Allergens can be absolutely debilitating. It really seems like they are worse this year, I know people who are suffering so badly that they can hardly leave the house. It’s terrible.

Allergens Attacking?

My husband frequently says, “I’ll give you the greatest gift I could possibly give you.” I hate that saying, he says it in reference to 100% truthfulness, oftentimes when you absolutely don’t want it. This piece of honesty is entertaining though, I promise.

When I was a little girl I didn’t suffer from any airborne allergies. I sincerely believed pollen couldn’t be in the air, we would see it. The thoughts of little girls! If only! This spring I was highly amused at myself when I realized my koi pond was coated, multiple times a day, in a thin layer of pollen. Obviously, I was not amused at the film they had created on my pond that had me cleaning it out 4 times a day. However it did make me think, ‘if only little girl me had seen this!’

Our homes are filled with allergens, they are literally everywhere! The more I study them, the more I’m both amazed and disgusted. I’m on a mission to get some of them out of my home. I’m quite desperate to improve the air quality of this particular Zoo!

Our bed will gain 8 lbs of dead skin cells per person per year! Did you know that? I’m truly grossed out and am ever so slightly scheming as to how we could get hammocks into our room that are washable. Wouldn’t that be fun, rolling over and hitting the floor from a dead sleep? While I’m sure many people have successfully slept in hammocks, the way my husband and I toss and turn, we would definitely throw each other out at some point!

15 Ways Virtually Eliminate Harmful Irritants In Your Home With This Quick Guide

Obviously, it is impossible to get rid of allergens completely. However, we’ve scoured and researched to find as many ways to reduce or get rid of them as we could!  Good luck on your mission to get rid of them!

1. Have your ducts cleaned every so often. Nash Everett, a company that focuses on indoor air quality, recommends having your ducts cleaned every three to five years. To be honest, I had never even thought about having our ducts cleaned! It makes total sense. Of course they are going to be full of dander and such, I can’t believe I never thought of that! Gary Szymanski and his team can take care of the mold, dust, air quality and, most importantly, air quality. His company was started to consistently improve homes and the lives. If you happen to live in New Jersey, he’s the man for you!
2. Trade out traditional blinds for roller blinds. Traditional blinds collect dust and are almost impossible to keep clean but the roller blinds are easily wipeable and don’t have as much surface to land on.
3. Don’t leave windows open, as the outside air will certainly bring in more harmful air particles than your air conditioning system will.
4. To prevent and reduce dust mites, utilize hypoallergenic casings on your beds, mattresses, box springs and pillows. This will especially help as you won’t be literally laying in dander anymore.  You can also get hypoallergenic casings if you don’t want to just have covers.
5. Limit stuffed animals and decorative pillows or eliminate them altogether if possible. Each time they are moved around, dust and dander that has landed on them flies everywhere!
6. When dusting, use a damp cloth to help reduce the amount of dust that enters back into the air. Microfiber cloths are great for this as well!
7. Remove carpet as much as possible and eliminate rugs altogether. If you must have carpet, have them cleaned in such a way that the carpet is left dry afterward so that mold doesn’t get the chance to form.
8. For the areas that require vacuuming, ensure that your vacuum has a HEPA filter to reduce the particles thrown in the air while you’re vacuuming.
9. Keep pets out of the bedroom. I’m terrible with this one. My furbabies go everywhere I go, whether I want them to or not. Unfortunately, everywhere they go, they shed and track in whatever they’ve gathered while rolling in that freshly mowed grass right into your bedroom!
10. Keep your kitchen clean with a 5% bleach cleaning solution to kill germs. Keep all food in sealed containers. Cockroaches trigger allergies, so don’t give them a chance to enter! Doesn’t everyone want to know that nasty little fact?
11. Use a good vent fan to clear the air when cooking or showering. This will help keep the mold at bay by removing the moisture from the air.
12. Clean the bathroom weekly to ensure that you don’t have mold growing. Don’t forget to wash the shower curtains as well!
13. Consider getting an air purifier for your bedroom as well.
14. Keep the entryway to your home clean, that will help lessen the amount of dirt and such that is tracked into your home. Utilize a tracking mat rather than a traditional mat at your front door so that the mat isn’t collecting and holding dirt and dust.
15. If you’ve done everything you can think of and it’s still bothering you, consider having the air quality in your home evaluated.  They can tell you what and where the pollutants are, as well as help eliminate them and protect you from them. You can get a free ebook to having a non-toxic home to help you with that as well.

In Conclusion…

If you aren’t totally grossed out and you actually made it to this point of the post without having had to stop to go scrub your house, kudos! I’m impressed. In writing it, I’ve stopped four times to go clean something then forced myself to come back. I’vealso been trying to figure out how I could live comfortably in a stainless steel house. No answers thus far… I’ll let you know if I come up with it!

Do you have any tips? We’d all love to hear them!