Fall is Here! When Is Time Change 2024?

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You've probably noticed it getting darker earlier in the evening. The change is one of the sure signs Fall has arrived. The other being die-hard Dallas Cowboys fans are already saying ‘wait until next year’.

Less daylight at the end of the day also signals the impending end of that annual archaic ritual we call Daylight Saving Time. And yes, it’s ‘saving’ and not ‘savings.’ And while I’m at it, it’s ‘anyway’ not ‘anyways.’

Does Every State Observe DST?

Hawaii and most of Arizona do not “fall back.” The Grand Canyon State -- with the exception of the Navajo Nation – does not because of its extreme desert temperatures, and Hawaii because there is little variation in daylight length between winter and summer.

The U.S. territories of Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa, Northern Mariana Islands, and the U.S. Virgin Islands also skip the whole “fall back/spring forward” thing.

When Do We Fall Back in 2024?

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Which weekend do we turn the clocks back one hour and get that “extra hour of sleep” we hear so much about?

'Turn the clocks back,' by the way, is mostly an outdated phrase we continue to use as we live in a time where you don’t have to go from room to room physically changing clocks anymore because (1.) you're not your grandpa, and (2.) most tech devices like that fancy phone that you use to do everything but actually talk to people will automatically adjust when DST begins and ends.

This year, plan on your microwave clock and your old-school wall clock being off by an hour on November 3. That's when 2 a.m. becomes 1 a.m. again resulting in the mythical “extra hour of sleep.”

End of Daylight Saving To-Do List

But changing the microwave and wall clocks around the house that don’t reset themselves isn’t the only thing you should do this time of the year. There are a few other household chores Real Simple insists belong on your end of Daylight-Saving Time to-do list.

Flip your mattress - Flipping or rotating it extends its life and assures all sides of the mattress wear evenly and you don’t create an indentation that you sink into every time you get into bed.

Clean your AC vents and change furnace filters – Fall is a good time to change out the furnace filter and dust and/or vacuum the heating/air conditioner vents.

Take stock of your medicine cabinet - Before cold and flu season arrives in full force is a good time to stock up on basics you may need -- tissues, cough medicine, decongestants, disinfectant spray, for example -- and throw out all the expired meds you’ve been hanging onto.

New Batteries - Replace the batteries in your smoke alarms, carbon monoxide detectors, and love toys. Okay, maybe not the last one -- but then again, I don't know you.

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