10 Tips to Fight Allergens in Your Home

Winter is a beautiful time of year. Just thinking about all the holiday decorations, parties, and gifts bring happiness all around. But we all know throughout all the sounds of joy and happiness there are also those sounds of coughing, sneezing and wheezing. If you’re allergic to pollen, you might get a break during the winter weather. But if you have allergies to mold and dust mites, you will notice your symptoms more in the colder weather.

A big part of wintertime allergies is the cold weather that comes, we stop spending time outside and spending more time indoors. What people don’t realize is that there are more allergens inside our house than outside, especially in the colder months.

The first time your furnace kicks on it can send dust, and mold spores into the air causing a lot of that coughing, sneezing and wheezing you may experience. If you have pets, you might not have thought about how much more time your pets spend indoors during the winter months leading to more exposure to pet dander. It can also be pretty wet during the winter. You could be bringing a lot of snow inside either on our shoes or clothing. All this extra moister is a great breeding ground for mold and mildew.

Ready to help fight some of those allergens yet?

Here are 10 things that can be done to help prevent allergies in your home this season.

• Use a Humidifier to help reduce the dryness in the air of your home. Keeping the humidity in your home below 50 percent will reduce dust mites.
• Replace the air filter in your furnace with an allergen trapping air filter.
• Remove all wall to wall carpet. Pet dander and mold can be trapped.
• Consider keeping the pets out of the bedroom to reduce the number of allergens in the room.
• Bathe your pets weekly to wash away any dander or other allergens in their fur.
• Using hypoallergenic mattress and pillow cases help fight against dust mites.
• Wash bedding once a week in hot water.
• Clean flooring weekly with a damp mop to avoid stirring up dust.
• Wipe down wet surface after use, especially bathrooms and kitchen to prevent mold from growing
• Vacuum or wipe down all fabric surfaces to get pet dander and dust mites off of the surface.