Like it or not, fall is here, and that means winter isn’t very far behind. It’s time to break out the sweaters and the snow boots, and it’s also time to make sure your home and car will be able to keep you warm and toasty when the weather gets frigid.
Inside the Home
In the winter, not having a good heating system can be truly dangerous for your health and well-being. If you can’t sleep because you’re shivering, then you’ll be tired at work the next day, which means you probably won’t be as effective as possible on the job. Depending on how cold it gets where you live, a house that keeps you warm isn’t a luxury so much as a necessity. A viciously cold spell in winter can kill you just as easily as an intense heat wave in summer. It’s not a common occurrence, but it just shows you that Mother Nature isn’t something to be taken lightly.
If you’re concerned about your furnace, boiler, or water heater, now is the time to get things checked out. Qualified service technicians can come out to your home and test the equipment to make sure everything is working as it should be .If your furnace isn’t working to the best of its capability, an energy service technician can tell you and recommend a plan of action. And if your water heater is on the verge of going out, it’s better to find out in October rather than be greeted with a blast of freezing cold shower water one January morning. If you need to get a new piece of heating equipment, look into a service plan that will cover future tune-ups. It could save you time and money down the road.
Keeping Warm on the Road
Then there’s your vehicle. You need to make sure heat is coming out of your air vents, but you also need a good defrosting system, as well as possibly a deicing system. It doesn’t matter how warm you are inside the car if a sheet of ice is blocking you from seeing out your windshield. You need to be comfortable as well as safe.
If you were thinking of trading in your car for a newer model anyway, now’s a good time to visit your local dealership and check out what they’ve got in stock. Maybe you’ve always wanted heated seats and side mirrors. Maybe you just want a simple car that can function well in winter. It’s one thing to not have air-conditioning in summer; you can at least roll down the window for a little relief. In winter, there’s not much you can do if climbing into your car feels like entering an ice cave. You need a vehicle you can really depend on when you wake up to a winter weather advisory. Sure, winter tires can be helpful if you live in a place that gets a lot of snow, but you can’t drive safely in cold weather if you can’t even feel your fingers. Also, make sure you have a good ice scraper and/or snow brush now, since the stores may be sold out of them in the dead of winter.
It’s easy to be in denial about winter’s approach, especially if you grew up in a warmer climate. Unfortunately, hoping for a mild winter isn’t a very good strategy. You need to make a plan and take steps to enact it before the first snowfall.
