In the early morning hours of this coming Sunday, most of us in the US will "Spring Forward" an hour to begin Daylight Savings Time. 

We do lose an hour of sleep and tend to feel it's affects for several days thereafter, but it's also a great time to take on a few quick Spring chores. 

• Check your smoke alarms and carbon monoxide detectors.  In addidtion to replacing the batteries and testing your alarms, be sure to also check the units' expiration dates.  For your family's safety, you want to be sure all of these devices are functioning at their best.  If you can't find expiration dates on your alarms and detectors, replace the units every 10 years. 
• Recycle batteries.  Since you will be removing the old batteries from all of your smoke detectors and carbon monoxide detectors and replacing them with new ones, now is a great time to recycle all of the old batteries you've collected over the past six months as well.  Every Best Buy in the United States does.  They also accept all kinds of old electronics and some appliances, so check out what services your local store offers and recycle some other clutter while you are at it!  (Another option for old electronics and appliances is to list them on Freecycle.  Someone will come to you and take them away.)
• Turn on the water.  If you shut off the water to all of your exterior water faucets in the Fall, now is the time to turn those faucets back on for Spring.   If you might run the risk of another hard freeze this year (doubtful where I live), you might want to wait a little bit longer.  If you need to bring out water hoses, now is the time to pull them out of storage.

Although we lose an hour of sleep on Sunday, I love that we get an extra hour of daylight at the end of the day! 

What other chores do you like to do when the clocks spring forward?  I would love to hear your suggestions.

In the meantime, Happy Daylight Savings Time!