Making a home and its occupants healthy is a non-negotiable goal that every family should strive to achieve. Specifically, it’s critical to ensure that the home is free from all types of health risks such as airborne viruses and waterborne diseases. It’s a tough task to achieve, no doubt about it; but, with some sensible tricks, it can be made ten times easier on the part of parents.
So, just how do you make your home a haven for your family? Here are a few inexpensive hacks to make your home as healthy as possible:
Have your HVAC system regularly serviced by professionals.
There are quite a lot of illnesses that your family members could get if your heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) system is not properly maintained throughout the year. Among the common health effects of an improperly maintained HVAC system are headaches, stuffy nose, respiratory illnesses, and fatigue.
You can easily avoid these ill results by hiring a licensed and reliable HVAC contractor to clean and maintain your air ducts, air conditioning units, heaters, and other components of your HVAC system. With fully functioning and thoroughly maintained HVAC components, you can enjoy not only excellent temperatures year-long but also clean, breathable air.
Don’t let another one bite the dust.
While you might be a Queen or Freddie Mercury fan but it sure is not very royal-like to let a family member bite the dust. If you have lots of area rugs and carpets, as well as hard to reach corners, then you can expect dust and other allergens to accumulate over time and cause various respiratory problems.
A simple and inexpensive fix to this is to regularly vacuum (preferably weekly) all the dust magnets inside your home, so there’d be a slim chance of dust accumulation. Your vacuum cleaner should have a HEPA filter in it for optimum filtering results.
Scrutinize household product ingredients.
Not everything with the word “natural” in it is truly natural or safe, as what some product manufacturers would want you to believe. The beauty soap claiming to be gentle to the skin or that household cleaner that promises safe disinfecting may be hiding dangers in some of their active ingredients and you’re none the wiser.
The easy remedy for this is to use this database to check if the ingredients in the products you’re buying are truly safe and natural or just claiming to be. If the safety rating for the ingredient in a certain product you’re intent on buying happens to be unsafe based on the database’s safety rating, then it’s only wise not to buy or continue using it.
Every once in a while, let the sunshine and fresh air in.
Nothing beats the refreshing feeling of breathing in the fresh air every once in a while. This is why you must periodically open your doors and windows to allow outside air into your home. Doing so will not only freshen up your home but also let out pollutants that may have accumulated inside.
Additionally, regularly doing this will lower the humidity level inside your home and make it a more livable space for your family.
Put air purifying plants indoors.
Not only would indoor plants make your house look inviting, but some species could also actually purify the air inside it. Plant species such as dracaena, Chinese evergreens, ferns, and peace lilies are tested by NASA to have air-purifying properties, which make them excellent for use indoors.
Invest in an essential oil diffuser.
Essential oils have been used for millennials; in fact, the early Egyptians were known to use aromatic oils in their ointments and cosmetics, alongside ancient Chinese and Indians. By using an essential oil diffuser in your home, you won’t just get a relaxing vibe with the therapeutic scent of the oils, you’ll also do your mental health a favor as you’ll be more at ease inside your private residence.
There are plenty of low-cost diffusers and essential oils that you can find online, so getting the right scents you like won’t be a problem.
Give your walls and ceiling a fresh coat of paint.
If you want a hack that takes care of two things at once, then this should be it. However, you can’t use just any other kind of commercially-available paint but a low- or zero-VOC (volatile organic compounds) paint instead. VOCs are harmful to health when inhaled, and they are present in a lot of paints used in homes and commercial buildings. Be sure that you’ll only use this specific type of paint (low-VOC or zero-VOC) to avoid putting your family’s health in jeopardy.
With these simple tricks, making your home a healthy place to live is going to be several times easier for you.
