Good sleep is one of the most important aspects of a healthy lifestyle. If you want to sleep well, then you must sleep on a clean bed with clean sheets and a clean mattress.
While most people will regularly wash their sheets and blankets, not very many actually think about cleaning their mattresses.
This is important since having a clean mattress can greatly improve the quality of your sleep.
And why so?
Dust mites live on a dirty mattress. And they leave fecal matter which can irritate our skin and our lungs. What’s more, a dirty mattress can have bed bugs, stains, bad odor, and more (YUCK!).
Who can have good sleep with these things giving you discomfort?
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4 Tips and Hacks to Keep Your Mattress Squeaky Clean
It is not a difficult thing to have it cleaned regularly. Here are some easy steps for deep cleaning your mattress.
Have a cleaning routine for your mattress. If you want to keep the mattress clean and free of stains and dust mites clean it, at least, once a month by following the tips below.
1. Wash Everything In High Temperatures
Remove everything from the bed, your sheets, pillowcases, blankets, and comforters, and wash them in your washing machine with hot water. Washing in high temperatures can help kill mites that are living on your sheets.
2. DIY Mattress Cleaning Solution
Get a box of baking soda and some nice-smelling essential oils like lavender, sandalwood, or any scent that would be wonderfully calming. Add some drops of essential oil to the box of baking soda and shake well to mix.
Essential oils have antibacterial properties that will help give your mattress a good clean and remove bad odors.
Generously sprinkle the whole box of baking soda all over your mattress. You can use a sieve or you can simply pour it straight from the box.
Your mattress can get a deep cleaning if you rub the baking soda mixture into the bed. Make the mixture stay on the bed for at least an hour.
Then slowly vacuum the mattress, this handheld vacuum, from Amazon, has strong suction and is affordable.
Make sure that all the baking soda has been removed. If you linger over each part with the vacuum hose, it will ensure that dust and dirt are sucked away.
3. Rotate the Mattress
Every month, flip or rotate your mattress. This can help extend its life and prevent sagging.
4. Steam Clean
Steam clean your mattress for a deeper clean. With steam cleaning, your mattress will smell better, and old stains can be removed. But make sure that after steam cleaning, your mattress is fully dry before putting your sheets and blanket back on the bed.
How To Clean Mattress Stains At Home
I’m going to go over how to clean common types of stains from
your mattress so you don’t have to worry in case you have an unfortunate incident.
Cleaning Urine & Sweet Stains From Mattress
For different reasons, kids and adults can, sometimes, wet their beds at night.
And, most of us can leave sweat stains on the mattress too and it leaves a yellowish stain which can discolor our mattress and leave it smelling musty from sweat.
Here are some steps for cleaning a mattress with pee and sweat stains.
2. This mixture should then be placed inside a spray bottle so you can spray the stained areas of the mattress until the solution soaks into it.
3. Air-dry the mattress for at least an hour. If you want a faster solution, put on a fan near the mattress or use your blow dryer to dry it.
How to Clean a Mattress with Blood Stains
The mattress could get stained with blood during a woman’s menstrual period. Or, you can suffer from a nosebleed, or your dry skin has cracked and bled. Here are some tips to clean a mattress with bloodstains.
- Put hydrogen peroxide in a spray bottle.
- Spray the bloodstain thoroughly, then blot with a clean towel. Make sure to repeat the process until the bloodstain is completely removed.
- Air-dry the mattress or use a fan or a blow dryer to speed up the process.
- An alternative would be to use a paste of baking soda applied to the stain and allow it to sit for 30 minutes before wiping it away with a clean, damp rag.
How to Clean Red Wine Stains From Mattress
Red wine can be tricky, but if you act fast and follow these steps, it will be fixed in a jiffy! The most tried-and-true solution for cleaning red wine stains is club soda because the sodium content works wonders by drawing the wine out of the mattress material.
- Take a clean, dry cloth and soak up as much of the wine as you can.
- Cover the stain with club soda and rub it in with a clean cloth.
- Sprinkle everyday table salt over the area.
- Let it sit because the salt is going to work with the club soda to dry out the stain and soak up the red color from the wine.
- Use a vacuum and suck up the salt and moisture from the mattress.
- Repeat until the stain is gone.
- Air-dry your mattress, and you’ll be done!
How To Clean A Mattress With Coffee Stains
The best way to get rid of coffee stains on a mattress is to mix dish soap, vinegar, and warm water and apply them in this way:
- Mix 3 parts water to 1 part vinegar, and then add a tablespoon of dish soap.
- Put the solution into a spray bottle.
- Take a clean, dry rag and blot the stain to absorb as much of the coffee stain as you can before you spray the mattress.
- Liberally spray the stained areas of the mattress with your vinegar solution.
- Let the cleaning solution sit for 5-10 minutes.
- While avoiding rubbing the stain in further, use a clean, dry cloth to blot the stain and get as much liquid up as you can.
- Repeat this process until you see the stain recede from your mattress.
- Air-dry until the mattress is no longer damp, and you’re good to go!
Cleaning A Mattress With Mold
Mold is understandably the most concerning stain on this list because it can cause minor health problems and ruin your mattress if you don’t act fast.
I am going to go over the cleaning process step-by-step, but first here is a list of important things you will need to remember:
- When you clean mold off a mattress, always make sure to saturate areas around the stain that are not visible. Clean at least two inches or more past the visible stain to stem further growth. This is because some spores of mold may begin to develop even though you cannot see them.
- It is always best to cover your face so the mold does not affect your breathing.
- This guide is only covering topical mold that is visible on the outside of the mattress. If you have mold growth on the inside of the mattress, it may be best to throw it out and replace it. Visible, external mold is easy to pinpoint and clean, whereas internal mold is much harder and much more dangerous.
Now that we’ve covered important guidelines, let’s get rid of that mold!
- Identify the areas of mold growth.
- Vacuum the surface of the mattress to get rid of any loose, topical mold spores.
- Saturate a cloth in a 1:1 ratio of rubbing alcohol and hot water.
- Clean the visible areas of mold in a circular motion with the cloth, then circle out farther and cover areas past the stain to kill undeveloped spores. Make sure to scrub hard.
- Dip another clean cloth in water and wring it out, then go back over the mattress one more time.
- Take your mattress outside to dry in direct sunlight. The sunlight will kill any remaining mold.
- Make sure the mattress is completely dry, then bring it back inside and it will be good to go!
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How to Clean a Mattress with Bed Bugs
One of the most uncomfortable ways to spend the night in bed is to spend it scratching because of the itchy bites of bed bugs. If your mattress is infested with bed bugs or just can’t live with the thought of it, here are some tips for eliminating or preventing these bugs.
1. Remove your sheets and pillowcases from the bed. Before transporting the bed linen to the washing machine, make sure that they are placed in garbage bags so that the bugs are not spread to other parts of the house.
2. Another option is to use a bed bug killer spray. Get one that has been approved for home use and is not harmful to people or pets. Harris bed bug killer is odorless, non-staining, and EPA-registered. Make sure you read the instructions before using it on your mattress.
3. Vacuum your mattress carefully. Ensure that the hose attachment goes over everything including seams, crevices, and indentations. These are the places where bed bugs love to hide.
Once done, empty the bag outdoors and clean the vacuum container to ensure that there are no bed bugs left in the vacuum cleaner.
4. Get a bedbug-proof encasement for your mattress and for the box spring, if you have one. These encasements do a great job protecting mattresses because they are made of special materials that will not allow bed bugs through. No bed bug can escape the encasement.
Keep the cover for at least a year, so that you can be sure that whatever bed bugs and eggs are left in the mattress have died. It is important to note that adult bed bugs can survive for months even without food.
The surface temperature of the area being treated should be at least 160 to 180 degrees F.
More cleaning tips:
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- tips to clean a messy bedroom + free printable
- how to clean your home in 2 hours a day
- how to clean your home in just one hour
- how to clean your home in 30 minutes
Other cleaning tips you might find useful
It is very important to keep your mattress as clean as possible since you spend almost a third of your life on it. If you clean your mattress regularly, then you are assured of having a good night’s sleep every night.
Any tips or questions on how to clean a smelly mattress?
