Many of us have been conditioned to remember to change our smoke detector batteries when we change our clocks for daylight savings time. But let’s be honest: we don’t always remember to do it. As a reminder, November is the month to do this very important task to keep your family safe.

Here’s a tip: Before replacing your old smoke detector batteries with new 9-volt batteries, use a permanent marker and write the date on the face of each battery. That way, in the future you can easily refer to the date when you last changed the batteries. Writing the date on the batteries will also trigger you to remember to do so the next time – and the time after that.

This same tip is handy when replacing your furnace filter, too. When you change it out, write the date (with a permanent marker) somewhere on the filter, and if in a month you check it and it doesn’t need to be replaced, write the date on it again. That way, you’ll start to see how long each filter lasts during different seasons of the year.

Get in this habit and this will become an easy way to keep track of two home maintenance essentials.