How to Start New Habits When Daylight Saving Time Ends

You don’t need to wait until New Year’s Day to adopt new, healthier behaviors. While January 1 is the traditional date for making resolutions, consider using the end of Daylight Saving Time (DST) — this year, November 5 — as the date you begin easing into new routines. Think of the end of DST as an annual opportunity to reset your clocks and start resetting your habits.

Focus First on Your Home

Start sensibly. Committing yourself to, say, getting into peak physical shape during the holiday season isn’t always realistic and might not be fun for you or those around you trying to enjoy pie. A more reasonable undertaking would be to establish a routine for creating and maintaining a cleaner and healthier home environment.

Sticking to a schedule and completing specific, predetermined tasks throughout the year would be less stressful than trying to drop a few pounds in a hurry, producing immediate, appreciable results.

Make Breathing Cleaner, Fresher Air a Habit

Dust is one of a healthy home’s biggest enemies. It accumulates sneakily and steadily over months in places your usual dusting and vacuuming doesn’t reach. Not to mention, it doesn’t look great either! In addition to floors (including carpets and rugs) and window coverings (drapes, curtains, shades, and blinds), be sure to vacuum furniture, light fixtures, ceilings, stairs, guest rooms, and anywhere your pets like to lounge. Seasonal cleaning needs to be more thorough because it’s less frequent.

Dust is your enemy. HEPA filtration is one of your most powerful allies. Vacuuming kicks up many microscopic airborne allergens and particles in addition to dust: pollen, pet dander, dust mite debris, and smoke.

If your vacuum isn’t catching it, you and your guests could be breathing it. (And some of your guests might suffer from allergies.) Honeywell Air Purifiers feature HEPA filtration and are engineered to capture 99.97 percent of airborne particles 0.3 microns and larger of the air that passes through the filter.

Your new habit: Replacing air purifier filters on the manufacturer’s recommended schedule, starting now.

Create Some Breathing Room

Declutter now before it gets too cold. Take a look inside your closets. Donate anything you don’t wear. A coat you haven’t worn in years can keep someone else warm during winter months. Review what has piled up in the garage. Give old items new lives. Donate, recycle, and upcycle.

You might be alarmed by how much dust you stir up as your deep cleaning continues. Let an effective air purifier do what it was designed to. For the best performance from Honeywell Air Purifiers in your home, replace indoor air filters with genuine Honeywell Air Purifier Filters. Giving yourself peace of mind is a habit worth forming.

Start a New Year With New Habits in Place

Make this thorough cleaning an annual event — put it on your calendar — and you’ll enjoy a healthier environment year-round. Get a head-start on refreshing your home and your habits when Daylight Saving Time ends on November 5.