Indoor air can be more polluted than the air that you breathe outside. Shocking, but true. And it isn’t just because you keep your windows open at night, thereby allowing the pollutants in outdoor air to waft into your house. Chemicals commonly found in each households, such as floor cleaners and insecticides also add to the growing list of pollutants that are making your indoor air quality bad.

But while there are certainly dangers lurking in every room in the house, the good news is that there are affordable and easy solutions for most of them.

1. Increase ventilation.

Ventilation should be a priority in every household. Not only does this allow fresh outdoor air in, it also lets the bad air inside the house out. Increasing ventilation promotes good air circulation and prevents molds and other harmful substances to grow and lurk within the confines of the home.

2. Keep your house clean.

While good ventilation allows healthy air circulation, the dust and dirt that settle on the surfaces in your home throughout the day don’t really clean themselves up. Keeping the house clean not only involves dusting and sweeping, it also means taking out the trash to avoid the accumulation of bacteria that could become airborne, and keeping toxic substances away when not needed.

3. Turn on the air conditioner.

It may come as a surprise to some, but turning on your energy-star-labeled air conditioner, especially in the summer, can actually remove particulate matter and pollen from the air. Air conditioners work by cooling the air and removing the water from the atmosphere, and as a lot of pollutants are soluble in water, they are also removed during this process when the air conditioner is working.

4. Install an air filter.

For utmost protection against the negative effects to health caused by bad indoor air quality, having an air filter installed is the best solution. As their name suggests, these filter out particles of dust and other substances in the air, leaving the air that you ultimately breathe in cleaner than it once was. Good quality air filters, such as those from Filter Buy, can remove even very small particles, and are an especially great installation in households with asthma-stricken family members.

Indoor air quality can be worse than the air just outside your home, but it doesn’t have to always be the case. By taking steps to clean, ventilate, and install air filters, having improved indoor air quality is not an impossibility.