The Insurance Nerd’s fall bucket list

Insurance Nerds

We are safety conscious.  And we are insurance nerds.  It’s an interesting combination, to say the least.  We’ve seen every “worst case scenario” actually happen to various clients over the years.  It’s enough to scare you straight and make you never leave the house ever again!  But we all have a job to do, so rather than hiding in our homes indefinitely we do what we can to prevent accidents, damage and claims from happening.  In the spirit of preparing for fall and winter weather, we’ve created our to-do list (or honey-do list, depending on the situation!).  Happy first day of Autumn everyone!

The Fall Bucket List

• Have the chimney cleaned – It truly is a fire hazard – this needs to be done every year
• Clean out gutters – And throw a little ice melt in there while you’re at it
• Shut off the water source to outdoor spigots – This will keep water from freezing in these pipes and prevent bursting
• Wrap foam insulation around any pipes exposed in the garage or outside – Frozen pipes are a huge issue in the Northeast.  Insulate exposed pipes as much as possible.
• Find the snow shovel and ice melt, and place in an accessible location – You’ll be more proactive with the ice melt on that first unexpected snowfall if you can find it – and it’s easier now before the first snow storm is in the forecast and every store on the east coast sells out!
• Maintain heat in every building, room, space, outbuilding where there are pipes going through the walls –  That bonus room over the garage?  Probably has water pipes in the walls.  Keep the heat on and prevent pipes from bursting and causing huge damage and disruption.
• Install new windshield wiper blades
• Fill up the windshield washer fluid
• Take a look at your tires.  Do they need to be replaced before the icy weather?
• Find the ice scrapers and place in all vehicles – No use making yourself late for work on the day of the first frost

The Bonus List

• Drink a pumpkin spiced latte
• Go apple picking – one of the many bonuses of living in the northern part of the east coast
• DVR all the fall season premier TV shows and then pick the best ones to watch this season
• Attend at least one of our local high school football games – preferably with the aforementioned pumpkin spiced latte in hand
• Enjoy the Harvest Moon on October 8th
• Go for a walk in the woods during peak leaf week
• Carve pumpkins
• Make a pumpkin pie
• Plant bulbs for the spring growing season
• Decorate the front porch with mums
• Spend Sunday afternoons yelling at the TV, at football teams that can’t possibly hear me