.gov for how to safely dispose of medications.
- Go through your pantry and dispose of any expired or stale/opened foods.
- Daylight Savings Time is also a good time to start rotating your wardrobe.
Wash your winter clothes and inspect them for damage and wear and
tear. If you have clothes you know longer wear put them aside for a
garage sale or donate them. Pack away clothes for winter and start
washing and inspecting your Spring and Summer wardrobe.
These are just a few suggestions of home preparedness tasks that
should be done at least twice a year. Plan to tackle one or two items a
day in the days leading up to the time change and you will be
ready for the new seasons to start.
