Top 5 ways to breathe easier during allergy season

Springtime is one of our family’s favorites – perfect temperatures to open windows and bring in fresh air to rejuvenate our home. Such an inspirational time of year to change out to lighter linens and embark outside to plant the veggie garden. And then I sneeze and my eyes start to water. Crud, allergies have kicked in. Just in time, here is a list of 5 things I rely on to tamper down allergies and keep us all breathing a little easier.

No 5. Spring Cleaning!

It’s no surprise that cleaning will be on this list – but using a little more elbow grease and the right tools can go a long way to helping allergies and asthma. Skip the feather duster and opt for a microfiber instead cloth which will trap dust vs. let it float in the air. When cleaning, do it from ceiling to floor to help any dust/dirt/pollen gets vacuumed/mopped up last. If you can expense it, get the extra tool kit for your vacuum to get into the crevasses and better attachments to get at furniture easier. I use a tape lint roller to combat dust on the lampshades.

No 4. Prevent Mold

Ok, so it’s more cleaning – but mold can find its way into places that can be overlooked – including toys. Here is a great reference from the folks at Real Simple with their 3 tips to prevent mold in kid’s toys. Along with cleaning toys, any room that has water lurking around could use some heavy duty elbow work on regular basis as well as ensuring the caulking around tubs, showers, sinks, and drains aren’t collecting mold. If you can see it, it probably needs to be pulled/cut out and replaced – here’s a quick tutorial from TIPHERO on how-to remove and replace caulking. It’s a tedious task, but will last a few years if done properly.

No 3. Up Your Bedding Game

A couple years ago, I found that my highly coveted down comforter and down pillows were trigging my allergies in a big way. Trading them out not only helped control my allergies better, but putting covers on my mattress and pillows cut back on dust allergies for my entire family. Ensuring I keep under the bed clutter free helps keep the dust bunnies at bay and makes it a lot easier to clean under there (ok, more cat sized dust balls). All this along with weekly dusting and washing linens in hot water keep us from sneezing the night away.

No 2. Take Off Shoes Before Entering the Home

This was a tough habit for us to get into because we are constantly running in and out of the house, however, once we did, we noticed a lot less dirt gets tracked into our home. So, when allergy season comes, not only is it less dirt, but it’s less pollen getting slopped about the floors. Keep a stack of slippers next to your door to encourage the shoe flip off.

No 1. Use HVAC with Clean Filters

As much as we love open windows, sometimes allergies (or the heat) get to a point where it’s time to close the windows and turn on the AC. Being in the HVAC business, I’m pretty good about changing out the filter every month, so I use a cheap filter. If you’re less likely to change out frequently or have severe allergies, consider getting a filter made for allergies – good options available at hardware and big box stores. We always highly recommend regularly vacuuming of any ventilation in bathrooms and kitchen range hoods as well.

Here are few more great resources if you want more tips on ways to ease allergies as we come upon high pollen counts.

Contact us if you should need help with your air filters or a good spring tune-up on your AC before the heat turns up. Happy Spring, we hope yours are relaxing and sneeze free.