With most of us spending a lot more time close to home, making sure our spaces feel clean, fresh and welcoming seems like an excellent use of any extra spare time.

This Spring, we’re thinking about the ways we can help each other breathe a little easier, and improve our collective, long-term lung health, fitness and overall wellbeing. One way to reduce the impact of asthma on our everyday lives is to keep our homes as free from irritants and allergens as possible.

We tend to think that air pollution is something that happens outside, with smog and haze from vehicles, factories and fires. But the air inside our homes can actually be worse for our health.

Compromising my personal hygiene, or the way I look, aren’t sacrifices I’m willing to make to decrease my environmental impact.

Achieving a minimalist lifestyle gives some truth to the saying that less is more - by reducing the amount of things you own and do, your life can actually feel richer.

Cleaning does not delight me. But what does is getting a good job done in the shortest amount of time possible, without nasty chemicals and packaging waste. It might sound like I’m asking for a lot, but turns out there are simple ways to achieve it.  

A clean home'. My meaning of this phrase has been on its own personal journey of self-discovery. I used to be all about elimination - the more germs I could eradicate, the better.

It’s said that the kitchen is the heart of a home because it’s where families spend a whole lot of time. It’s also where we make a heap of purchase decisions when it comes to food, and in doing so have the potential to create piles of waste.

Starting small is a great way to kickstart lasting change, says Nicole Avery.