Broadcaster Press 11 September 24, 2013 www.broadcasteronline.com How To Improve Indoor Air Quality As Winter Approaches With fall soon to give way to winter, many people will soon be spending more time indoors. Winter weather can be harsh, and it can be difficult for fresh air to make its way into a home once the warmer temperatures of summer and fall give way to the cold days of winter. Poor indoor air quality can cause multiple problems. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, poor indoor air quality can increase a person’s risk of developing pneumonia, and it also may aggravate existing respiratory conditions such as asthma. The EPA also notes that long-term exposure to indoor air pollution can increase a person’s risk for heart disease, respiratory diseases and even cancer. Because indoor air pollution can be so devastating, many homeowners look for ways to improve their indoor air quality, especially before the arrival of winter, when residents of the home figure to spend such a significant amount of time indoors. Fortunately, homeowners can take many steps to do just that. •Clean with soap and water. Soap and hot water can still clean a home effectively, and this ageold combination might be the healthiest way to clean as well. Many household cleaning products contain potentially harmful ingredients that can introduce toxins and irritants into a home. Avoid such cleaners and solvents when cleaning a home. If stains prove too stubborn for soap and water, be sure to open windows when using potentially harmful cleaners indoors. •Purchase an air filtration system. Air filtration systems vary significantly in size, cost and function. Some systems are designed to remove specific pollutants, and may not be effective at removing additional indoor air pollutants. Larger models tend to be most effective at filtering pollutants like dust, but such units are more expensive than smaller units. If your home is especially dusty, then a large filtering system may prove a worthy investment. •Open windows and doors when possible. Introducing outdoor air into a home is a great way to improve indoor air quality. Of course, opening windows and doors might not be feasible in the middle of winter. But take advantage of any such opportunities when they present themselves. For example, after cooking a big meal, open the kitchen exhaust fan to allow fresh air into the home. Such fans are not large enough to cause a significant temperature drop in the home, but they can directly remove contaminants from inside the home, like those that might be emitted from gas stoves. •Insist guests and residents remove their shoes. Chemicals can find their way into a home in a variety of ways, and you and your fellow residents or guests may be tracking them into your home on your shoes. Keep a doormat inside all entryways, and insist guests and residents remove their shoes before entering your home. This reduces the amount of potential pollutants Things To Consider Before Shopping For A New Insurance Policy Many motorists consider auto insurance a necessary evil. While drivers don’t want to be out on the road without insurance, many lament paying such a high price for secubrought into your home rity. and also makes cleaning the home that much But automotive insureasier. ance need not be so •Break out the mop. expensive. In fact, many Vacuum cleaners can be drivers on the road today effective at picking up pollutants inside a home, could save a considerable amount of money if they but they also can leave took some time to explore things behind. When a vacuum cleaner seems to their options. While it be leaving some dust might be easier to simply behind, take out the mop stick with an existing poliand, with just a little cy, some simple compariwater, address the areas son shopping might result where dust is still in a much more affordable lingering. Water should be enough to do the trick, auto insurance bill. But and, unlike some cleaning before you begin shopping products, water won’t be for a new policy, it may introducing any help to consider a few facadditional harmful tors that might decipher pollutants into the home. just how affordable your •Smoke outside. Smoking inside a home is next policy will be. •Driving record: inviting trouble, especially during those Drivers who recently times of year when the received a ticket or another windows cannot be citation likely won’t find a opened. Secondhand more affordable auto smoke is a significant insurance policy awaiting source of indoor air them. But if points on pollution, as cigarette your license from a past smoke is known to contain more than 4,000 speeding ticket or citation chemicals. Smoking are about to disappear, indoors, whether an area then wait until they’re offiis well- or poorlycially off your record ventilated, can be before shopping for a new dangerous to smokers. policy. The fewer points Exposure to secondhand you have, the less you’re smoke puts adults and children alike at risk of likely to pay for auto insurseveral diseases, including ance. So be patient if asthma and cancer. If you points are about to vanish or your fellow residents or be proactive and find or visitors must smoke, yourself a better deal if do so outdoors. n Metro Creative Connection points recently came off your record. 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In such situations, the lending institution typically mandates drivers carry full coverage. Drivers who lease have no wiggle room on their policies, but those who are financing and are close to paying their vehicle off can likely lower their coverage considerably once they have paid for their vehicle in full. Once you are no longer making payments on the vehicle, you can, if you so choose, adjust your policy so you aren’t paying for full coverage. This should save you a considerable amount of money. But before adjusting the policy, shop around among insurance providers and see who gives you the best deal. You might find the most affordable policy is offered by a different company from the one you are currently using. •Location: Where you live also influences the cost of your auto insurance. If a move is in your not-toodistant future, you might find insurance is more affordable at your new location than your current one. Rural areas and the suburbs tend to have fewer drivers on the road than more densely populated urban locales, so insuring a vehicle in such areas is often more affordable than insuring a vehicle within city limits. If you will soon be leaving city life behind, then you might want to wait until you have moved to buy a new policy or to renegotiate an existing policy. •Employment situation: While your employment situation won’t have too big an impact on the cost of your insurance, finding a new job that’s closer to home, which remains a goal for many professionals, may just lower the cost of your auto insurance. Insurance companies consider a host of factors when determining the cost of each auto insurance policy, and the distance between a driver’s home and his or her office is one of those factors. If you’re in the midst of a job hunt that you hope will end with a new job and a shorter daily commute, then you might want to wait before signing the dotted line on a new auto insurance policy. An adequate insurance policy gives motorists peace of mind as they traverse the nation’s roadways. Finding a more affordable policy is a goal for many motorists, who must consider several variables before they begin the search for a new policy. n Metro Creative Connection HERREN•SCHEMPP BUILDING SUPPLY Locally Owned and Operated Headquarters for the Builder/Handyman Service • Building Materials • Ceilings Cabinetry • Insulation • Lumber Plywood • Sheetrock • Siding Roofing• Doors • Windows • Milwork Paint • Service 1000 W. Cherry St., Vermillion, SD Mon-Fri 7:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Sat 7:30 a.m.-5 p.m. 888-624-2058 • 605-624-2058 www.herrenschempp.com Vermillion & Yankton’s ONLY user of Thermal Heat to Eliminate Bedbugs” 1-800-KIL-BUGS