There’s nothing more satisfying than coming home to a nice, clean bed after a hard day at the office. That’s why keeping your bed clean and fresh is an essential part of #adulting. And unless your bed is already a mold/bedbug-infested nightmare, cleaning and maintaining it can be simple and easy.
Just remember these 8 tips:
#1. Baking Soda is Your Bed’s Deodorant
Aka sodium bicarbonate
Most types of lingering mattress odors don’t stand a chance against good old baking soda. Used since ancient times as a universal cleaning agent, baking soda is not only effective at killing odors, it’s also a very common ingredient that you might already have in stock at home.
How do you use it on your bed?
- Ready the following: One to two huge boxes of baking soda and a clean vacuum cleaner.
- Strip your bed naked and set aside all sheets and pillows.
- Sprinkle a generous amount of baking soda all over every visible surface of your bed.
- Let it just sit there for at least 1 hour, which gives it time to soak up all nearby oils and odors.
- Take this time to make absolutely sure that your vacuum cleaner is clean, because the last thing you want to do is smear your mattress with a dirty vacuum extension.
- After one hour, very thoroughly vacuum up all the baking soda that you sprinkled on your mattress.
- Turn your mattress over and repeat the same procedure on the other side.
#2. Natural Sunlight and Wind: Free and Effective Mattress Cleaning Tools
Giving your mattress more than half a day to sit outdoors in the sun is a really good way to get rid of moisture, odors, and bacteria.
If you don’t have access to a convenient outdoor location where you can hang your mattress to sunbathe, an open window that lets in direct sunlight will suffice. Just make sure to move the mattress as the sun moves across the room.
You should also check your bed’s tag to see if it’s vulnerable to extreme heat. And if yes, schedule your mattress sunbathing for when the sun is gentler but still effective, like early morning or mid-afternoon.
#3. Launder Pillows Monthly and Change Sheets Weekly
Having lots of pillows in bed is a good way to properly support your body and keep you comfy while asleep. The bad news is lots of pillows also means lots of places for bacteria and odors to hang out.
Remedy this by simply tossing your pillows in the wash at least every month. Ideally, you should also change your sheets, pillowcases, and comforters on a weekly basis. The less dirt and bacteria can accumulate on your bed, the easier it is to keep clean and smelling fresh.
#4. Wash/Change Your Curtains Regularly
What do your curtains have to do with your bed? Curtains can provide a good home for dust, dust mites, bacteria, and other nasties. And if these things accumulate in your bedroom, it’s also contributing to the accumulation of dirt on your bed.
Regularly wash your curtains depending on how dirty your environment is and how much you yourself can tolerate dust. If you live in a town that’s especially dusty, you need to thoroughly wash your curtains more often. The same is true if you have a dust allergy.
#5. Use Science Against Stains
Professional stain-removal and cleaning services can be expensive. But with a little bit of science, you can do as good a job as any pro cleaning service can do.
There is a science to cleaning up mattress stains. You need to know the properties of the chemicals that have stained your mattress before you can completely clean it off. And if you want to do it right without making stains worse and/or damaging your mattress, you need to ask the experts.
Back in ‘76, textile scientists from Cornell University started putting together a universal guide for cleaning up virtually every mattress stain that exists. Since then, the guide has undergone a couple of revisions and updates, and today, it still serves as one of the most thorough guides to home stain-removal ever put together.
#6. Bathe Before Bedtime
Want to hear something terrible but true? The single dirtiest contributor to the accumulation of dirt on your mattress is you. Humans shed skin cells, sweat, and bring in a lot of foreign matter from outside.
So take some time to clean up yourself before hitting the sheets. It’ll keep your bed feeling and smelling fresher for longer.
#7. Don’t Eat in Bed
Netflix and chill is fun and all but you should really avoid bringing snacks to bed. Eating in bed is a good way to feed bacteria and attract all sorts of insects to snuggle up next to you at night.
Aaaaaw!
Also, the less food/drinks you bring to bed, the less you’ll have to worry about having to clean up stains.
#8. Just Get a New Mattress Already
When you’ve tried every solution to get rid of a stubborn stain, odor, or strange growth, all to no avail, maybe it’s time to face facts.
It could be time to get yourself a new mattress. You deserve it. Everyone deserves better sleep.
If you can’t afford one right now, find a retailer that offers interest-free payment options that let you pay for the bed later. That way, you can get a new bed as soon as possible without having to cut your current budget in half.
