Cheap Nasal Strips – 2 Awesome Breathe Right Strips Alternative

Sometimes you need to keep the nose clear while it heals from allergies or the overusing decongestant medicines. Breath-Easy nasal strips are one popular and effective solution (I’ve certainly used my fair share), but they can be expensive if needed on a regular basis. Thanks to a little research online, I’ve found two methods for keeping your nasal passages clear and your bank account happy.

If you follow our asthma blog, you know how important nasal health is for treating asthma at home with minimal use of steroid inhalers like ventolin.

We always stress that to keep asthma symptoms at bay, nasal passages must be kept clean and clear.

If you’re on a budget (like we are), you’ve probably sought out cheap nasal strips and other ways to stay decongested.

With their quick, short-term relief, it’s easy to become reliant on medicated decongestant sprays (see 4 tips for kicking the nasty habit here). And becoming reliant brings all sorts of nasty side-effects, like irritation, sneezing, and runny nose.

To avoid this, we strongly encourage natural remedies to decongest the nasal passages, to allow for easier breathing, especially at night. (And if your asthma is worse at night, don’t miss this simple asthma hack!)

We’ve already outlined this great Buteyko breathing nose unclogging trick, and we like Neti pots (link to our fave on Amazon), too.

But you might be looking for more ways to keep the nose free and clear without the use of sprays. Keep reading to see your options! 

Method 1: DIY Cheap Nasal Strips

I discovered this method after an episode of nasal congestion without any Breathe Easy strips on hand. It’s very simple and only requires a piece of hard plastic and some sticky medical tape.

The best part: these are completely re-usable, only requiring a bit of medical tape for each new use (which you might already have on hand if you like our simple fix for mouth breathing to treat asthma symptoms at night!).

Step 1: Cut a small rectangle out of a piece of hard plastic, such as an old credit card or the top of a plastic container. The plastic should be long and flexible enough to fit snugly across the bridge of your nose, just above your nostrils (where you normally put your Breathe-Easy strip).

Step 2: Secure the plastic rectangle to a piece of sticky medical tape and tape the strip across your nose in the same way you would a traditional Breath Easy strip. And that’s it! It may take a bit of tinkering to get the right fit, but once you get the hang of it, this DIY method can be quite effective and, of course, extremely cost efficient.

I got the idea for these cheap nasal strips here (our method is a little different – see which will work best for you).

Method 2: Purchase Re-Usable Nasal Dilators

Nasal dilators are small devices you place at the base of your nasal passages that physically push the nostrils open from the inside, allowing you to breath better.

Many, like these anti-snoring nose vents, are reasonably priced, re-usable, and highly reviewed on Amazon.

So they’re a great alternative to Breathe Right strips, which you have to throw away after one use. Although I will say I’ve used Breathe Right Strips in a pinch (haven’t we all?) and they work fine too. 

Whichever way you choose to treat your nasal congestion at home, be sure to keep careful watch on your symptoms to see what works for you – maybe it’s cheap nasal strips, maybe it’s nasal dilators, maybe a Neti pot works well enough for you. This guide to recording asthma symptoms can help. 

Just don’t procrastinate and continue suffering  The sooner you act, the easier the symptoms will be to manage and the less mouth-breathing you will have to do.