Why winterize?

Good question. Why winterize your life? In a nutshell, here's why: the whole idea of preparing for winter can be boiled down to a few simple and powerful reasons.

They are:

Provide safety and comfort to you, your family and pets (if you have any)
Minimize winter costs: for your house, the cost of operating your car etc.
Make your dollars go further: extend the life of anything that's going to be affected by the winter weather
Minimize any problems before winter truly sets in: make sure you do your due diligence regarding maintenance where necessary
Reduce your heating and utility bills by sealing air leaks and insulating.

My own top reasons are:

Improve the quality of winter living
Enjoy winter life more
Reduce heating season costs (that's a biggie!)
Make the short winter days go quicker
Being "winter ready" minimizes potential problems and unexpected costs.

Winter "why"

When you know Old Man winter is on his way, you need to start thinking about the coming winter months. In fact, thinking about winter preparation happens a whole lot in the non-winter months.

How you prepare for it is defined by what you can do about it. There are only certain limited actions you can take.

Well, what are they? Based on your assessment for whatever you are evaluating for its 'winter worthiness', the main choices are:

Repair it
Replace it
Improve it
Reuse it (if possible)
Leave it until next year before deciding.

Choosing one of these options applies to everything that is affected by the winter season - your winter wardrobe, your house, your property or your vehicle.

Winter wardrobe"why's"

Other factors may contribute to your decision regarding the 'whys' of winter preparation. For example, with clothing, accessories, or footwear, something may be:

Worn out
Out of fashion
Doesn't fit or
Doesn't do the job anymore as it was bought for originally
You've fallen out of love with it.

Other winter "why's"

For other winter-related items, they could also be:

Worn out
Rusted out
Doesn't run properly or at all
Newer model available
Impossible to fix
Parts are unavailable
Cannot be cleaned or repaired.

If it's beyond being useful to you, find a good "home" for it and pass it on to family or friends or donate it instead.

Your winter heating bill is going to be the biggest cost outside of your mortgage and taxes of course. Rising heating costs is reason enough why you would want to winterize your home as much as humanly possible.

Yep, the 'why' in 'why winterize' is pretty important. Now what about 'when to winterize' or 'what to winterize'?

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