Your home should be your sanctuary. It’s a place that is yours, where you feel the most comfortable and at peace. In order to make your home the perfect nest for you and your family, it’s important to ensure it is a healthy place to live. From your mental health to your physical health, environmental factors and lifestyle choices have a lot to do with your overall health. By making your home a safe, clean environment, you’re doing yourself and your family a favor in terms of overall health and happiness.
Before You Move In
If you’re looking for a new home, there are plenty of health and safety related aspects of a new home you should be watching out for. Those things include plumbing and electrical issues, gas furnaces, testing for radon, lead paint, and carbon monoxide, and tree location and quality — among others. Keep an eye out for pests like roaches, bed bugs, and mice. Many lease or sales agreements have clauses in which if you don’t report a pest problem within 48 hours of moving in, the property owner is not responsible for dealing with the issue.
A home inspector will look into all of these things in an in-depth review of your potential home, but it doesn’t hurt to look yourself as well. This includes things like painted furniture as well that an inspector won’t look at — so be sure any painting or refinishing you choose to do is done safely. Finding health and safety concerns doesn’t have to be a deal breaker. Many issues can be fixed in a way that can make your home completely safe and healthy. However, not all fixes are cheap, so it’s worth looking into when finding a new home.
Clean Air, Clean Water
Clean air and clean water are extremely important to living in a healthy home. To ensure clean air, it’s important to have a carbon monoxide detector, test for radon gas, and avoid smoking inside your home. You should also avoid idling the car in your garage to avoid carbon monoxide output that way. Fix water leaks in order to keep those in your home from breathing in compromised air from mold and mildew. Clean your air conditioner and dehumidifier regularly; clean dust and pet dander; keep your home ventilated; and avoid breathing in any toxic chemicals including cleaning products, pesticides, or asbestos.
There are plenty of places that water can affect you in your home: drinking water, bathing water, laundry water, and pool water are all different ways you use water at home. Keep your water filtered, have it tested, and be aware of your water temperature at all times in order to avoid water-related health issues.
Fill Your Home With Healthy Foods
What you eat has a lot to do with your overall health. Many aspects of health can be tied back to what you eat. With obesity being an epidemic and so many health conditions tied to being overweight, filling your home with healthy foods is a big part of making your home a healthy place to live. Learning how to do this is sometimes easier said than done, but there are a few ways to practice filling your home with healthy foods:
- Start a garden: Gardens are filled with healthy foods, and gardening itself is a great healthy activity.
- Focus on buying whole foods: Whole foods are minimally processed foods like veggies, fruits, and proteins.
- Grocery shop more often: Instead of buying a lot of processed food in bulk, grocery shop more often and buy things that are fresh.
Creating a Peaceful Environment
It’s not all about the nuts and bolts of your home; it’s also about how your home feels. Creating a stress-free and welcoming environment can do wonders for your mental health and overall happiness. Focus on lots of natural light, less clutter, and more plants. Surround yourself with positive items that you enjoy that aren’t just taking up space. Don’t be afraid to store more belongings and live minimally — or be okay with getting rid of items altogether. Recycle, rely less on technology, and donate things you don’t need. Work to create space in your home you want to be in by keeping your home clean, focusing on quality, and removing problematic items.
Keeping Clean Naturally
Keeping a clean home will do wonders for your physical health as well as your mental health. However, be aware of the things you’re using to clean your home with. If it’s bad for pets or children, it’s probably bad for you as well. Look into natural cleaning alternatives, keep your home ventilated if you are cleaning with chemicals, and remember to wash your hands regularly. Things like vinegar, lemon juice, baking soda, and borax are all alternatives to popular cleaners that may be harmful to use to clean your home.
Your home should be a healthy haven for you and your family to enjoy. In order to keep your home that way, you’ll have to be consistent. Keep an eye on what comes in and leaves your home including your air, water, germs, food, pets, and chemicals. A healthy home is a happy home, and it’s up to you to ensure your choices within your home are healthy ones.