How to Clean your Mattress

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You wash and clean a lot of things in your home, whether it be clothes, dishes, the countertop, and your own body.

One thing that often goes uncleaned is something you use every day: your mattress.

In this article, you will learn the importance of cleaning your mattress, how often you should be cleaning it, and the steps you will need to take to properly clean your mattress.

Why you should be cleaning your mattress
Cleaning your mattress is a rather important chore that many people tend to neglect. There are several reasons why you should be cleaning your mattress, and most of them are health-related.

To begin, you and your family members track a fair amount of pollen, dust, dirt, and other allergens into your home each and every day. These things often stick to your clothing, shoes, and skin. Because you often want to take a load off after a long day at work or school, you will often lay in or sit on your mattress and leave behind these allergens.

When you take into mind that the average adult sleeps about 8 hours a day on their mattress, you can imagine the build-up of dirt and grime that collects. Not only are you sleeping in this stuff, but you are also breathing it in. If you suffer greatly from allergy problems, having to deal with them indoors as well as out can become tiresome.

Cleaning your mattress can also make you feel as though your house is in order and is neat and clean. You will be able to sleep soundly knowing that the stuff that plagues you and your family outside will not be a problem in your home. This can also make you feel more comfortable hosting your friends and family in your home, as you know they will be sleeping on a fresh, clean mattress.

Lastly, those who suffer from issues related to sensitive skin will rejoice to learn that cleaning your mattress will keep skin irritants to a minimum, reducing breakouts and other skin problems.

How often should clean your mattress?
Most experts agree that you should clean your mattress once every six months. However, this will also depend on the type of mattress you have, and some should be cleaned and rotated several more times a year than a more traditional mattress.

These mattresses include memory foam mattresses that can often lose their ability to keep the shape of the person lying on them if they aren’t rotated enough. But, for most, twice a year is plenty.

Steps to clean your mattress
Although the mattress probably gets the least attention when you are cleaning your house, cleaning it is probably one of the easiest things you can do. There are four main steps to cleaning the traditional mattress:

Step 1: Take your bedding off your mattress

The first step is to take your bedding off of your mattress. Now might also be a good time to throw your pillowcases, blankets, sheets, and other bedding into the wash.

Step 2: Hoover both sides of the mattress
To begin cleaning, grab your vacuum cleaner and use an attachment to easily vacuum the top and sides of your mattress. A lot of dirt and allergens will find their way to the seams and edges of the mattress, so pay special attention to those areas.

Vacuuming the mattress will suck up all of the dirt and grime that has built up, as well as the crumbs from your late-night snack. Don’t put your vacuum away yet, you’ll need to use it again later!

Step 3: Remove mattress stains
For various reasons, you may find stains on your mattress when you are cleaning. This can be from things like food or drink spills or if you have children or older relative, stains from accidents in the bed. At any rate, you are going to want to try and treat the stain to help eliminate odors and unsightly marks.

Start by making a paste from baking soda, water, and salt. Add the paste to the stain and let it sit for about half an hour. When it has dried, wipe it away with a wet cloth and dry the area. For more stubborn stains, consider using a stain remover or a mixture of water and hydrogen peroxide. You must make sure your mattress is dry before moving to the next step. You can always use a hair dryer or fan to speed up the process.

Step 4: Make it smell better!
Now that your mattress is dirt and stain-free, it’s time to deodorize it! To do this, you can simply sprinkle some baking soda over the mattress, or you can use a scented carpet cleaner. These can go a long way in helping to keep your mattress smelling fresh. Be sure to choose a smell that you like and one that isn’t too overpowering. Let it sit for another 30 minutes before moving on to the next step.

Step 5: Vacuum again!
Now it is time to vacuum up all of the baking soda or carpet cleaner that you’ve sprinkled on your mattress. Be sure to use a good vacuum attachment so that you can pick up all of the powder.

This can also be a second pass through for any dust that you missed.

Step 6: Rotation, Rotation and yes, Rotation
How this works will be up to you. You can either rotate the head of the mattress to the foot of the mattress, or you can flip it over completely, depending on the type of mattress you have. Whatever you choose to do, this will keep your mattress cleaner and will also keep it firm and comfortable.

Final thoughts
As you can see, there are many benefits to cleaning your mattress at least two times a year. Plus, cleaning your mattress is relatively easy and you will likely already have all of the supplies you will need at home. So, get to cleaning and make those mattresses squeaky clean! For more tips on how to clean a memory foam mattress keep on reading!