It’s allergy season, so make sure you are changing those air filters!

When pollen starts shedding and floating through the air, everyone in our household suffers from severe allergies. We purchase giant packs of allergy medicine from the store and we are adamant about taking one pill every 24 hours. During really horrible pollen seasons, we have to visit the doctor for allergy shots that are much stronger. This year, the pollen season was mild and we were able to get away with the allergy pills. Once all the pollen was gone from the air though, I was shocked to see everyone still experiencing allergy symptoms. My son still had a runny nose and watery eyes and my daughter was coughing constantly. I thought about going to the doctor, but before scheduling an appointment, something occurred to me. I stopped and considered the air quality inside the house and I started realizing that it wasn’t very good. There was dog hair all over the furniture and I could see tiny particles floating around the air when I concentrated on an area near the light. I knew I could dust and vacuum, but that would only be a temporary fix. Instead, I decided to replace the air filter in our HVAC system. When I pulled out the old air filter, I was appalled at how much dust and debris was caught in the filter. It was so congested that a lot of the debris fell off the air filter as I was taking it out. I replaced the air filter with a clean one immediately, then began cleaning the rest of the house. The next day, I noticed that everybody’s allergies had gone away!