If you’re looking for an excuse for a good weekend project, it’s always a great time to install or replace a ceiling fan in your home (if you’re looking for a silent heirloom quality upgrade, try a Casablanca fan like the one pictured above). It’s the perfect do it yourself project if you’re so inclined and even more so if the electric is already run to the correct location.

And yes, ceiling fans are even beneficial in the wintertime. I know it’s easy to dismiss their functionality when the last thing you want is a cool breeze blowing down on you. But when they’re switched to reverse mode (all ceiling fans have the switch), they’ll keep you more comfortable by forcing the warm air that accumulates towards the ceiling back down to your level.

As an added bonus, running ceiling fans in reverse at low speed in your house will not only help distribute the heat evenly throughout the entire home, but they’ll also save money by doing so. Some rooms of my house take in more solar heat because of their southern exposure. I take advantage of this and pump the natural free heat out of those rooms and into the rest of my home by using the ceiling fans in those rooms.

So what are you waiting for? Late fall and winter is the perfect time to install new ceiling fans after all!