How To Prepare Your Home For Allergy Season

How to Prepare Your Home for Allergy Season
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How to prepare your home for allergy season is like preparing for war! Spring is a time for sunshine, fresh air and blooming flowers. But for those of us with allergies, even the most pleasant of breezes can make your home feel like an itchy, scratchy chamber in hell.

With all the germs and allergens lurking in every corner — about 2,000 species of fungi, to be exact — your house is basically a microbial zoo. This information is according to Dr. Noah Fierer, microbial ecologist at the University of Colorado Boulder.

Learn how to arm yourself for the battle with these seven easy and helpful tips.

How to Prepare Your Home for Allergy Season

1. Upgrade Your Vacuum

If you’ve been using the same, decades-old vacuum for years, it may be time for an upgrade. Your vacuum could be spewing out the finer dust and debris it collects back into the air. In reality, this makes it an allergy-induced nightmare.

Invest in a vacuum with a high-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filter, and best cleaner bags which can trap in airborne allergens. This is one of the best ways to remove the advice given by Jotham Hatch, national training director for Chem-Dry, a carpet and upholstery cleaning service.

How to prepare your home for allergy season
A new vacuum can make a big difference.

2. Allergy-proof your bed.

When you crawl under your sheets at night, you’re tucking yourself away in a collection of pollen, mildew, fungus and if you have pets in your home maybe even some pet dander.

While you should be washing your sheets at least every other week, Hatch recommends upping that chore to once a week in hot water (about 130 degrees Fahrenheit, according to the Mayo Clinic).

For added protection and as to how to prepare your home for allergy season, use dust-and mite-proof bedding to keep the allergy-triggers at bay and, no matter how irresistible your pet may be, keep them off the bed. There are many mattress vacuum cleaner models that can work wonders to clean your mattress easily.

Vacuum for dog hair and allergy
Fido, get down from there!

3. Attack the dust.

It’s easy to overlook cleaning the dusty corners of your home, so consider buying and using the best vacuum cleaner to help remove household dust. The debris found can contain a combo of human skin, animal dander and insect waste.

This alone and can set off a respiratory issues so dusting your home is crucial during the allergy season.

To reduce the amount of allergens in your home, dust at least once a week and, if your allergies are really bad, invest in an air purifier to give your lungs the relief it needs.

allergy and cleaning to help lessen symptoms

4. Keep your windows closed and change out your air filters.

After a cold winter, it can be tempting to open your windows to let the springtime air in, but for those with allergies, that fresh air can quickly become a nightmare scenario.

During allergy season, keep your windows closed and stick to central air to keep your place cool. Hatch suggests checking and changing out the air filters in your heaters and air conditioning vents to prevent dirt and dust from gathering and circulating around your house.

outdoor allergy treatments
When it comes to pollen, have a closed-door policy.

5. Put your houseplants on the offense.

Plants have a way of making a home look bright and fresh, but they are also ripe grounds for mold to grow. In fact, while you might overlook this, it is a key factor. To prevent mold spores from thriving in your planters, place houseplants in an area with good circulation.

The Mayo Clinic also suggests sprinkling aquarium gravel over the soil to limit the growth of mold.

plants and allergy treatment
Pretty but dangerous.

6. Don’t wear shoes in the house.

If you want to prevent allergens from entering your home, leave footwear at the door. Your shoes pick up the dirt and pollen that loom outside and when you wear them indoors you’re basically pollinating the floors of your home just like a bee.

If you can’t stand having your bare feet exposed all night, slip on some house shoes and make sure to wash them periodically, as dirt and dust from your floor can collect on your indoor footwear over time.

LindaRaymondPhotography via Getty Images
What do the birds and the bees and your shoes have in common? Pollen.

7. Re-dress your drapes.

Heavy curtains can accumulate dust, mildew and pollen like a magnet. And when you pull them aside to let the spring shine in, you can conjure a dust devil vacuum that can easily clean drapes from pollen and sorts within seconds.

One tip when it comes to how to prepare your home for allergy season is to swap out thick curtains for light and breezy fabrics made with cotton or synthetic fabrics — and don’t forget to wash them often. If you’re extra ambitious, you can throw them in with your weekly sheet wash to double up your defense.

Ivan Hunter via Getty Images

No dust here! Isn’t spring grand?

Conclusion

In order to know exactly how to prepare your home for allergy season, there are certain things you need to be aware of. It is often the small things that we don’t usually think about that can affect our allergies. To make sure that you don’t suffer this year, follow the tips above, which can all help to reduce the amount of invisible triggers in your home. Either way, by following this advice and easy tips, your home will be healthier and cleaner!

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