Goodbye Daylight Saving Time ... for now

October 29, 10:02 AMReal Estate News ExaminerBroderick Perkins

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If you correctly set your clocks one hour ahead in the spring, it's just about time to roll back your clocks by one hour -- and perform some other necessary household chores.

"Spring forward. Fall back."

Daylight Saving Time (DST) ends the first Sunday in November, that's November 1, 2009 at 2 a.m.

By the way, Daylight "Savings" Time, with the "s" is incorrect.

It's always best to roll those clocks back before you go to bed to avoid time-sensitive events the next day. That's especially true this year with the potential for a Halloween sugar high sending you into a candy coma. 

DST resumes on the second Sunday in March. Next year, that's March 14, 2009 also at 2 a.m.

The new start and stop dates, the first since 1987, began in 2007 and were set by the Energy Policy Act of 2005.

The longer period for DST was designed as an energy-saving measure to lop an estimated 1 percent off household energy bills -- and not a moment too soon.

Climate change isn't on a schedule.

When you reset old timekeepers and clocks back to ST, use the effort to also reset programmable thermostats, security systems, guest room and vacation home clocks and all those other out of the way time keepers.

Safety experts say because you will likely go from room to room to change clocks, the onset of DST and ST are also good times to pull a safety check on your home.

That includes changing batteries in smoke alarms, CO2 detectors and flash lights, taking stock of or restocking your emergency/survival kit and recharging your fire extinguisher, among other tasks that can make your home a safer place to live.