Daylight Savings: Five Things to Do with Your Extra Hour

Spring forward/fall back - twice a year I remember this little phrase when determining which Daylight Savings change is getting ready to take place. In the spring, you lose an hour of sleep, but, in the fall, you gain an hour to do anything you want. Many will spend their extra hour sleeping. However, if you're like me, you'll want to use the extra time to do something productive. Here are five productive things you could do with your extra Daylight Savings hour.

Spruce Up Your Home
There are a lot of different things you could do with an hour in order to spruce up your home. One easy project is painting your front door. A freshly painted front door will make the front of your house sparkle, and the end result will look like you did a lot more than just paint. It's a quick, cheap, and easy project. Simply sand out any rough spots, tape off edges and fixtures, and start painting. You'll have time to go through all of the steps and even clean up before your extra hour is over.

Improve Your Credit
One of the fastest ways to improve your credit score is to closely monitor your credit reports and dispute discrepancies. Discrepancies don't have to be as severe as identity theft - they can also be as simple as human error. Some common discrepancies are accounts that are listed twice, paid accounts that are listed as unpaid, and reports of accounts that do not belong to you. All three of the major credit reporting agencies have an online dispute process that is easy to use. In your extra Daylight Savings hour, you could get your free annual credit reports from www.annualcreditreport.com and dispute all of the discrepancies. In fact, if you continue doing it at fall Daylight Savings every year, your credit score should stay accurate.

Create A Website
Google has a website design and hosting service that is free to anyone with a Google account. It's called Google Page Creator, and building a website through this service is as simple as logging into your Google account. You can choose from a variety of layouts and templates that are already pre-designed for your use. Personally, I used Google Page Creator to create my own Freelance Writing Portfolio, and it took me less than an hour to make in its entirety! However, it could also be used to share recipes or pictures with family and friends, to give some basic information about a company that doesn't need a fully-developed website, or to create a blog and earn money from Adsense.

Lower Your Heating Bill
There are two quick and easy ways that will lower the amount of money you pay on heating over the winter. The easiest way to reduce your heating bill is to replace your furnace filter. It's an easy project that will increase the efficiency of your furnace as well as increase the amount of heat that you feel coming from the furnace. Second, you can cover your windows with plastic. Large sheets of clear plastic can be purchased at most home improvement stores, and it's fairly easy to apply, though you'll want someone there to help you. You simply affix the plastic to the area surrounding your windows, and you'll be amazed how much cold weather is stopped from seeping into your home this winter. And that extra hour is the perfect time to do it - it's right before the harsh winter hits.

Prepare For The Unexpected
No one ever expects to have their purse or wallet stolen. However, things of that nature happen to others every day, and, as much as we don't want to think about it, it could easily happen to us. In order to protect ourselves from identity theft of money loss, we need to make sure that we're prepared if something like this were to happen. With your extra Daylight Savings hour this year, spend some time making copies of all of the credit cards, licenses, etc. that you carry around in your purse or wallet. This way, if they ever get stolen, you'll still have your card information as well as the number to call if the card is stolen (conveniently typed onto the back of the stolen card).