Spring Cleaning Your Air: How to Make Your Home Smoke and Vape-Free for a Healthier Spring!
Spring is a time of renewal in New Mexico—longer days, blooming desert flowers, and fresh air after winter. Many families take this season as an opportunity to deep-clean their homes. But while we scrub floors and wash windows, there’s one important thing we often forget to clean: the air inside our homes.
Secondhand smoke and vaping aerosols can linger long after the smoke and aerosols disappear. This spring, make your home healthier by “spring cleaning” your air and creating a smoke and vape-free environment.
Why Spring Is the Perfect Time to Go Smoke and Vape-Free
Indoor air can be more polluted than outdoor air—especially when tobacco smoke or vaping happens inside. In New Mexico, tobacco use and exposure to secondhand smoke remain a serious health concern.
About 12% of adults in New Mexico smoke cigarettes, representing more than 200,000 adults statewide.
Nearly 18% of high school students in New Mexico use e-cigarettes, highlighting the growing risk of vaping exposure in homes.
An estimated 9.7% of New Mexico adults (around 162,000 people) currently have asthma, a condition that smoke can worsen.
Children are especially vulnerable. In New Mexico, 14% of children live in a household where someone smokes, and 3% live in a home where someone smokes indoors, exposing them to harmful toxins.
Secondhand smoke and vape aerosols contain thousands of chemicals, many of which can cause cancer, heart disease, and breathing problems. These toxins can also stick to walls, carpets, furniture, and clothing, called thirdhand smoke, and can stay for months.
Spring is the perfect time to reset and protect your family’s health.
Step 1: Deep Clean Smoke Residue
Even if no one is currently smoking indoors, past smoke can linger.
Try these steps:
- Wash fabrics like curtains, blankets, couch covers, and bedding.
- Clean hard surfaces—walls, cabinets, and floors—with mild soap and water.
- Vacuum carpets and rugs using a vacuum with a HEPA filter.
- Ask your property manager to check air filters in heating and cooling systems for necessary replacements.
These steps help remove smoke particles that cling to surfaces and affect indoor air quality.
Step 2: Freshen the Air—The Right Way
Opening windows and using fans can help reduce indoor pollutants, especially on mild spring days.
You can also:
- Use portable air purifiers with HEPA filters
- Add houseplants to improve comfort and mood
- Avoid scented sprays or candles that can irritate lungs
- Fresh air is one of the simplest and healthiest changes you can make.
Step 3: Set a Smoke-Free Home Rule
Cleaning helps—but the most important step is keeping smoke and vaping out of the home.
Consider these tips:
- Make a clear rule: No smoking or vaping inside the home or car.
- Put up a “Smoke and Vape-Free Home” sign to remind everyone.
Step 4: Support Loved Ones Who Want to Quit
Spring can also be a fresh start for quitting smoking or vaping. Nicotine use remains a leading cause of preventable death in New Mexico, contributing to about 2,600 deaths each year and nearly $1 billion in healthcare costs.
If someone in your household wants to quit:
- Encourage them and celebrate small successes
- Share resources like 1-800-QUIT-NOW for free cessation products and counseling.
- Offer to join them in healthy activities like walking or cooking
Quitting is hard, but support makes a big difference.
A Healthier Home Starts This Spring
Spring cleaning isn’t just about dust and clutter—it’s about creating a healthier space for everyone who lives and visits your home. By cleaning smoke and vape residue, improving indoor air quality, and setting smoke and vape-free rules, you’re taking powerful steps to protect your friends and family’s health.
Take the Smoke-Free at Home Pledge
Join residents across New Mexico in making homes smoke and vape-free. Your pledge can help protect children, elders, and pets from harmful smoke and toxic vape aerosols, and create a healthier future for all.
Sources:
Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids. (2024). The toll of tobacco in New Mexico.
https://www.tobaccofreekids.org/problem/toll-us/new_mexico
New Mexico Department of Health, Environmental Public Health Tracking Program. (2023). Asthma in New Mexico.
https://nmtracking.doh.nm.gov/health/breathing/Asthma.html
University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center. (2020). Community Health Needs Assessment and Community Health Improvement Plan (CHNA/CHIP) report.
https://unmhealth.org/about/_files/final-unmh-chna-chip-report-2020.pdf
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (2014). The health consequences of smoking—50 years of progress: A report of the Surgeon General. Atlanta, GA: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
https://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/data_statistics/sgr/50th-anniversary/index.htm
U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2023). Secondhand smoke (SHS) facts.
https://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/secondhand-smoke/index.html