Do you suffer from allergies or is pet and bird dander starting to get to you? My husband and I both suffer moderately from allergies, so I thought I would share what we've done in our home that seems to really help - we use an air purification system.

Before I explain what we are using now, I'd like to mention that in the past we tried a HEPA filter which is one of the more popular types of air purification systems. This did help, but the filters are expensive. They generally need to be replaced once or twice a year, and we found they really need replaced more frequently than that when you have birds or other pets in the house. So we decided to try to find a more cost effective air purification system.

Our search led us to the Ionic Breeze from The Sharper Image. We noticed an immediate difference when we started using these air purifiers. These units collect dust and other allergens on metal plates which then need to be rinsed off once a week or so. There are no filters to replace, so the cost of running the purification system is just the small amount of electricity that they require.

We now have two of these units, and they have been running daily in our home for more than 5 years without any problems. The only thing was that when I put a unit in our bird room with our seven parrots, it collected so much bird dust that the collection plates had to be cleaned on a daily basis which was a little more work than I wanted. Using an air purification system should be easier than that, so I decided to search for yet another solution.

What we eventually found for the bird room is a simple box fan that has a compartment that holds a 20×20 furnace filter. We found this works beautifully for catching all of the bird dander, and it is very inexpensive to purchase and maintain. We buy the cheapest furnace filters that we can find and change the fan's filter out at the beginning of every month.

Who would have thought that a box fan could become an effective air purification system, but it really works well. We run the fan on the lowest setting continuously around the clock and have been using this method for cleaning the air in the bird room for over two years now. I am simply amazed at all of the dust and dander that it removes from the air!

So if you are looking for a really cheap air purification system, try finding a box fan that has a built-in furnace filter like what I describe above. I think you'll find it to be more effective than most people would imagine for such a simple and inexpensive solution.