There’s no question that keeping your home clean and hygienic is a standard part of being a homeowner. However, this process is especially important during the winter. With the dropping temperatures and occasional snowfall, many of us will find ourselves trapped indoors and exposed to some of our homes’ dirtiest places. These are a few crucial home cleaning tips for the winter months to ensure your environment stays healthy.
Cut Back on Clutter
If you have stacks of boxes taking up space in the corner of a room or a few books you’ve been planning to put away for a while now, now is the time to do it. When you leave clutter to sit around your home, it becomes a collector of any dirt, dust, or mold particles that happen to pass by. These materials are then more likely to circulate in the air and affect your health. Instead, do your best to pack away or throw out any unused items around your home.
Replace Your HVAC Filters
It’s also important to take some time to replace your central air system’s HVAC filters. As previously stated, harmful materials such as dirt and dust are at their worst when they’re circulating through the air. These filter components catch these particles and reduce how many of them are collecting on your surfaces. As such, switching your filters out before you turn on the heat for the winter can go a long way toward keeping your home cleaner overall.
Look for Dust in Unexpected Places
But when you do need to start dusting and wiping down certain surfaces, make sure you’re doing so in more than just the places you can see. Dust and dander can collect anywhere—and large enough deposits can start drifting throughout your home. To combat this, you should also dust in harder-to-reach places like behind the fridge, under the couches, and even on top of the ceiling fan blades. Pendant lighting fixtures also often need a thorough cleaning around this time of year, and you shouldn’t neglect your other lighting fixtures either. All the aforementioned areas are hot beds for more than just dust and dander, and they can take a serious toll on your home’s indoor air quality if left unkempt.
Winterize Your Entryway
However, one of the most crucial home cleaning tips for the winter months is to keep new messes from coming in from the outdoors. Whether we’re encountering dirty water, slush, or clumps of mud, we tend to track these things inside with us during the winter season. These messes can be a pain to clean up and can even cause stains on certain types of flooring. Therefore, you’ll want to winterize your entryways to prevent these materials from being tracked through the house. Boot trays and scrapers, as well as coat hangers, are particularly effective at this task.
