New Home Owners Prepare your Home for Winter

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Due to the government's incentive tax credit to encourage more and more first time buyers into the housing market, a great number of owners are looking at spending their first winter in a house where they're responsible for all the maintenance often for the very first time. If you're one of these first time home owners who hasn't yet had the pleasure of preparing your home for the winter weather yet, there are some basic supplies that'll make your winter season a lot more pleasant to deal with when it comes around.

Well before the weather frosts up, it is a good idea to go out and buy your seasonal items that you might need for the winter months; once the cold weather kicks in many of these items sell out quickly once the first snow falls and people scramble to cope with it.

One of the most important wintertime purchases that you will need for your new residence is a good sturdy snow shovel; be sure to buy at least one good snow shovel for your home before it snows. Good snow shovels become very difficult to find once the landscape is covered in that frozen stuff.

Salt or ice-melt is another item that you'll want to stock up on before the weather turns bad as well. Some ice melters have materials in them-like sand-that give you extra traction even if all the ice isn't gone. Buy enough ice melter to last you the whole winter if you can; stores often don't carry enough to last more than a few months into the winter, particularly if the weather is very poor. Store your salt or ice melt in a dry place until you need to open it; a plastic container in a covered area by your door is a handy place to keep some as well. Make sure that you include a plastic scoop to help you distribute the product over any areas that you have shovelled or have gotten slippery.

Sand isn't totally necessary if you're using an ice melt product, but it can come in handy to throw down on areas that are frozen; it can be particularly useful when used for traction for your car.

For the interior of your home, a decent wet/dry vac can be very handy in the wintertime. You can use a wet/dry vac to suck up spills, pools of melted snow, the overflow from your washing machine, or small floods in the basement. This is a great item to have all year round due to its versatility.

The last item is one that many people don't think of as being something useful for the winter, a ladder. However, a ladder can be a lifesaver in the winter for many reasons: hanging holiday lights and removing excess snow or fallen branches from your roof. Make sure you get a good quality ladder for maximum safety.

Don't be afraid to spend a little more to get good quality equipment for your winter supplies; good supplies are much more comfortable to use and will last you for years to come.