You’re a responsible homeowner. You remember to do the dishes every day and to mop and vacuum at least once a week. You remember to change the filters in your furnace, and you remember to inspect your roof before each winter. You care for your home thoroughly, and it has served you well as a result.
However, you may have unintentionally neglected one important part of your cleaning routine: your mattress. Like the rest of your furniture, it needs regular cleaning too.
Even though you protect your mattress with sheets, it still needs a little TLC. To learn more about why and how you should clean your mattress, keep reading below.
Why Does Your Mattress Need Cleaning?
Since nobody ever sees your mattress, you may ignore it when you spill something on it. However, even without spills you’ll have to clean your mattress. Here’s why:
- You sleep on your mattress, and it (and your sheets) absorb about half a pint of sweat while you sleep each night.
- During that time, you also shed between 240,000 and 320,000 skin cells. Your sheets will catch most of them, but think of that number building up every night. They will inevitably infiltrate your mattress as well.
- Allergens from pets, perfumes, etc. will get into your mattress.
- Germs and other microorganisms like to feed on sweat and dead skin cells, and the more they eat, the more they’ll spread.
Luckily, your immune system can fight off these germs most of the time. However, the more the germs build up, the more often you’ll get sick. You may even see skin reactions as well.
Never fear! Now that we’ve told you the problem, we’ll tell you how to fix it. You can do basic cleaning by yourself, but if you would like to have your mattress deep-cleaned, then don’t hesitate to call the professionals.
How Do You Clean Your Mattress?
Obviously you can’t stick your mattress in the washing machine. Nor should you take it in the backyard and hose it down. You should clean it similarly to the way you clean the rest of your upholstery. We’ve given you a few tips to get you started:
Basic/Regular Cleaning: Vacuuming and Deodorizing
When you need to do only a basic cleaning, take the following steps:
- Using the host attachment (or the entire vacuum if it doesn’t have a hose), vacuum the entire mattress, making sure to vacuum the
sides as well. - (Optional) Flip the mattress and repeat the process. However, it’s only important that you clean the side you sleep on.
- Sprinkle baking soda over the entire mattress and rub it in with a stiff brush. Leave it to sit for at least half an hour.
- Vacuum the entire mattress again. If you want your mattress to have a particular scent, sprinkle or spray that now.
This method won’t deep clean your mattress, but it will help you maintain its cleanliness.
Stain Removal
A vacuum and baking soda won’t help you get stains out of your mattress. However, you can use these tips to get rid of any unsightly spots:
- Blood stains: These will come out with hydrogen peroxide, dish soap, salt, and some vigorous rubbing. Let the mixture sit on the stain for a minute before wiping it clean.
- Urine stains: Treat these stains with baking soda, hydrogen peroxide, and dish soap. Dab the stain with the solution, then add laundry detergent and water together in a foam. Let the mixture sit for half an hour, then wipe the stain away.
- Food stains/colored drink stains: Vinegar and rubbing alcohol should clear up these stains.
- Mold: You can take care of this kind of stain with a little isopropyl alcohol and warm water. Spray the mattress with a disinfectant afterward. You can also use vinegar to kill mold, but you’ll probably have to deodorize the mattress afterward. Simply use the baking soda method we listed in the basic/regular cleaning section above.
If your efforts can’t get these stains out, don’t worry-a professional can do it for you if the stains bother you. As long as you do basic cleaning, you can leave the stains alone and cover them with a sheet.
How Often Should You Clean Your Mattress?
Make sure you inspect and clean your mattress at least once every six months. It’ll last longer if you do, and it’ll have fewer illness-causing contaminants. And, as you learned from the information above, it doesn’t take much to keep your mattress clean. Use our tips to keep this oft-forgotten piece of furniture spotless.