Making Your Home a Healthy Place

Most of us spend a good deal of our lives at home, so of course, we want it to be a healthy place. Some improvements can be made quickly and easily, and others require more time, money, and effort, but there’s always something you can do to make your home a healthier place to live.

Do it yourself, or get a pro?

Healthy upgrades can be done on a large or small scale. If you’re planning to sell your home in the next five years, it’s a good idea to have value-boosting changes made with future buyers in mind.

For example, if you notice mold around your windows, they likely need replacing. Unless you have some carpentry experience, this is a job for the pros. If your windows are in good shape, but you want to have more control over light, temperature extremes, privacy, and the view, consider top-down-bottom-up shades. While you might enjoy selecting the perfect blinds for your home, many stores offer great deals, including installation, which could save you a lot of headaches.

If you have any leaky faucets or plumbing fixtures that no longer work as they should, have them replaced by professional plumbers. If the exhaust fan over your stove is not properly vented to the outdoors, then you are bringing particulates from cooking right back into your home and redistributing them. Installing or remediating an exhaust fan is a job for a pro.

Many things you can do yourself

So many upgrades to make your home a healthier place can easily be done by you. For example, you can purchase a free-standing air purifier and try it out in several rooms. Some plants actually cleanse the air of pollution, and investing in a few of these is a great idea.

Make sure the curtains or blinds in your bedroom completely block out all light in order to get the best possible sleep. Moving TVs and computers out of your bedroom is another way to ensure better sleep. Replace any Teflon or non-stick cookware with stainless steel or cast iron to avoid having your food absorb toxic chemicals from the coatings. Consider shifting to the use of natural cleaning products, such as baking soda and vinegar. Switch out candles made from petroleum-based paraffin to some that are soy-based–they’ll burn cleaner and emit fewer noxious chemicals.

Designing a healthy home office

Your home office shouldn’t be in your bedroom or living room if you want it to be efficient. It’s ideal to put it in a location with plenty of natural light, preferably coming in from two different sides of the room. Since natural light is known to increase productivity and concentration, choose window coverings that allow you to let the light in. Make sure that your desk and office chair are both the right height for you to avoid ergonomic issues, such as carpal tunnel. Make sure your office space is appealing, after all, you’ll be spending a good bit of time there.

There are many changes, both big and small, that can be made in your home to make it a healthier place to live. Start small, for example, by instituting a no-shoes rule and providing a place for everyone to leave their shoes upon entry. Before you invest in big remodeling projects, it might be worthwhile to check with a successful local realtor to find out what features are most appealing to current buyers. You may not want those features in your home, but then again, you might. While you are overhauling the healthy aspects of your home, it’s a great time to create a home office with the same parameters of maintaining good health in mind. Maintaining a healthy living and/or working space is an ongoing project that will pay off for years.

Planning on selling or buying a home? Contact the Kari Haas Real Estate Team for exceptional service.

Image courtesy of Pexels.

This post was written by Micah Norris for the Kari Haas Real Estate Team blog.