Preparing Your Home for Fall and Winter While the Weather is Still Nice Makes Sense to Me!

Preparing your home for fall and winter while the weather is still nice makes perfect sense to me! and getting organized while the sun is shining versus the rain that I know is coming is a lot nicer!

I used to wait until the last minute to get the outside stuff around my house prepared for winter, but as I get older that chore just gets harder and harder to do with inclement weather!

The very first thing that I will need to do is to make a list while doing a walk through all of the areas where I will need to get rid of things and create room for things like snow piles from snowplowing!

Next I need to free up some space inside the garage or barn for the things that will not be needed until spring. This step could call for me to throw away some junk that will never be repaired because it is far too broken or parts are not available.

Now that I have the list going and some space freed up I will begin clearing out areas that need to have snow piled up around them. One big job is to clean out and shut down the greenhouse. Seeing as it is not too large and there is no heat I will seal it up until it is time to get my seeds going for next years garden.

Now is the time to look around at major outside things like the roofs, siding, and the gutters. Also check all the outside lights, the doors, and all the windows that may need screens removed and storm windows put up.

Once I get the bulk of the outside done I can begin to work on things like figuring out where to stack the firewood that needs split and where to put the wood that can be burned right away. Next I will see if there is any heating oil in the oil tanks and decide if I can afford to order some.

This is a good time to order heating oil since the heating season has not technically started yet. After that I will test fire the furnace and check the smoke levels in the chimney. Lastly I will check the chimney to be sure it is cleaned and that we will not have a chimney fire this winter!

After double checking the list that I made it is time to sit down and think about all of the things that perhaps should have been on my list but was forgotten? Next sit back and wait for all those leaves that need raked into the garden, and finally figure out a way to stay indoors out of the cold rain and snow!