October is a charming little liar.
It shows up with cool evenings, colorful leaves, soup weather, and the general impression that everything is under control. The air conditioner finally gets a break. The furnace hasn’t yet been asked to perform under pressure. The pipes are minding their own business. The generator is sitting quietly in the garage looking competent. Your house seems fine.
This is exactly when I become suspicious.
Because houses are a little like children who suddenly get very quiet in another room. Sometimes everything really is fine. And sometimes somebody has discovered a permanent marker.
October is the month when a lot of the things we depend on are sitting between seasons. Summer equipment is being put away, winter equipment hasn’t really been tested yet, and we’re all enjoying those glorious few weeks when the utility bills aren’t trying to establish dominance. Which makes October a very good month to find out what your house has been keeping from you.
Your Furnace Has Been on Vacation
The furnace is one of my favorite examples because most of us treat it like an employee we haven’t spoken to since March. Then one cold November morning we walk over to the thermostat, raise the temperature, and expect immediate obedience. That is a tremendous amount of faith to put in a machine that has spent the last seven months gathering dust.
October is the time to turn it on before you actually need it. Let it run for a while. Listen to it. Smell the air. Make sure warm air is actually coming out of the vents and that the thermostat is communicating with something other than itself. Change the filter if it needs changing, and look around the furnace area to make sure nobody has spent the summer stacking boxes, paint cans, Christmas decorations, or Survivor Steve’s emergency collection of “things that might be useful someday” against it.
There is preparedness, and then there is having to excavate your furnace from beneath three inflatable snowmen and a broken patio umbrella. They are not the same thing.
Your Pipes Are Currently Feeling Very Confident
Water pipes are incredibly brave in October because they know freezing weather isn’t here yet. Outdoor faucets are happily connected to hoses, irrigation lines may still be full, and garden equipment is still scattered around from the last burst of ambition in September.
Then winter arrives and suddenly everybody develops opinions.
If you live where temperatures freeze, October is the time to disconnect hoses, drain outdoor lines where appropriate, protect exposed plumbing, and make sure you know where your main water shutoff is. That last one matters more than people realize because the middle of a plumbing emergency is a terrible time to begin a scavenger hunt.
You do not want to be standing ankle-deep in water yelling, “Does anybody know where the shutoff valve is?” while Survivor Steve is crawling behind the washing machine with a flashlight and confidence unsupported by evidence.
Find it now. Make sure you can turn it. And while you’re there, make sure everybody in the household who is capable of shutting off the water knows where it is too. Preparedness sometimes looks less like tactical gear and more like knowing which handle to turn.
Your Generator Remembers Absolutely Nothing About Last Winter
Generators are notorious for sitting quietly until the exact moment you need them and then deciding they would like to renegotiate the relationship.
If you own one, October is a good month to give it some attention. Start it. Make sure it actually starts. Check whatever maintenance your manufacturer recommends, and make sure your extension cords, transfer equipment, fuel arrangements, and operating instructions are where you think they are.
And please remember that portable generators belong outdoors, well away from doors, windows, and vents. Carbon monoxide does not care how cold you are, how inconvenient the weather is, or how impressive your garage ventilation strategy seems. Opening the garage door does not magically turn the garage into outdoors. That is not how geography works.
Your Batteries Have Been Waiting Patiently to Betray You
Flashlights are another household item with a peculiar sense of humor. They work beautifully when you’re checking them on a sunny afternoon. Then the power goes out at 10:47 p.m. during an ice storm and suddenly every flashlight in the house produces the approximate illumination of a birthday candle three counties away.
October is a good month to check them, and not just the flashlight sitting neatly in the kitchen drawer. Check the lanterns, headlamps, emergency radios, motion lights, battery banks, smoke alarms, carbon monoxide detectors, and anything else you expect to work during a winter outage.
While you’re checking batteries, look for corrosion too. Nothing says “I planned ahead” quite like opening a flashlight and discovering it has grown its own tiny battery stalactites.
Your Chimney May Have Been Collecting Souvenirs
If you use a fireplace or wood stove, like I do, this is also the time to think about the chimney. Bird nests, debris, creosote buildup, damaged components, and other issues are much nicer to discover before the first fire of the season than during it.
Have it inspected or cleaned as appropriate for your setup, and while you’re at it, take a look at your wood supply. People sometimes prepare to heat with wood by owning a fireplace or wood stove, which is approximately the same as preparing to eat dinner by owning a fork.
You still need fuel.
Preferably dry fuel.
This is also a good time to make sure the wood is stored where you can actually get to it when the weather turns ugly. A beautiful stack of firewood fifty yards from the house can become considerably less beautiful in freezing rain.
Your Car Is Also Participating in This Deception
Your vehicle has been enjoying pleasant weather too. Cold weather has a way of exposing weak batteries, low tire pressure, tired windshield wipers, insufficient washer fluid, and all the other little problems that were perfectly willing to remain theoretical in September.
October is a good time to check those things before you’re standing in a parking lot at 18 degrees wondering why your car has chosen this moment to begin its spiritual journey.
This is also when I like to revisit what is actually inside the vehicle. Do you have a blanket? Gloves? Water appropriate for the temperature? A flashlight? Phone charger? Ice scraper? Jumper cables? Basic tools? Something to eat?
A car emergency kit should not consist entirely of six expired coupons, one flip-flop, and a straw from Wendy’s.
Although I acknowledge that many vehicles are currently operating under this preparedness doctrine.
Your Pantry Has Winter Opinions Too
Fall is also a good time to look at your food storage differently. Not simply, “Do I have food?” but, “Do I have food that makes sense during cold-weather disruptions?”
If the power goes out, can you prepare what you have? Do you have foods that require little cooking? Do you have a safe way to make hot meals? Enough water? Soup, broth, cocoa, tea, oatmeal, or other foods that provide warmth and comfort?
Cold-weather emergencies have a morale component that gets underestimated. There is an enormous difference between sitting in a cold house eating something warm and sitting in a cold house eating a room-temperature can of lima beans because that was apparently the plan.
I have nothing against lima beans. I simply do not believe they should be asked to carry the entire emotional burden of an emergency.
October Is Your Dress Rehearsal
That is really what October is: the dress rehearsal before winter.
The weather is generally still forgiving enough to fix things comfortably. Stores are open. Roads are clear. Repair people are available. You can stand outside without becoming a human popsicle while trying to remember how the generator starts.
You have time.
And time is one of the most valuable preparedness resources we ever get. Waiting until the first freeze, the first outage, the first snowstorm, or the first furnace failure turns a maintenance task into an emergency. Doing it now turns an emergency into an inconvenience you avoided.
That is a very good trade.
Listen to What Your House Isn’t Saying
Preparedness is often described as preparing for dramatic events, but a surprising amount of it is simply catching small problems before they become large ones. The loose connection. The dead battery. The empty fuel can. The hose that should have been disconnected. The filter that should have been changed. The valve nobody knows how to find.
October gives us a wonderful little window when winter hasn’t arrived yet but it has already sent the save-the-date card.
Use it. Walk through the house. Test things. Turn things on. Shut things off. Look behind things. Find the equipment you’re assuming will save the day later.
Because your house may look perfectly innocent right now.
But I’ve met houses.
I don’t trust them.
And neither should Survivor Steve.
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