Use Daylight Saving Time As a Home Maintenance Reminder Every 6 Months
Daylight saving time officially ends this weekend, during the early morning hours of Sunday, November 7th. The clock will be set back one hour, which means the sun will rise earlier in the morning and start setting around the time you are likely to head home from the office in the next new months, if not earlier. Suppose you go to the office again. Yes, this is the second time we set the clock back during a pandemic, although at least this year, the usual argument for ending daylight saving time during the winter months – we don’t like kids going to school in the dark – this is much more relevant than in 2020, when more than half of children were still studying remotely. Nevertheless, we too have to wait for those long dark evenings. Sigh. Daylight saving time ends and you can say goodbye to the sun until March 2022.
But while you definitely want to set this clock before bed on Saturday, Daylight Saving Time is also a good time to remind yourself to do a few other home maintenance work. While you are manually changing the clock, take care of some other important tasks that you may have been putting off.
Insert fresh batteries into smoke detectors
Did you know your smoke alarm always runs out of battery in the middle of the night? (Usually at night when you really need to get some sleep?) Save yourself the hassle of the future and use Daylight Saving Time as an opportunity to test if your smoke detectors are working and insert a new set of batteries.
According to the National Fire Protection Agency , two-thirds of all fire deaths occur in homes where smoke detectors do not work (or none at all). Use daylight saving time as a reminder to check yours.
Change your ceiling fans
Ceiling fans can rotate in two different directions. In summer, you want the fan blade to rotate counterclockwise , pushing air downward. In winter, it is best to run the fan clockwise to draw the cold air upward.
Daylight saving time is a great time to take a few minutes to wipe the fan blades and, while you clean, flip the switch on the side to swap the blades.
Change your air filters
You are going to turn on the heat if you haven’t already. Use summer time as an opportunity to test your air filters. If you haven’t changed them for a while, they are likely full of dust, which at worst can cause a fire, and at best, prevent your heat from working as well as it could.
Check the gutters
Do you know when you don’t need to clean your gutters? In the dead of winter. Climb the stairs this weekend and check the current gutter situation (or make an appointment for someone else to do it). It will be much easier to clean up all dead leaves and debris now than in a month, and you can save on an expensive roof repair bill later. Save yourself the hassle of planning ahead.
Replenish your emergency first aid kit
Everyone should have an emergency first aid kit that has non-perishable food and first aid items ready in case of an earthquake, hurricane, or other natural disaster.
Use daylight saving time to make sure your home emergency kit is complete. If you end up hacking into your stash during the hurricanes, floods, and wildfires this past summer, you need to make sure you replace whatever you used to be ready for the next one. (Now is also a good time to swap out your canned food stocks.) This post was originally published in November 2018 and was updated on November 1, 2021 with more relevant information and context.