Your home should be your source of joy and a place where you can relax, be healthy, and enjoy life. You do everything you think that needs to be done just to make sure your home is a healthy living space. How you manage your home matters when keeping a healthy home. But sometimes, your very habits are what make the house itself unhealthy.
Homeowners take charge of home upkeep and repairs. You take your time cleaning the house, keeping pests away, and maintaining your yard. But if you are guilty of the following, you are already making grave mistakes that only make your home an unhealthy living space.
Renovating a House Without a Home Inspection
Many homeowners think that a home inspection should only be done when buying a house. This is mainly to know about the necessary repairs and maintenance and negotiate a better price with the seller. But if you are renovating an old home, it helps to invest in a home inspection first.
For example, you have made the right choice to hire the pros when finishing your basement. Before you even call a local contractor to help with this project, it pays to invest in a home inspection first. This way, you can check if there are areas that can contain harmful stuff, including mold, asbestos, and pests.
Once you get to know the problem areas of your basement, you can hire the right pros to fix the issue. This way, once your basement is ready, you or your contractors can safely tackle the project. This will reduce your family’s chances of being exposed to unhealthy things.
Using Chemical-based Cleaners and Air Fresheners
Many homeowners love deep-cleaning their homes with artificial cleaners. They top it all off with those air fresheners to ensure their house smells good. But then, all those chemicals you use to clean and freshen up houses can pollute our indoor air.
Experts say that these chemical-based air freshener and household cleaners are actually toxic to humans, animals, and the environment. This is why we are advised to use gloves and other items in handling these chemicals. These are often poisonous when ingested and can cause respiratory issues if people with allergies inhale them.
What you can do to effectively clean and freshen our home is to use natural household cleaning supplies instead. The market is never short of natural household cleaners you can use. You can also whip up natural cleaners ourselves using the products that are already present inside our home.
As for air fresheners, there are natural ways to keep our house smelling fresh. For one, you can open windows to let air circulate and get rid of nasty odors that are inside our home. You can even simmer a few ingredients to make your home smell great.
Cleaning Toys Once a Month
If you have kids, you know how messy they can be. They have toys in virtually every part of the house they go to. They drag their favorite toys everywhere, even outside. This means their toys can get quickly sometimes.
We often think a once-a-month toy cleaning schedule is enough to keep their toys clean. But in reality, toy cleaning and disinfection should be more often than that. These can be a hot spot for germs, bacteria, and viruses which could explain why some kids often get sick.
For stuffed toys, toss these in the washer and dryer weekly. This is crucial especially to the toys that they are always playing or sleeping with. Other toys with harder surfaces should be cleaned and sanitized once each week.
For best results, air dry their toys or allow these to dry under the heat of the sun if possible. Sunlight acts as a natural disinfectant. Your kids’ toys will enjoy the extra pampering if you allow these to dry under the sun.
Letting Pets Sleep in Your Bed
Pet parents love their pets so much that they are willing to share everything with their pets, including their beds. You may love cuddling next to your pooch. But there are many reasons why beds for pets exist in the market.
These are meant to give them a private and comfortable bed of their own. Pet beds also give dogs a chance to have that private space where they can rest as necessary. Pet parents also invest in the best pet bed possible, so they can enjoy their own beds themselves.
Your pet’s dander traps allergens. Allowing your pooch to sleep beside you in your bed invites all sorts of dirt and germs they got while playing outside and around the house. If you can’t sleep without them beside you, make sure you bathe them regularly.
Your home should be a healthy living space. But if you keep on doing the habits on the list, you could already be the one making the house unhealthy. Learn from this list and you can turn your house into a healthier abode in no time.
