The Best Spring Cleaning Checklist for 2018
Posted in Air Quality, on March 21, 2018
This spring add tasks that help to improve your indoor air quality to your spring cleaning checklist. Many of the common household tasks and spring time responsibilities already help bring you better indoor air quality, but some can actually have the opposite effect, and bring harmful chemicals or pollutants into your home. This spring, get a total home cleanse by following some simple tips for an improved spring cleaning checklist.
Your Spring Cleaning Checklist
Improving your indoor air quality this spring is important - a good indoor environment helps to promote good health, makes you more comfortable, and can even help prolong the life of your furnace and other major appliances. Things we bring into our home, whether it be furniture, carpets, chemicals, or things that may come in from the environment, like pet dander, spores, and pollen, can all have an adverse effect on our health and wellness, making indoor air quality an important part of our overall self-care.
1. Vacuum Vacuum Vacuum
Regular vacuuming is probably already a part of your regular cleaning regimen, let alone your spring cleaning checklist. But this spring, do your indoor air quality a favour and give your vacuum a clean as well. Buy new filters, change the bag, and clean debris from the rollers to improve your ability to do a deep clean and catch any allergens in your home.
2. Soft Furnishings
Allergens, dust, dander, and other airborne particles can get lodged in the carpets, couch, drapes, and the other soft furnishings in your home. This can help reduce the amount of particles in the air, but it can become a problem when those items get oversaturated. Regular vacuuming and your standard cleaning regimen will help, but a professional carpet or couch cleaning, plus regular washing of pillows and drapes, will go a long way in removing embedded allergens.
3. Clean The Air
Your spring cleaning checklist likely includes a number of tasks that involved anti- bacterial and microbial washes and sprays. But these products may actually be adding to poor indoor air quality rather than improving it. Harmful chemicals, like Volatile Organic Compounds, or VOCs, in many popular cleaning products can cause respiratory effects, headaches, and itchy, watery eyes. Choose ‘green’ or low VOC products when cleaning your house this spring for a gentler, safer clean.
4. Ditch the Air Fresheners
A nice fresh scent can go a long way in psychologically improving your indoor environment, but those air fresheners have been known to contain harmful chemicals such as formaldehyde, petroleum distillates, and pthalates, the last of which is known to cause cancer, reproductive problems, and hormonal abnormalities. Opt for scentless cleaning products and skip the air fresheners for a more healthy indoor environment.
5. Tidy Up
The last thing you can do on your spring cleaning checklist is to spend some time cleaning up and performing little maintenance tasks around your home. Toss old pens, file away paperwork, donate clothes you no longer wear, and get rid of broken items. In and around your home, now is a good time to replace weatherstripping, re-grout tiles, and clean window screens. The spring cleaning checklist is long, but many of these tasks can be bundled with others to make them easier and more efficient. This spring, don’t forget to pay attention to your indoor air quality! A few simple changes to your spring cleaning regime will go a long way in providing fresher, healthier indoor air quality all season long. Good luck with your spring cleaning checklist!