Guest Post - Essential House Cleaning Tips to Keep Your Home Free from Allergens

If you are unlucky enough to suffer from environmental allergies, you may dread even opening a window, let alone cleaning your home and stirring up dust, dander, pollen, or mold. As you surely won't benefit from allowing allergies to accumulate in your house either, eliminating many allergy triggers from your home on a regular basis will help reduce sneezing and itching and make your house your sanctuary. 

So knowing certain cleaning tricks can be very helpful.

Clean your house regularly

Most people nowadays have busy lives and don’t have time for cleaning. General cleaning is very important for you and your family as flu and other illnesses are brought on by an unhealthy, dusty environment. For those who have allergies, cleaning should be done every day of the week which may seem overwhelming. 

In that case, it is easier to do a small amount of maintenance each day. However, before you begin a basic cleaning, declutter your home first. The more stuff you have, the more allergies will get worse as allergens are attracted to every surface in your home.

Put an end to allergies at the entry door

Numerous allergens are brought inside from outdoors into our homes. We bring them inside on our shoes, clothing, and so on. Therefore, maintain your entryways clean and take off your shoes before entering the house to keep your home free of allergens. 

Additionally, wear overalls if you need to perform any outside work, such as gardening. You can thus leave allergens at the entrance and take them off before entering the house.

Do the dusting frequently

Cleaning window sills, mantles, window blinds or drapes, ceiling fans and light fittings, or any other horizontal surface is essential as they are natural dust collectors in your home. You should dust as often as you can with a damp microfiber cloth. 

Other dusters similar to brooms simply spread allergens around the house whereas microfiber will catch microscopic dust particles and remove dust more effectively so get used to cleaning them more regularly. 

Do the vacuuming

To clean for allergies, make sure to vacuum rather than sweep because brooms create more dust than they remove. It's recommended to use a vacuum cleaner at least twice a week to clean all the furniture and floors in your home. Whether you opt for a canister vacuum cleaner, a robotic vacuum cleaner, or one of the many quality stick vacuum cleaners that are on the market, make sure to get under every piece of furniture you can and not miss a spot. 

Don’t forget the bookshelves, corners, and other surfaces that collect dust. It may be helpful to wear a mask to protect yourself from breathing in any dust or allergens while you’re vacuuming. 

Wash bed linen more often

The number of allergens in your bedroom may be higher than you realize. Bed sheets, pillowcases, and blankets should be washed once a week in hot water with a mild, fragrance-free detergent as these contain dust mites, human and pet hair, dander, and pollen from your clothes. 

Pillows need to be cleaned frequently too or consider investing in hypoallergenic alternatives. One more thing – anyone who has allergies shouldn't air dry their laundry or bedding outside as it will be covered in irritating pollen. Pets should not be allowed on beds or in bedrooms either. 

Stay away from irritants in cleaning products

Numerous allergens and irritants are present in the majority of cleaning products that you may buy in stores. Carefully read product labels before selecting any items, and only select those which you are not allergic to. You should get yourself familiar with the most common allergens and avoid them, including anything that smells strong as these will cause hypersensitivity even though they smell nice. 

Use substitute cleaning products that don’t contain ammonia or bleach. There are a variety of natural alternatives to household chemicals such as vinegar and salt, baking soda, lemon juice, and olive oil. 

Control humidity

When cleaning for allergies, humidity must be kept under control. Keep bathroom dampness to a minimum by leaving the door open to let the space air out. If necessary, use a dehumidifier to prevent mold. Additionally, remember to clean the area below the toilet once a week to remove any hair or dust that has accumulated there. 

Don't ignore hidden areas in your kitchen either since it might also be a good site for mold to flourish. Keep the space dry while taking care of any plumbing issues. 

Conclusion

Finally, get rid of your rugs and assign some household duties to a different family member. This isn’t cleaning advice, but they'll make cleaning simpler and could reduce allergy reactions. Once you make some serious life changes, you will make peace with your allergies.

By Mike Johnston

Guest Post - 5 Practical Ways To Deal With Dust Mites In Your Home

Often, the thoughts about millions of dust mites living in your home wouldn't cross your mind until the allergens start triggering allergies symptoms. 

Most households are perfect breeding spots for dust mites. These little creatures, which are invisible to the bare eyes, exists in the most home around the world.

It doesn't' take much for dust mites to breed. A cool temperature between 68 to 77 Fahrenheit, the relative humidity of 70% to 80%, and the continuous shedding of skin flakes from individuals living in the house encourage dust mites growth. 

According to a published study in India, 60% of the mites are found in bedding, while 30% reside in upholstery. A further 10% of dust mites are observed in carpets. 

Considering that dust mites breed at an exponential pace, you'll need to take aggressive action in stopping their growth in your home.

Here are what you can do if your home is infested with dust mites.

1. Reduce Indoor Humidity

An overly-humid environment is bad for your health. If your home's humidity is above 70%, you risk having dust mites, mold, and bacteria growing in your home. 

To disrupt the optimum environment for dust mites, you'll need to reduce the humidity to ideally 50%. You can do so by opening the doors and windows in your home for natural ventilation. Doing so daily prevents excessive moisture from being trapped in your home.

If natural ventilation is difficult, you can consider getting a dehumidifier or installing an exhaust fan to make your home less humid. 

2. Use Hypoallergenic Bedding

As most of the mites are found in beds, it makes sense that you'll want to consider replacing your mattress and pillow with hypoallergenic ones. Old mattresses, particularly those made of foam rubber or spring, are likely to house millions of dust mites.

Replacing dust mites-infested bedding with those made from hypoallergenic materials like memory foam is key to keeping dust mites under control. 

If it gives you peace of mind, you can also use dust mite protectors to deny the pests any chance of breeding in mattresses and pillows. 

Remember that the pore size is as important as the material when you're choosing hypoallergenic bedding covers. As dust mite allergens are around 20 microns, you'll want to get dust mite covers with a pore size of 15 microns or smaller.  

3. Clean And Declutter Your Home Regularly

Even if you're using a dust mite resistant mattress, you'll need to clean the bedding and your home regularly. Dust mite may still breed on the mattress's surface or any areas that are prone to trapping skin flakes.

Make it a habit to clean mattress covers, pillowcases, blankets, and other bedding at least once a week. Clean the bedding with high temperature (above 131 F) as cold water does not affect dust mites. 

The same goes for upholstery and carpets, which could be filled with dust mites. As heat is the most effective arsenal for killing dust mites, you can use a steam cleaner on the surfaces. 

You may also want to consider decluttering your home, as dust could quickly gather around unused items, turning them into breeding spots for dust mites. 

4. Install An Air Purifier

While dust mites can't fly, it doesn't take much to send a few hundreds of them floating in the air. It has been proven that using an air purifier helps to reduce dust mites in your home. 

When you're choosing an air purifier, ensure that it has a HEPA filter and is rated to match the size of the room. HEPA filters are designed to trap 99.97% of particles as small as 0.3 microns. The filter will safely trap dust mites and their fecal pellets.

For the best effect, you'll want to place the air purifier close to the bed. That's where most of the mites gather and also, easily dispersed to the air when you're making the bed. 

5. Use Essential Oil Spray

Essential oils such as clove and eucalyptus are clinically proven to be effective in killing dust mites. Besides, these essential oils also denature dust mite allergen, which is the trigger for allergy symptoms. 

Essential oil sprays are easy to make, and they are useful in cleaning areas unreachable by vacuums or steam cleaners. Add a few drops of essential oil into a water-filled spray bottle, and you're ready to kill some mites.

Note that essential oil sprays are less potent than chemical disinfectants, but they are greener and non-toxic. 

Final Thoughts

It's impossible to get rid of every single dust mite in your home, but if you're allergic to them, you'll need to keep the numbers down. You'll know your efforts are working when the symptoms get milder without taking the usual medication.

Author Bio: Kenny shares dust mites prevention tips at DustMiteBuster.com. He spent the last 4 years decluttering, cleaning, and researching about the menacing pests as his son was severely allergic to dust mites.