Spring Checklist, by Sharmen Roos, State Farm

As we approach Spring there are a few things you can do to keep your home and your personal belongings safe and in good order. Here are my Top 3 Spring To-Do’s.

Spring is a great time to de-clutter and it’s also a good time to create a home inventory record. Back in the old days people would literally write down all the contents in each room of their house. This way, if there was ever a fire and all your things were destroyed, it would be very easy to tell the insurance company what you had and what needed to be replaced. Nowadays, it’s much faster and far more efficient to create a personal property inventory record. Start by opening all the doors, drawers, and cabinets in each room of your home. With your cell phone, stand in the middle of each room, turn around in a slow circle and film all of your contents.  Once you have done this in each room, send the videos to yourself by email. Why email it to yourself? If you have a fire in the middle of the night, you want to get out immediately. You may not have the time nor presence of mind to grab your cell phone.

Twice a year, check the smoke detectors in your home. I do mine in March and September because that’s also when the time changes. Even though we don’t change our clocks here in AZ, we’re usually aware of it because just about everyone else does. Did you know that 60% of home fire deaths, that’s 3 out of every 5, were due to non-working smoke detectors? Just a few minutes and maybe a couple dollars every 6 months could save you and your family’s life.

Now that temperatures are starting to rise, get your AC unit serviced.  If you wait until summer, it can cost you two to three times more and units are not usually covered by insurance because when it breaks down, it’s typically a maintenance or age issue. The last thing you want is to have your AC go kaput when it’s 100+ degrees out. In the summer in AZ, it can take days, if not weeks, to get a service company out. Once they do, if they don’t have the parts on hand it can be several more days to get the parts in and the unit fixed. Being proactive can save you time and a lot of suffering, so schedule that AC maintenance appointment today!