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Wildfire smoke season with kids: what we keep on hand
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items Half of you reading this today are in Boise, Meridian, Butte, and Great Falls, and your counties are sitting under air quality alerts while I write this. I have two kids, and the younger one gets a scratchy cough the second the AQI turns orange, so I...
I run this in whichever bedroom the kids are sleeping in, and on a bad smoke night the difference is not subtle. The stuffy campfire smell is gone by morning and nobody wakes up coughing. Downside: it really only covers one room, so do not expect it ...
Levoit Core 200S-P HEPA Air Purifier
This is half of the DIY filter box I build every August, and it is a twenty five dollar fan doing about two hundred dollars of work. Tape a MERV 13 filter to the back with the arrows pointing into the fan and run it on medium. Downside: it is loud. M...
Lasko Box Fan
This is the filter I tape to the back of the box fan, and 20x20 is the size that matches a 20 inch fan with no trimming and no gaps. I swap it when the white side goes visibly gray, which during a bad week is about ten days. Downside: taping one filt...
Filtrete 20"x20"x1" Allergens Bacteria Viruses & Air Pollutants MPR 1900 MERV 13 Electrostatic Pleated HVAC Furnace Air Filter
The three panel fold is the only N95 I can wear for a whole grocery run without it collapsing onto my mouth, and the nose foam means my sunglasses do not fog up. I keep a few in the car door for school pickup. Downside: these are adult sized and they...
3M Aura N95 Respirator 9205+
I bought this because I kept guessing whether opening the windows at six in the morning was a good idea, and now I just look at the number instead. It reads PM2.5 fast enough that you can watch it spike when someone leaves the back door open. Downsid...
Temtop S1 PM2.5 Air Quality Monitor
Smoke comes in around the doors, not through them, and this is the ten dollar fix I put off for two entire summers. Ours has held through a whole season on the back door, which is the one that faces the wind. Downside: the adhesive does not love a te...
Door Draft Stopper – Under Door Blocker, Insulator, Weather Stripping, Noise Stopper with Strong Adhesive
Both my kids get that dry crusty nose thing on smoke days, and this is what we do before bed, mostly because it is just saline and aloe and I do not have to think hard about it. The aloe makes it sting less than the plain drugstore version. Downside:...
Zarbee's Soothing Saline Nasal Mist with Aloe - 3 oz: Paraben-Free, Sulfate-Free, Phthalate-Free, Sodium Chloride
My eyes go gritty about two hours into a smoky day, and the single use vials mean I can use them as often as I want without the preservative buildup that made my old bottle start stinging by day three. I keep two in my bag. Downside: the vials are wa...
Refresh Optive Mega-3 Lubricant Eye Drops Preservative-Free Artificial Tears - 0.01 fl oz (0.4mL) - 30 Single-Use Containers
Smoke plus that bone dry western air wrecks my face in about three days, and this is the tub I keep going back to instead of anything fancier. The pump matters more than it sounds, because scooping out of an open jar with two kids in the bathroom is ...
Vanicream Moisturizing Cream for Sensitive Skin with Pump - Unscented - 16oz: Hypoallergenic, Paraben-Free, Vegan
Five dollars for two, one in my pocket and one in the car door, and it is the only balm my kids will actually hold still for. Cracked lips are the very first thing that happens to all four of us when the air goes dry and smoky. Downside: there is no ...
Nivea Moisturizing Lip Balm - 0.34oz/2pk: Paraben-Free, Mineral Oil-Free, Contains Vitamin E, Contains Shea Butter
On smoke days I make both kids shower before bed to get the campfire smell out of their hair and off their skin, and this is the one that does not leave them itchy on top of everything else. Fragrance free matters a lot when the whole house already s...
Cetaphil Ultra Gentle Sensitive Body Wash - Fragrance Free - 16.9 fl oz: Paraben-Free, Hypoallergenic, With Aloe
Fine ash settles on the windowsills and the entry floor, and dragging out the full vacuum for a two minute job never happens, so this lives plugged in by the door instead. It is the plain old model, not the fancy new one, and that was on purpose. Dow...
BLACK+DECKER Dustbuster AdvancedClean Cordless Handheld Vacuum CHV1410L Blue/White
The hardest part of a smoke day is not the air, it is two kids who were promised the park and cannot go outside, and this bought me a real ninety minutes. It stays on a tray in a way playdough never did for us. Downside: it does escape the tray event...
Kinetic Sand Beach Castle Playset
Dry air and a scratchy throat means I am nagging everyone to drink water all day, and this one is cheap enough that I do not get upset when it gets left at somebody's house. It fits the cupholder in my car, which the tall trendy ones do not. Downside...
16 oz Hydration BPA Free Plastic Portable Tritan Water Bottle - Cat & Jack™
My oldest gets itchy watery eyes the moment the sky goes orange, and our pediatrician okayed this one for her, so it sits in the cabinet from August through October. Bubble gum is the only flavor she will take without a fight. Downside: it makes her ...
Children's Zyrtec 24 Hour Allergy Relief Syrup - Bubble Gum - Cetirizine - 4 fl oz: Contains Antihistamine, 5mg Strength