Tips for Keeping Your Home Germ, Mold, Dust Mite, and Allergen-Free

You may schedule an appointment to get your flu shot this winter, but are you letting the bugs in your house have free reign? Doing a little prevention work can spare you and your family the sneezes, coughs, aches and pains of the coming cold and flu season. Here's what you can do to keep the bad bugs away from the 4 danger zones in your house: your living room, bathroom, kitchen, and bedroom.

Get Rid of Allergens In Your Living Room

Sometimes what seems like a cold is actually an allergy. Over 40 million Americans succumb to allergies caused by pet dander, mold, cockroach droppings and dust mites- and these all thrive in the upholstery, linens, and carpets of your living room. Do the following to minimize them:

- Don't walk around the house in your shoes. When you come inside the house, just leave them by the front door. Shoes can spread pollens, pesticides, and germs.

- Use a dry-steam cleaner, followed by intense vacuuming, to clean upholstery and carpets. Vacuums with HEPA filters, or other high-efficiency particulate air filters, are best; regular vacuuming will just stir up airborne particles.

- For items that are touched on a daily basis, like door or cabinet handles, light switches, keys, doorknobs and remote controls, use sanitizing wipes.

Prevent Mold From Invading Your Bathroom

A mold problem occurs when you have poor ventilation combined with moisture, which makes your bathroom the perfect breeding ground for mold spores. Mold can cause even more problems for any existing allergies or asthma, and can even cause people to develop allergies. To prevent these spores from invading your bathroom, do the following:

- Leave your shower door open and turn your exhaust fan on for 15 minutes after you take a shower/bath.

- Use hot, soapy water to wash away visible mold; then combine 1/4 cup of chlorine bleach and one gallon of water to create a sanitizing solution (wear a mask to avoid breathing in the spores). Throw away any moldy carpeting or padding. If you have a chronic mold problem, then you'll need a professional.

- If you can smell mildew on your towel after a single use and you can't bleach out the smell, it's time to toss it in the garbage. Your washing machine may be infected with bacteria, so wash whites in hot water with bleach once a week to clean it out.

Disinfect the Germs In Your Kitchen

In your kitchen, you'll find more germs than any other place in your house. When you're dealing with vegetables and meat, washing off counters with soap and water isn't going to help. You'll need to disinfect. Forget the soap and water and use one ounce of bleach in a quart of water. You can also:

- Replace wooden utensils and cutting boards that have cracks that can hide bacteria. Also use different cutting boards for vegetables and meat.

- Don't clean countertops with the dishwashing sponge or cloth. You might just cross contaminate everything. Instead, look for disinfectant wipes to clean with, and occasionally soak them in a solution of bleach and water. Replace them monthly.

- Make sure the temperature in your refrigerator stays at 40 degrees or less to reduce bacteria growing on food, which leads to food illness. Keep eggs and milk in the back where it's cooler, and keep foods such as pickles and jellies rich in preservatives on the door where the temperatures heat up fastest.

Prevent Your Bedroom From Becoming a Dust Mite Haven

Do you know that dust mites love the human skin cells we shed every day? Your bed in particular is a place they love to hang out. After 5 years, ten percent of your pillow's weight is dust mites and the debris they leave behind; and every 10 years, your mattress will have doubled its weight due to mites, food particles, and other matter. So what can you do?

- Wash your sheets in hot water once a week. Then wash your protector 2-4 times a year, or every other month if you have severe allergies or asthma.

- Place allergen-proof, impenetrable protectors on your pillows, mattresses, and box springs.

- Vacuum your upholstery and carpets with a HEPA vacuum once a week.

- Clean furniture, the tops of doors and window frames and sills, and your floor with a damp cloth once a week; twice a week if you suffer from allergies.

Using this action plan, you can enjoy a bug free lifestyle at home. Take some of these tips and apply them to your workplace where applicable to cut down even more on the germs and allergens you get exposed to daily.