It’s become a mantra that every time we switch our clocks for Daylight Saving Time, we should do some other things.

The one you most often hear is to change the batteries on the smoke detectors in your home. A good thing for sure. And if you don’t have smoke detectors, get some.

What are some other useful things to do on a semi-annual basis?

• If you have a home alarm system, test it. IMHO better to do this monthly, but semi-annual is a good start.
• Change batteries in other things. For instance, if you have flashlights for emergency use in your car or home, change those batteries. Use batteries as a backup for a safe? Change them. Use batteries in a scope? change them.
• How about your carry ammo? There’s much debate over how often to rotate your carry ammo, but an oft-mentioned guideline is every 6 months.
  • While you’re at it, how are your magazines and their springs?
• Sharpen knives. These could be your every day carry knives, or even the knives you use in the kitchen. This may be something to do more often than semi-annually, but some people rarely sharpen knives so….
• Check the air in your car tires. Weather’s changing (getting colder).
• When was the last time you changed the air filters in your house? I have to change mine monthly due to children with allergy issues… not to mention a big fuzzy dog shedding clogs things up much faster. But again, I know some people rarely do this so….

I will agree that many of these things are something you should do more often, or could stretch out and do perhaps once a year. The main point is to be aware of the need to do them and find a schedule on which to perform them. One nice thing is so many of us now have electronic gizmos like iPhone’s with calendaring systems. Set yourself a reminder — a repeating reminder — to perform these tasks on a regular basis.