Cleaning up my act (in the bedroom)

On the blog, My Life as an Asthma Mom, I recently came across a post about asthma-proofing one's home (yes, it's from February, but I've been working my way through various blogs, searching for any tidbit that will help me appease my irritable lungs).

While reading the post, the recommendation to not store anything under the bed caught my attention.  It's unused space.  I hate clutter.  Why shouldn't I store my seasonal stuff under there?  Plus, it makes life more interesting for the cats when they run around upside down under there (using the underside of the box spring to propel themselves, of course).

The reason: it allows you to vacuum under the bed on a weekly basis.  With this in mind, I turned my attention to my bedroom which, it turns out, needed it quite a bit.

Trouble in paradise
Various areas in my bedroom that needed addressing:

• Under the bed - Random dds and ends, along with cloth storage bags (which can't be wiped down), collected dust and made it difficult to clean under the bed.
• Shoes - Andrea, author of My Life as an Asthma Mom, recommends not wearing shoes in the house since they can track in allergens.  I was not only wearing my shoes in the house, but storing them, and all they tracked in, in the bedroom. 
• Tchotchkes - I'm not one for knick knacks, but I did have a now-defunct reed diffuser on my dresser in a tray full of decorative rocks on my dresser, creating TONS of surfaces for dust and pollen to cling to.  It was difficult to clean, and it made cleaning the dresser it sits on more difficult, too.  
• Laundry - Dearest and I are both guilty of leaving yesterday's clothes on the floor in a pile, which collects dust and makes it harder to vacuum.  This also brought whatever allergens we'd collected throughout the day into where we sleep (most days, we go for a walk outside and pick up who knows how much pollen).
• Cloth storage totes - I stored my socks, purses and other items in my closet in cloth, open-topped bins.  The containers were cute, but they did nothing to keep dust off of my stuff and collected a fair amount of it themselves. 

Aaah, relief
Here's how I cleaned up my act:

• Paring down - I moved everything I could out of the bedroom.  Out of season clothes went in plastic totes in the basement.  Shoes are now in the closest nearest the entrance to our house.  Dearest and I have made a pact to relegate yesterday's clothes to the bathroom.  
• Out of sight, away from dust - where possible, I put away items stored out in the open. I moved my scarves, jewelry and belts inside the closet instead of hanging them on the outside.  Items on top of my nightstand went in the drawer.  This keeps those items from collecting dust AND makes it easier to wipe down or vacuum the surfaces they were kept on. 
• The power of plastic - for my socks, purses, and other items it made sense to keep in the bedroom, I swapped my cloth bins for plastic ones (with lids!) that keep my stuff dust free and easy to get to.  Dust that does accumulate on the bins is easy to remove. 
• Get ready to Roomba - Dearest is a techie at heart, so we've always had a roomba (robot vacuum), but we always used it in the living room.  Now, our newly uncluttered floor plan will allow us to run the roomba in the bedroom each day.  
• Not a fan of dust? - You don't have to forgive the terrible pun, but you shouldn't forget to wipe down your fan blades!  I don't even want to talk about how much dust was up there...
• Air cleaner - we also moved our air cleaner from the living room into the bedroom.  In addition to using central air instead of opening the windows, this should help keep dust and allergens at bay. 

These changes bring in fewer asthma triggers and make it quicker and easier to combat those that do accumulate (I'm looking at you, dust bunnies!).   

What tips or tricks do you have for making your bedroom a place you can breathe easier?