With the weather across much of the country beginning to warm up, making it feel a lot more springlike, flowers are in abundance, and pollen and other allergens, sadly are, too. While few can deny the beauty of spring and the optimism that this particular time of year can fill us with, it’s equally as hard to deny how annoying and uncomfortable the spring season can make things for allergy sufferers.
From sneezing, streaming eyes, and constant sniffling, pollen and other allergens in abundance during the spring season, have the ability to make life hell for certain people. And, if you’re not careful, that discomfort can continue inside the home, where ideally, it should be a refuge for allergy sufferers.
How to turn your home into an allergen-free safe haven
By adopting some cleaning habits that you regularly adhere to, you can keep outdoor allergens and the discomfort typically associated with them, right where they belong: outside.
To help turn your home into a place where allergens simply aren’t welcome, here are some simple tips:
Wash bedding on a regular basis
Allergens can thrive in bedding, particularly if you’re not washing it as often as you should be. Once a week, wash all of your bedding – from sheets and pillowcases, to comforters and blankets – on a hot water cycle. This will help ensure that any pollen or dust mites that might have been allowed to settle and breed on your bedding, are safely eliminated.
Limit exposure to outdoor allergens
It can be hard to resist the urge to fling open the windows and let the spring air flow through the rooms, but doing so will likely increase the number of allergens present inside your home. So, while it might pain you to do it, keep your windows closed when the pollen count is high.
Clean areas of your home your pet shares, frequently
As much as we love our pets, there can be no denying their role in bringing allergens into the home. Not only that, but their fur and dander can aggravate some symptoms for allergy sufferers.
Groom your pets as often as you can (or as often as they will allow it! You can take them to a professional groomer if necessary), to keep the amount of fur and dander they shed, to a minimum, and to eliminate any outdoor allergens they might have brought inside with them. Bathing should also be done on a regular basis, but it’s best to check with a veterinarian as to how often this is recommended for your particular breed.
You should also wash their bedding frequently, which will go a long way to reducing dirt and allergens inside your home.
Get rid of things you don’t need
Decluttering is an incredibly effective way of reducing dust in the home, and making the air everyone breathes while inside it, much cleaner and heathier. With a lot of clutter all around your home, dust and pollen have plenty of surfaces to land on that are tricky to clean, and until you do clean them, that’s right where they’ll stay.
Hire a cleaning company
Hiring a cleaning service to come into your home and eliminate all traces of dust and allergens, has to be the single most effective way to reduce allergy sufferers symptoms. But, it’s important that you have them visit at least once a week for this to be truly effective, and for allergy sufferers not to experience flare-ups.
Want to enjoy the spring weather without the sniffles? While we can’t clean nature, we can clean our homes, and since we spend so much time in them on average, this means that we can significantly reduce our suffering when allergens abound.
