Spring means pollen, and for many, pollen means allergies. If you’re looking to avoid itchy eyes, incessant sneezes and an overall miserable spring, you’ve come to the right place. Read on to learn our expert tips for how to keep pollen out of your house.

1. Shed a layer

Everyone’s homes are different, but one of the best ways to avoid pollen problems in your house is to create a designated area for removing outerwear before going all the way into the home. Even if this is just a coat rack and rubber mat placed by your front door, this step will make a huge difference in keeping pollen out of your house. The most important part is to remember to remove all of your outerwear before going into your house. This means sweaters, shoes, coats and whatever else you can quickly take off that may have been coated in pollen should come off every single time. Consistency will be the key to keeping pollen out of your home.

2. Park in the garage

Obviously, not all apartments and houses have garages, but if you’re lucky enough to live somewhere that does, you can avoid pollen in the home by keeping your car parked inside. Our cars pick up a lot of pollen while driving around the city, therefore, every time we touch our car’s exterior, we pick up some of the pollen. If you don’t have a garage, rinsing your car with clean water about every other day can help in a big way.

3. Wash your hair every night

If you ever struggled with acne-prone skin as a young person, someone probably recommended that you wash your face before bed to keep troublesome oils off of your pillows at night. The same principle is true for pollen and allergies, too. Our hair sucks up pollen like an allergy prone vacuum cleaner. Washing your hair every night keeps you from wallowing in that pollen night after night while you sleep. If you don’t wash your hair at night before hitting the hay, the hay might start hitting back (hay fever, that is).

4. Invest in a HEPA filter

As a renter, you probably already know to change your air filter pretty frequently. But, you might not know that some types of fi lters are better at protecting our homes from pollen. Once you’ve done all you can to keep pollen out in the first place, the next best thing is to start removing the pollen that did make it inside. High Efficiency Particulate Air (HEPA) filters are effective at removing even the tiniest particles from the air. You can find HEPA filters for your car, individual A/Cs, central cooling units and even personal HEPA filter masks!

5. Change up your cleaning habits

When thinking about how to keep pollen out of your house, you might be tempted to go straight for the dust rag and start cleaning. But that can actually cause more problems! When you dust, you capture a lot of particles on your rag or duster, sure. But, you also kick up a ton of allergens into the air! To avoid this, you should start practicing what’s called “wet dusting.” This is simply wetting the duster or rag before cleaning. Just a little bit of moisture keeps= stray allergens at bay instead of being thrown into the air.

6. Dry your clothes indoors

Pollen is prominent during the most pleasant part of the year for much of the U.S. – the spring and summer. During these seasons you may be tempted to dry your clothes outdoors. Normally, this a great time and money saving option, especially for those renters who don’t have in-unit laundry. If you live in an area with a high pollen count, however, this could actually be the cause of pollen in your home. To keep pollen out of your house, only dry clothes outdoor before and after “pollen season.”