Finally swapped my cabin filter after way too long

Mine went even longer than yours. Found the receipt tucked in the center console from 2016 when I finally did my Corolla last spring. The funny part is I had actually watched a YouTube video on the job back when I bought the filter, so I knew exactly where the panel was, and then just never walked the five feet to the glove box to do it. Mine had gotten so packed with cottonwood fluff that the fan made this whistling noise at low speeds. I was convinced it was a bearing going out and had almost booked a shop appointment. Changed the filter on a Sunday morning with a flashlight and a flathead screwdriver to pop the little clips, took maybe fifteen minutes including vacuuming out the housing. The whistle vanished imediately. One thing I'd add is check the direction arrow on the filter frame before you slide it in. I installed my first one upside down years ago on an older car and spent a week wondering why the airflow still felt weak. The arrow should point down on most Hondas and Toyotas, but double check whatever your filter says.

Also grab a cheap cabin filter for the spouse's car while you're at it. I did my wife's RAV4 the same weekend and she thought something was broken because the air smelled diferent. Apparently she had just gotten used to it.

Funny reading this because I went the other direction after one bad winter. My wife's allergies got rough a few years back and now I swap the filter in both our cars every spring and fall, whether it needs it or not. I just buy the cheap multipack of basic filters instead of the fancy charcoal ones, since two dollars a pop means I never talk myself out of doing it. Turns out a fresh basic filter beats a year old premium one every time. Only wrinkle is her RAV4, where the access door is behind the glove box and you have to squeeze a little arm thing to get the door to swing all the way down. First time I did it I fought it for twenty minutes thinking something was broken before I looked it up. Now it's a two minute job, but I get why people never bother.

The fogging windows thing tracks with my experiance too. On my old truck the defrost took forever and I blamed the blower for months. New filter fixed it same day. Cheap enugh that I figure it's cheaper than paying a shop to diagnose a blower that was fine the whole time.

Agree with the guy doing the spring and fall swaps, that habit stuff is real. Once I finally put it on the calendar next to oil changes I stopped letting it slide for years like the OP did. My own gross detail: the old filter in my Accord had an actual maple seed that had sprouted in the debris at the bottom of the housing. A little green stem growing inside my dashboard. Also on that car the glove box hinge pins pop right out so the whole door flops down and the filter slot is just right there, makes the job even faster.