The holidays are coming like a freight train. Are you ready?
I think this season, more than perhaps the others, requires intentional planning if you have any hope of getting the needed winterizing and maintenance chores done. This is the time you want your home to be warm and cozy so it’s also not a time you want to skip the chores.
Consider setting up a winterizing schedule that works backward from Thanksgiving or Christmas. This gives you clear deadlines and helps prevent that last-minute scramble. Spend a few minutes scheduling when you can knock these chores off your list. Put them on your calendar!
Start with the basics: Inspect the furnace (or hire it out) before the first cold snap. Make sure you have a couple of extra filters on hand.
Windows and doors deserve special attention. Feel a draft? Now’s the time to replace worn weatherstripping and seal any gaps. Those tiny cracks might seem insignificant now, but you will feel them this winter.
Don’t forget about your outdoor spaces either. Drain and store garden hoses, clean gutters, and trim any branches that could become hazards under the weight of snow and ice. Your future self will appreciate not having to deal with frozen pipes or fallen limbs during holiday dinner prep.
Inside, focus on the comfort factors. Get your chimney cleaned if you have a fireplace – nothing ruins holiday ambiance quite like smoke backing up into your living room. Test your carbon monoxide detectors and replace batteries in smoke alarms.
A couple of days and you can have this knocked off your list so that the rest of the holiday you can spend sipping hot cocoa or eggnog by the fire while the winter wind howls outside.
✅ Winter Home Maintenance Checklist
⭐ = Priority tasks
🔁 Reoccurring Tasks
- Check your smoke and carbon monoxide alarms. ⭐
- If you have a water softener, take a peek at those salt levels.
- Is it time to change your HVAC filter? When you are done, mark it in your calendar and order new ones if needed.
🛠️ Maintain
- Winterize your outdoor plumbing & sprinkler system ⭐
- Clean the gutters while putting up Christmas lights ⭐
- Trim tree branches that hang over the house or driveway ⭐
- Inspect chimney & fireplace
- If you haven’t yet, check your weatherstripping
- Check your heating system, change filters. ⭐
- Look for damaged or missing shingles on the roof
- For those in colder climates
- Put up storm windows or cover them with plastic or foam panels and/or ensure the windows are well sealed.
- To prevent ice dams, ensure you have adequate ventilation in the attic and consider getting an insulation hatch for the attic stairs.
- Consider installing ThermoTraks or the like in the garage
🧰 Prep
- New? Join us online Nov 16th or 18th for an orientation.
- Get rid of common hiccups to home maintenance carefully assessing those things that make chores bigger than they need to be (i.e. creating access to common maintenance places). Nobody wants to do two big chores at once! See the Prep course for more on this.
- Make that garage more useable
- Label those circuits! (this is a great task to do when you get your xmas lights out! see the course for more details) ⭐
- Find and label those water and gas valves⭐
Need help with any of those tasks? There is much more information inside our community.
Skills of the month
Live in a cold climate? Watch this to learn more about winterizing your sprinkler system. Do this before the first freeze of the year!
Fix those little light gaps around the bottom of older doors.
Have a two-story home? There are so many creative and affordable ways to cleaning your gutters.