10 Quick Tips to Reduce Allergens In Your Home

This post has been underwritten by Lysol Air Filters. As always, opinions are 100% my own.

Ah, allergens. I didn’t know much about allergies until I met Brad. I never had allergies and neither did anyone in my family. Brad has relatively bad allergies and now that we have health insurance (can I get a “woot”?!), I’m urging him to see an allergist so we can pinpoint exactly what he’s allergic to. Since we haven’t had to ability to figure out exactly what he’s allergic to, I try to reduce the allergens in our house as much as possible. So today I thought I’d share some of my tips with all of you in case you or your partner or children also suffer from allergies.

Now these are quick tips that you can do. I’m not going to go over drastic tips like ripping out all of your carpet and going with hardwood flooring throughout. These are easy, inexpensive things I do to reduce the allergens in our house.

1. Dust, then vacuum. Because when you dust, some of it will be carried off the surface you’re dusting and settle on the floor. So if you vacuum after you dust, the vacuum will suck up the dust, leaving you with less dust in your house.

2. Vacuum under your bed. If you’re like the typical person, you spend 6-8 hours in your bed a night. That’s a lot of time. To reduce the dust and pet dander in your bedroom, make sure you vacuum under your bed regularly. I use the vacuum attachment on our vacuum to get under the bed without having to move it, but twice a year I have Brad help me move it out of the way so I can use the main part of vacuum to suck up the dust and pet dander.

3. Don’t let your pet(s) sleep with you. If you’re allergic to pet dander this is kind of a given. It doesn’t really make sense to sleep in a bed with something you’re allergic to for 6-8 hours every night. If you’re definitely allergic to pet dander, you may want to consider having your pet(s) sleep in a different room.

4. Use a HEPA filter on your vacuum. HEPA filters trap 100% of pollen and ragweed particles and 99.97% of other allergens and dust. If you’re not using a HEPA filter you’re basically recycling allergens in your house.

5. Wash your bedding and blankets regularly. This is probably a no-brainer because, um well, you spend 6-8 hours in your bedding a night. Dust settles on your bedding just like it settles on your nightstands. Think about it. Same goes with blankets. Especially if you let your pets snuggle on the couch with you.

6. Vacuum your couches and chairs. Like I said above, dust settles everywhere. Vacuum your furnishings often, especially if your pet gets on them, to reduce dust and pet dander.

7. Get some plants (and try not to kill them). Certain plants are natural air filterers. Here’s a list of them.  Before you purchase a plant, make sure it’s safe for pets– some can be toxic to animals.

8. Use the exhaust fan when you shower. This will help reduce moisture and mold in your bathroom.

9. Clean your bath and/or shower often. This will also help reduce mold. Along with regular deep cleanings, we use a daily after-shower spray to keep our shower as clean and mold-free as possible.

10. Use a quality air filter. We recently started using Lysol Air Filters. They’re the first air filter that is certified asthma & allergy friendly by the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America. They reduce pollen by 95%, dust mites by 92%, and pet dander by 85%. And they’re reasonably priced. I picked some up at Menards last week, and our size filter was only $12.99.

If you’re interested in trying one out Lysol Air Filters in your home, you can find them at Menards or Buyfilters.com. (Use the promo code: 221BOGO to buy one, get one free from Buyfilters.com. Note: coupon applies one-inch filters in a 2-pack only and not all sizes are available. Limit one per customer.)

Bonus: enter to win a year-supply of Lysol air filters here!

What do you do to reduce allergens in your home?

This post has been underwritten by Lysol Air Filters. As always, opinions are 100% my own.