Now is a good time to make sure that things are in working order and running efficiently before winter sets in. Some money up front can prevent having to spend a lot of money for an emergency repair or being displaced from your home. This is especially true if you live where it gets really cold, like us here in Minnesota, where 20-40 degrees below zero is certainly likely at least a few times a winter.A side organization note: I like to schedule all my appointments for one day, and just get it done. Then we are not having to stay home and wait for this service or that one to show up in a four hour window on five different days. And, if naps get screwed up from people working on things, it is only one day, not several.
Here is what we are having done:
1. Having our septic tank pumped. This needs to be done every two - three years, to clean out the tasty stuff that has accumulated over time in your tank. This is the stuff that does not decompose or go out to the drain field. If you have a septic system, remember that things like tampons, facial tissues and paper towels cannot be flushed into the system. Charmin toilet paper should also be avoided. Toxic cleaners can alter the bacterial environment in the system, so that is another good reason to make your own cleaners. Finally, do not drive over your drain field, as this can damage the system. On personal experience, I can tell you that it is not fun to have your septic system back up. Yuck.
2. Servicing our furnace and cleaning the heating/cooling ducts and having our dryer vent cleaned. We have one place that we love - and they do not use telemarketing! We have the same guy, year after year, and he has always given us great service at a reasonable price. He also offers up tips and such that may help things run more efficiently for us. With my allergies, I opt for this service each year, but technically, the recommendation is once every two years. We noticed that our furnace was not starting on its own at the end of the season, but we roughed it out by manually restarting it for a few weeks, because we knew that we would be having this service and it would save us an extra service call. We will just mention it when our guy comes to inspect the furnace.
In a stroke of genius when we were building our house, we decided that our dryer should vent out of the back of the house (so that we did not have the unsightly dryer exhaust coming out the front of the house) and turned out to be really dumb (of course). Our dryer vent is super long and gets clogged up because the lint and such cannot make it all the way out. As we near our annual cleaning, I notice that the dryer takes up to twice as long to dry a load. Ugh. We have been meaning to reroute it out the front - maybe this year it will finally get accomplished!
3. Cleaning the Carpets I actually did this about a year ago, so I will not be doing it this year. It is a great time of the year to get it done, if it is on your list. Here are some notes about cleaning your carpets.
4. Having our water filter replaced The manufacturer of our system recommends changing the filter each year, but we tend to wait about 18 months (just because I have to push the envelope), so every third year this ends up being taken care of in the Fall.
5. Have the chimney cleaned If your chimney needs to be cleaned, please be sure to take care of that before you are using the fireplace this winter. Now is a great time to work on stacking wood for the winter, too.
6. Blow out the sprinkler system If you have an underground sprinkler system, then you need to have the pipes cleared (or blown out) before the ground freezes, so that the water does not freeze inside the pipes, expanding and bursting the pipes. My husband has something he brings home from work to do it, but if you need to hire it out, there are places that do it around $50-$60.
Other things to do:
If you cover your windows with plastic, look for sales now and stock up.
Be sure that your medicine cabinet is ready for cold and flu season and watch for sales to stock up on any necessities. Read my post here.
We have a large driveway, so we get the snow blower up from the shed in the woods and have it ready in the garage. Nothing like trying to get it going in the woods in the dark of winter evenings and then get it up a hill with a foot of snow on it.
If you want to compost, ready a site and get a container to keep indoors to hold your food scraps (no meat or dairy, or you will invite unwanted beasts). When it is full, you can toss it onto the compost pile. In the spring, you can stir it all up and before you know it you will have some lovely soil.
Fall is the best time to trim your bushes. Compost the trimmings.
If you have had a dry spell, be sure to put the hose on a little stream and set it by your trees and bushes for about an hour at a time, to make sure they have the moisture stored that they will need to get through winter.
Do a final weeding of the garden and landscaping. Toss the annual plants (compost pile) and clear the beds for spring. If you have some fertilizer, feel free to mix it into the bed.
Let your garden hoses drain, turn off the outside water.
When you remove the screens from your window, clean the windows with glass cleaner (see recipe here). If you are not covering the screens while storing them, don't bother cleaning them until Spring.
Make sure that your kids have all the winter gear that they will need. I hate frantically looking for mittens, hats and boots when (surprise!) we wake up to 30 degrees or even snow in October.
For additional tips, details and resources, check out these websites:
2 comments:
You know, except at Christmas, I don't miss Minnesota winters. One benefit though - the kids go ot for recess in almost all weather. they just learn to dress appropriately. In all the other school districts we've lived in, if it even LOOKS like bad weather might happen, the kids stay inside. Yuck!
cheri - yes, having lived in MN, you do realize that we view most of the rest of the country as rather wimpy in their ability to deal with snow. The worst is people driving in the snow who are not used to it. Especially those with four-wheel drive that think they can fly along!
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