What are your rituals?

Getting ready for winter

I saw a Lowe’s video about winterizing your home the other day and gasped, “No! Not winter already!” It seems like fall just arrived and we’re already thinking about winter. It’s not difficult with so many stores already depicting winter scenes in their displays, either. In fact, I’ve already bought a couple of gifts and stowed them away for Wood Sprite (hey, that Halloween duct tape was on sale for a buck!).

There are some things that we need to do to get ready for winter, though. Some families do a plethora of winter-readying activities, from stocking up for snowstorms to digging up all kinds of plants. We sort of do the former, and I have no idea how the latter works (you can ask my dad; he does). But our family does a few regular things to prepare.

We seal up the windows in the house, for starters. We live in an old, drafty house and it’s a huge energy saver—plus it keeps us warm. Now that I’ve seen this tutorial for magnetic insulation, however, I think we may be able to reuse our insulation each year from now on. What a cool idea!

Want to get ready for winter storms? This eHow piece has pretty much everything you need covered. I’ve been dabbling in this storm preparation stuff lately—especially after the scary spring storms, complete with tornadoes that we’ve had in the past two years. It’s probably a good idea to be prepared for anything, and if you keep a simple log with dates on it you can easily make sure that you use the resources you buy and replace them every so often.

Homegrown and Healthy also has this great piece about preparing your body for winter full of simple tips that are easy to follow.

What does your family do to get ready for winter? Share your tips below.

Photo courtesy of Wikipedia