While we don’t often think about them, the fact is that there are thousands of little creatures living with us and maybe even on us. Ew. I am talking about dust mites, and if you have allergies or asthma, you know all too well how dust mites can affect your health or the health of your family. Dust mites can make allergies and respiratory illnesses get worse. It is important to eradicate them whenever you can.
Dust mites can live in all sorts of places, from your bedding to beloved family toys. Of course, they can also live in the dust in your home. Keeping your home as dust free as possible helps, of course. But what do you do if you have bedding, clothing or stuffed toys? Vacuuming won’t work too well with them.
By the way, vacuuming doesn’t really kill dust mites, it just relocates them. There are two ways that will actually kill those dust mites. The first is heat, for example by washing in hot water. Water that is 140 degrees or hotter will kill dust mites. So laundering your bedding and clothing on the hot setting should do the trick.
Some newer dryers will have a antibacterial setting in which heat is applied for an extended period of time. This may have the same effect and kill the dust mites as well. Read your owner’s manual for details.
But some items, such as those stuffed toys may not hold up to being thrown in the washing machine or the dryer. In that case, you will have to kills those dust mites with cold. freezing your items for 24 hour should free you of any dust mites that might have been calling your things home. You should do this at least every two weeks to keep the allergens down.
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