PSA
Turn off your outside faucets and drain them in December at the latest. If you are doing them now it's waay late.

Charge the devices, especially the kindle.
Move the giant bag of ice melt to a more accessible spot.
Snacks.

Done!

Some people with long driveways put their car at the end so they don't have to shovel the whole thing to get out in an emergency.

Don’t forget to stock up on wine,

Outdoor faucets should have been done at the beginning of the season, but better late than never. Clear out your gutters of any packed leaves.

Bring the snow shovel out of the shed/garage and put it by the front door. Figure out where your ice melt is.

Get the scrapers and brushes out of your car and put them by the door.

Check fit of kids’ snow gear and acquire new sizes as needed.

Find your snow boots, match up everyone’s mittens and gloves, get a drying rack and large towel/rug for main entry ready.

Make sure you have a solar-powered lantern or other source of non-electric light. If you use candles (CAREFULLY!), find the matches/lighter.

Think about what you can make for food if the power goes out. If you have a gas stove, find the matches/lighter. The good news is, you don’t have to worry about keeping refrigerated items cold — put them in a cooler outside.

Buy all the wine/chocolate/snacks/lube/whatever gets you through. Enjoy them yourself or offer them to the neighbor with the snowblower.

Ask your neighborhood listserv about teens looking for shoveling and/or mother’s helper jobs. Let someone with more energy clear your driveway or take your kids sledding.

PREPARE TO CLEAR OFF YOUR DAMN CAR! Swiping a porthole in the windshield doesn’t cut it. And if you can’t figure out how to get the snow off the top, you shouldn’t be allowed out in public unchaperoned.

We also have covers for outside faucets, after we had some pipes froze behind them:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B081QRBQPP?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title&th=1

Anonymous wrote:If your house is reasonably well insulated you don’t have to do anything but the outdoor spigots which should have been done already.

Agree - I turned mine off months ago.

But it hasn't been that cold. We're about to have a week (maybe more) of temps not going above freezing, so spigots absolutely need to be turned off.

Because I'm anal retentive, I'll also drip a faucet despite being in an interior townhouse. I'd rather waste a couple of gallons of water over a week than deal with a burst pipe.

Batteries
Flash lights
Lanterns
Generator
Snow removal of some sort
ICE melt
Blankets
Lower temp on your heat so it doesn't work too hard.
water

Snacks for fun!
Maybe new puzzle or game to play as a family.

Anonymous wrote:If your house is reasonably well insulated you don’t have to do anything but the outdoor spigots which should have been done already.

Correct.

1. Snow shoveling equipment;
2. Pet-friendly ice melt;
3. Small (not large!) amount of pantry and household necessities. DO NOT make a run for all the TP, bread and milk you can stuff into your car.
4. Snowboots, sleds, etc, might also be useful.

If your house is reasonably well insulated you don’t have to do anything but the outdoor spigots which should have been done already.

You don't need to do any of that stuff except take care of the spigots.

Open cabinet doors in bathroom that are in cold bathrooms. Maybe drop those faucets

I closed my pipe valve this morning , and tried to drain spigot tonight z but nothing came out. Already frozen?

If you have a freezer that needs to be defrosted, it's a good idea to do that during cold days, then you can put all the food outdoors meanwhile.

Extra quilt on each kids bed and we drop the temp 2 degrees inside. Kids also wear a sweatshirt indoors and socks.

The temps are going to plummet bigtime this weekend.

What else should we do, besides:

- make sure outdoor spigots are off and drained
- maybe drip faucets
- probably lower HVAC a little so it's not overly stressed, or keep it relatively stable