Fall & winter prep time

[LuvOrlando]

Do you have a household fall winter prep list? Whats on it?

I suppose warmer states don't have to, maybe they do fall hurricane prep?

Cars I swapped out our windshield wipers, got the freezing resistant wiper fluid, have the mini shovels and scrapers ready to go with the frost guards (started with these when kids were in college and parking outside) and have the door handle spray (snapped a door handle once)

Clay kitty litter for ice storms and steps (hate those)

Have some gallons of water for broken pipes.

Flashlights and lanterns working.

Just went through and got rid of all the expired Motrin, Tylenol, Dayquil, Nyquil & Pedialyte & getting ready to replace.

Covid tests are gonna expire before the end of the Flu sick season, even when checking the extended exp dates from FDA so I'm going to need to stock up with those too. Anyone ever see these tests go on sale? Really wish the Flu tests would be made for public use, I would probably even buy tests from another country to just know if I need to brave an urgent care visit. So odd we STILL don't have these OTC for basics like UTI, Flu and Strep, like why?

Just discovered we can get Flu at home now... anyone try them?
https://www.fda.gov/medical-devices/in-vitro-diagnostics/influenza-diagnostic-tests

 

[CdnCarrie]

Um nope. Guess get the winter tires on the one car.

 

[Meriweather]

just new batteries in the smoke detectors on Halloween.
That's it for us.

 

[TippyThomas]

I really don't do anything different. I keep emergency supplies in the car year around so no change there. I think the people that do my oil changes change out my wiper fluid for the stuff that works in the winter, but I honestly don't know if that's the case or not. I really don't drive much at all when weather is bad so I guess I have less of a chance for things to go wrong.

 

[soccerdad72]

We have some winter prep stuff to do at our lake house, like winterize and store our jet skis and move some outside furniture and other stuff to our basement.

At our main house, all we really do is move things like umbrellas and some other deck furniture inside or cover things up.

 

[GAN]

Do you have a household fall winter prep list? Whats on it?

I suppose warmer states don't have to, maybe they do fall hurricane prep?

Cars I swapped out our windshield wipers, got the freezing resistant wiper fluid, have the mini shovels and scrapers ready to go with the frost guards (started with these when kids were in college and parking outside) and have the door handle spray (snapped a door handle once)

Clay kitty litter for ice storms and steps (hate those)

Have some gallons of water for broken pipes.

Flashlights and lanterns working.

Just went through and got rid of all the expired Motrin, Tylenol, Dayquil, Nyquil & Pedialyte & getting ready to replace.

Covid tests are gonna expire before the end of the Flu sick season, even when checking the extended exp dates from FDA so I'm going to need to stock up with those too. Anyone ever see these tests go on sale? Really wish the Flu tests would be made for public use, I would probably even buy tests from another country to just know if I need to brave an urgent care visit. So odd we STILL don't have these OTC for basics like UTI, Flu and Strep, like why?

Just discovered we can get Flu at home now... anyone try them?
https://www.fda.gov/medical-devices/in-vitro-diagnostics/influenza-diagnostic-tests

I've been too busy enjoying all the GOOD weather to worry about the BAD . I'm stretching this out as long as I can!

 

[LuvOrlando]

I started thinking about it when I saw the advertisement on my other thread about people strapping down roofs in hurricane and tornado prone places, I figured if some people are doing all that I could check swap the wiper blades, flashlights and Motrins

 

[SandyinMonterey]

I live in the Southeast and it's mostly Spring cleaning stuff. Thought I start doing my Spring cleaning as early as end of February and March because it gets hot here earlier and earlier. A lot of power washing: driveways, walkway, patio, house. Window cleaning (I like to do the screens too). A new one this year was to power wash the roof, received a notice from the HOA. Had to get someone out to do it. It cost $740. Our HOA is getting a big out of control. Always changing the rules. Now we're not allowed to use red pine bark. They want all cars that can fit into the garage be in the garage (in other words: don't use garage as storage), and they just came out with what can of house lighting can and cannot be used.

 

[LilyWDW]

Not really. I do live in an apartment and no longer have a car so a lot of things I USED to do are no longer needed.

I switch out bedding to something a little warmer. Really can't think of anything else.

 

[barkley]

we tend to have till mid october before the earliest we get snow so before then we-

put covers on a couple of pieces of outdoor furniture and the big green egg/table
put a few items in the crawl space or under the deck
sched. a yearly check up for the whole house generator
sched. a check up for the cars (never at mileage but we do it once a year)
get the heated mats for the walkway and the hottub path at the ready
blow out the sprinklers
put the insulated covers on the outdoor spigots
pull, drain and put away hoses and free standing sprinklers
get the snow blade on the jd gator

last but not least-put traffic cones around the edge of the lawn (when it snows you can't tell where driveway ends/lawn begins so to prevent ups/fed ex...from driving onto and destroying the concrete mowing strip/lawn i put cones to keep um back).

 

[Pooh2]

Just got pallets of woodbricks delivered that we need to get into the basement before it rains.
Ready for woodstove and pumpkin spice season!

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

It's too early for that here mostly weather-related.

Normally twice a year we clean out the garage, wash the floor (which is epoxy), reorganize stuff, get rid of things that hadn't been before (normally boxes or bags of lawn-related things). We do it in the fall to clean up from spring and summer (like grass clippings, sprinkler stuff, lawncare stuff, etc) and then in spring to clean up from winter (sludge, winter stuff like snowmelt, etc).

Last weekend husband decided to go ahead and do the garage because it wasn't done in the spring this year so even though it is early for that if doing it for the fall it'll be fine. Eventually the lawn mower will make its way to the basement to be stored for the winter (that is usually done late October/early November depending on the weather and the last day we mow the lawn) while the snow thrower is brought up from the basement. In the spring we do the opposite. Eventually the sprinkler system will need to be winterized (blown out)

Once a year I try to look at what meds we have more for expiration dates so I don't really have to buy each year just depends.

Late fall/early winter we'll start making some recipes to freeze and use later on. This is usually crockpot meals or in some cases skillet meals. But that's a good 2 1/2 maybe 3 months away from doing that.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Covid tests are gonna expire before the end of the Flu sick season, even when checking the extended exp dates from FDA so I'm going to need to stock up with those too.

What I've learned from the last several years is don't stock up too much. It would depend on how many are in your family but we have had multiple tests just expire because we got them for free and they didn't get used as much as we thought they might, even with the extended expiration date.

So if you still have some tests that will be good for quite a while I'd wait until those supplies are just about used up before you get more (you said before the end of flu season which means springtime). The stores don't really have inventory issues these days, mostly that would be related to not stocking as many brands or quantities within each test, but not like it was where everyone was buying them up at once.

 

[Snowflakey]

Put on the studded winter tires.

Get the furnace cleaned.

Put storm windows on.

Wave bye bye to the lake since I won't be sitting on the beach for a while

 

[BrianL]

Not much other than close down and cover the pool.

 

[lanejudy]

It's too early even here to start winterizing yet. But this is a good reminder for me to make a list since DH won't really be able to help much.

Winter tires and new winter wiper blades. Oil change and state inspections are due this fall anyway. I'll change the wiper fluid when it gets low. Other supplies remain in the cars year-round.

Shut down the water to the outdoor hose. Drain hose and hang it in the garage. Furniture on the back deck will get stacked and covered and moved into the screened porch. The grill as well.

Lawn mowers to the back of the garage and pull the snow blower forward. I might get a new snowblower this year; interested in trying battery powered instead of the big gas beast that I don't like to use anyway.

Eventually I'll swap out seasonal clothes. Too early yet.

I think that's about it. I replace meds as needed so that's not a particular project, though I'm sure I could clean out and reorganize the medicine cabinets a bit. Probably a good project for a winter day.

 

[tvguy]

Clean out the gutters, have my heat pump checked, and check, and probably replace the windshield wipers on our two main cars. Wiper blades have gotten sooooo expensive so that is why I may check them first. And there are videos on Youtube on how to "restore" your wipers so they don't need to be replaced.
Probably will do this all in November as we usually have temps in the 90's-100s into the first part of October. Mother nature doesn't always cooperate, but some years we go from mid-October until mid-December without running the ac or the heat.

 

[DanceDisney23]

Wow, you’re early. We switch out the screens on our porch for glass panels, move the lawn mower to the back of the shed and the snow blower to the front. Oh, and we’re switching out the generic door mat for the fall one. But that doesn’t happen until later. I don’t want to think about winter in August.

 

[TippyThomas]

Oh, now I remember... I have to change the garden flag to my Fall and then Winter one. That will be the extent of my prepping.

 

[barkley]

I think that's about it. I replace meds as needed so that's not a particular project, though I'm sure I could clean out and reorganize the medicine cabinets a bit. Probably a good project for a winter day.

i went through all our otc meds one afternoon a couple of months back. tossed to replace anything expired then used a sharpie to mark on the bottles/front of blister packs with the use by dates-much easier for me to see than those tiny imprinted ones.