To that end, it’s never too early to start preparing your home to be safe during the holiday season. That’s why DirectBuy, the leading members-only home improvement and home furnishings club, is offering some home safety tips to help homeowners get a head start.

Add holiday items to the mix—lights, trees, candles, guests, etc.—and you up the ante on things that could possibly go wrong,” said Mike Georgeff, of DirectBuy. Some easy, cost-effective measures to improve safety in your home include:

Regularly testing your smoke alarms and installing smoke and carbon monoxide (CO) alarms on every level of your home — especially near sleeping areas.

Replace your furnace filter regularly during heating seasons.

Carefully inspect holiday light strings each year and get rid of any with frayed cords, cracked lamp holders, or loose connections. Be sure to unplug the light string when replacing light bulbs, too.

DirectBuy offers many products to help your home run more efficiently during the holiday season and the rest of the winter months—all at direct insider prices. About DirectBuy

With more than 160 locations in North America, DirectBuy offers its members access to approximately 700 brand-name manufacturers and their authorized suppliers in the US, and more than 500 brand-name manufacturers and authorized suppliers in Canada.