As the leaves drop from the trees and autumn transitions into winter, it's time to prepare for the season. Whether this means hiking in the outdoors or cozying up at home with a good book, there are a few things you'll need to do to prepare for the cold. Exactly what you'll need to do will depend on your situation, and how you prefer to keep busy during the winter.

That said, there are a few things pretty much everybody should do to get ready for winter. Here are seven ways to prepare.

Prepare Your Vehicles and Equipment

If you live anywhere where they salt the roads in winter, this time of year can be particularly hard on your vehicle. So make sure to take it to the car wash regularly to keep the salt off. For even better protection, apply a ceramic spray before the first snow of the year. This will keep your car's clear coat safe from the abrasive effects of salt.

When you put your lawn equipment away for the winter, add some fuel stabilizer to the tank. This will keep water vapor from condensing and mixing with your fuel. It will also keep the ethanol from separating from ethanol gas and gumming up your carburetors. This tiny investment could save you hundreds of dollars in engine repair bills when spring rolls around.

If your driveway is prone to icing up, throw a bag of kitty litter in your trunk. If you get stuck, you can scatter some around your tires to provide some grip. Keep in mind that only the non-clumping litter is useful for this purpose. The clumping litter will act as advertised and bunch up into clumps instead of providing traction. In addition, the extra weight from the litter bag will give you even better traction in a rear-wheel-drive vehicle.

Layer Up With Warm Clothes

If you spend a lot of time outdoors, you'll need some durable, heavy duty apparel to keep you warm. This is true whether you're engaged in an ambitious, back-country hike or simply shoveling your driveway. Now, it might be tempting to wear one big, thick layer like a heavy down coat. This will certainly keep you warm, but not as much as you might think.

The reason for this is that clothes keep us warm by trapping air. Our body heat warms this air, which creates a nice little warm pocket around us. With one big layer, you don't trap as much air. But with multiple, thinner layers, you trap additional air in the gap between each layer. Not only that, but you can take off layers and add them as needed. If you're hiking and you start to get too warm, you can take off your outer layer. When you stop to rest and cool off, you can put it back on. This gives you more flexibility than a single layer that's either on or off.

Another benefit of layering is that you can change things up for different conditions. For example, on a windy day, you can wear a light windbreaker over everything else. On a rainy day, you can wear a waterproof outer layer. This way, you're ready for whatever Mother Nature throws your way.

Prepare Some Warming Beverages

There's nothing quite like a warm beverage to keep you cozy in the cold weather. We all love a cup of coffee, or a hot cocoa when we're cuddling up on the sofa with a good book. But what if you want to enjoy your warm drink outside? In that case, there are plenty of options, like the Ember temperature-controlled mug, which will keep your hot drink hot for hours.

If you're of legal age, a little bit of alcohol can also warm you up in the winter. Even a glass of mezcal on the rocks will put a warming fire inside your belly. Keep in mind, though, that alcohol only makes you feel warmer because it increases circulation to your skin. In actuality, your body is shedding more heat. So if you're outside in the cold, keep your alcohol consumption to a minimum.

Buy Supplies for Fun Time Activities

Whether you want to stay inside or enjoy the majesty of the frozen outdoors, you'll want some supplies to help you stay busy. This can mean almost anything. For example, if you like to curl up with a book, why not invest in some jazz albums to listen to while you're reading? And if you like outdoor sports, an inflatable snowmobile sled can add even more excitement to an already thrilling escapade.

Drain Your Hoses, and Bring Them Inside

When your hoses get left outside, any water left inside will freeze, causing it to expand. This in turn can split even the strongest hoses, which you'll have to replace in the spring. To avoid this, unspool your hoses and drain them thoroughly. Then, just to be sure, bring them inside a basement or another heated area, where they won't freeze solid. Do the same with any sprinklers, hose nozzles, and anything else that has water running through it.

In addition, you'll want to shut off any outdoor spigots around your property. Otherwise, the pipes may crack, which is a lot more expensive than a split hose. There should be a cutoff valve inside your home that will make the spigots stop running.

Seal Your Windows and Doors

Even if you're half polar bear and love the cold weather, you probably don't appreciate the higher energy bills that come with the cold weather. There's no way to eliminate these expenses altogether, but you can at least cut them down by winterizing your home.

One easy way to do this is to caulk your doors and windows. Buy a high-quality outdoor caulk, and go around the outside of your home looking for gaps around the window and door frames. Fill them, and you'll have less cold air leeching in through your walls. One cheap tube of caulk can save you a bundle on your energy bills.

Another good idea is to use insulating shrink-wrap on the insides of your windows. This is available at most home improvement stores, and all you need to install it is a blow dryer.

Keep Moving – But Not Too Much

The key to staying warm in cold weather is to engage in physical activity. When you stay moving, your muscles are constantly producing extra warmth. This is a highly effective way of staying warm inside your layers.

That said, you have to be careful about overheating. Have you ever seen a hockey player come off the ice dripping with sweat? That's the last thing you want to happen to you in the cold. When this happens, you end up sweating through your inner layers. Then, when you stop moving, you're suddenly freezing, because your clothes are all wet.

To help counteract this, take off a layer or two if you're starting to sweat. And invest in a sweat-wicking inner layer that keeps sweat from pooling directly next to your skin. This will help keep you from getting cold when you stop exercising.