Winterizing My Stuff – Avoiding Disaster!

Nobody likes the work required at the change of seasons. Whether it is Mom taking down the winter clothes and putting the summer wardrobe away or Dad winterizing of the family home, we all like to put off the transition. The clothing switch for Mom takes care of itself after the first hard frost when you realize your children don’t have any long sleeve shirts. Dads are usually reminded by subtle things like bursting pipes. So we’re offering a two part series on things you can do to get your home act in order for winter. This week we’ll cover things to do to avoid disaster. Next week we’ll offer some tips on how to make things easier.

1. Check the antifreeze in your car. You can check the levels by removing the radiator cap. The radiator should be full of antifreeze. You can check the quality of the antifreeze with a simple bulb tester available at your local auto center. While the hood is up, check your battery terminals for corrosion. If corroded mix a little baking soda and water and scrub them with a toothbrush, (an old one). .Check the air pressure in your tires. Put an ice scraper and jumper cables in every car you own. The colder weather causes the air to contract, so you may be a few pounds low. (Don't you wish it was the same for our bodies?)

2. Go to the local home center and purchase a bag of ice melt or salt. Also check your shovel – is it in shape for a big winter? You might also consider buying a pair of lined work gloves – A pair that you’ll use just for clearing snow.

3. If you have been holding out on turning your heat on, give it a test run to see if it works now. Don’t wait till the first really cold day only to find out your family has no heat and it’s freezing out.

4. Turn off your outside water, drain and put away your garden hose. If you have a water shut off valve inside your basement, turn off the water there, then drain the water from the outside spigot. If you don’t have a shut off inside your home, purchase an inexpensive foam insulating cover for over your outside spigot.

5. Clean out your gutters once the leaves are down in the fall. You don’t want the gutters to clog with a frozen ice jam and have a winter storms worth of water come in your basement. Even if you have no such catastrophe, the leaves are always less pleasant to remove once they have begun to rot in the spring. The fall, while the leaves are fresh is the best time to do the gutter job.