This is the Air I Breathe

I was recently shocked by an innocent question brought up in class. A teacher was making a joke about how dependent Americans are and as a joke she said, "ladies, raise your hand if you can change your home air filter." Two girls raised their hand. TWO. Out of 16.....and I was one of them. Ladies...changing your air filter is one of the easiest and best things you can do for your home.

1. because it drastically lowers the amount of dust and allergens in your home






2. it's one of the least expensive things you can do to maintain your conditioning system






3. You boy toy will be quite impressed with you.

The dust and allergens can actually damage you conditioning system. Anyway...you need to know. Thank God you have me. Seriously.

STEP 1: Pick the air filter of your choice...just make sure it's the right size. You can usually find this information by checking the filter size that's already in there...for instance, mine is a 20X25.

You can have a cheap one like this:

Here's the rundown: This air filter works fine...at the very least, it will help maintain your system. If you are on a budget, this might be the way to go. The main downside I would say is that you have to change this out every month.

Now I have mostly bought the Allergen Reducer from Filtrate, but i cheated on it...and I have to tell you why: I have had a sinus infection, allergy attacks, and asthma attacks for a little over 2 years. It got to the point where I felt like death every other day and I HAD IT. I marched down to Home Depot with fire in my eyes. Can I just say...one of the main reasons I love Home Depot is because the people in there are SO FREAKING NICE AND HELPFUL. Anyway, They highly recommended that I splurged for the $20 air filter...I was extremely skeptical...after all, an air filter is an air filter, right? Oh well, I was so sick and apathetic and the nice people were the highlight of my day...so I went for it. Check out all the amenities this sucka has to offer:

OK...I know that's blurry (thanks, camera) but it traps pollen, dust mites, pet allergens, and odors just to name a few....and did you notice that number in the top left??? It blocks out 93% off allergens....NINETY-THREE PERCENT. I have got to tell you...I didn't give this filter a chance, and it STILL proved me wrong....I WILL NEVER GO BACK!! I haven't even had to blow my nose since I've had it! Also, I don't have to change it for 3 months...who knew the right filter made that big of a difference?? It does..it really does.

Would you like to see it next to my old filter??

YOWZAS!!

STEP 2: Take the cover off of your...errr...filtering area? (see below). Mine had just two clips holding it up so this step is fairly easy.

STEP 3: check the arrows on the filter...This is the direction of the air flow. For the record, the arrows should be pointing away from you.

STEP 4: put the grates back on and bask in the glory that you can do an easy household chore that apparently most ladies can not.

So how bout it girls? Did most of you find this tutorial helpful? Any opinions on the filters?? Good luck filtering!