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5-Minute Tasks to Improve Your Indoor Air Quality
When life gets busy for homeowners, it’s easy to focus on in-your-face chores (like that pile of dirty laundry or the grass that needs mowing) and forget about things like keeping your home’s indoor air as fresh as possible. But in just five minutes, you can complete any one of the following cleaner-air tasks—and get back to enjoying time with your family.
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Replace the filter in your heating and cooling system.
Doing this at least every three months will go a long way toward capturing indoor air contaminants. Find the right filter for your home with this handy guide.
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Open the windows for a few minutes.
Unless it’s bitterly cold or extremely humid outside, allowing some fresh air into your home every few days is a great idea. While the windows are open, run the exhaust fans in your bathrooms to help pull out the stale air. Be mindful of those in the home with seasonal allergies or if there’s smog or wildfire smoke in your area. Windows closed may be better in those instances.
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Dust with a damp cloth.
The Consumer Product Safety Commission encourages homeowners to reduce household dust mites, pollens, animal dander and other allergy-triggers through regular cleaning*. Make it a family affair by giving every member of the family a damp microfiber cloth and a room assignment.
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Suck it up.
Run a vacuum (ideally one with a HEPA filter) over the carpeted areas of your home to minimize allergens like pollen, pet dander and dust mites. Give extra attention to high-traffic areas, which deserve several sweeps of the vacuum.
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Say hello to aloe
The next time you run errands, pop into a garden center and purchase a few easy-to-grow aloe plants, which have been proven to have air-cleaning abilities. Place them in sunny spots throughout your home.
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