How To Clean and Remove Odors From Your Mattress
Did you know that you spend one-third of your life sleeping (or trying to sleep)? For you trivia buffs, that’s about 200,000 hours over an average life span.
You spend around a third of your life asleep, so it’s important to keep your mattress clean, hygienic, and in good condition.
It’s easy to forget to clean your mattress since it’s usually hidden underneath sheets and bedding. However, cleaning your mattress regularly can help to reduce the unwanted build-up of dust, dust mites, dead skin cells, mold, and bacteria.
Removing Allergens
Even if you can’t see them, dust mites live in your mattress. Dust mites are microscopic organisms that actually feed on the dead skin that we constantly shed.
We can’t stop them any more than we can completely avoid germs and bacteria, but we can keep them under control and reduce their population and possible negative impact on our health and quality of life. And even though dust mites are extremely small, they will reduce your mattresses life span.
To clean a mattress and reduce dust mites follow these simple steps:
1. Remove the sheets, blankets, pillows, and mattress cover (if you have one)
2. Vacuum the top and sides of the mattress
3. Remove the mattress and vacuum the box spring, making sure to do the sides
4. Flip the mattress over and vacuum the bottom
Removing Odors
Once odors are absorbed into the mattress they can be difficult to remove, but not impossible. Depending on the odor and how easily you can transport your mattress will depend on what method you use below.
Vinegar and baking soda remove odors by balancing pH levels of the odor-causing material. The more neutral a material is, the more inert it is, which means there is no odor at all. Plain pure water has a pH factor of 7.2 and is completely neutral.
Plain White Vinegar
Vinegar is an excellent product, both inexpensive and effective in fighting odor. While there are many good uses for it around your home, deodorizing your mattress with white vinegar is one of the best. Vinegar is highly acidic so mold will not grow, even if you saturate the stain. Vinegar is also an excellent disinfectant. Vinegar neutralizes odors and leaves no residue so there is no need to rinse it after using.
Fresh Air & Sunlight
Sunlight and fresh air are great natural deodorizers. Do not underestimate the power of the sun. It doesn’t just burn your skin and power our solar system, it will dissipate chemical odors and change the composition of some odor-producing substances stopping an odor at the source. It won’t remove residue of course, but it is a very effective odor control remedy.
Sunlight will fade the colored fabric. If the sun is very bright and fading is a concern to you keep an eye on the mattress and bring it out of the sun as soon as you determine the odor is gone.
Place your mattress outside in the sun for at least 24 hours to “air” out. You will want to make sure that you place the mattress in a protected area away from animals if you leave it outside to dry.
Replace your mattress every seven years
Keeping your mattress clean and in good condition is important. This helps to ensure that your sleeping environment is healthy and supports a good night’s sleep.
However, after seven years your mattress will begin to lose its shape and comfort. Is your mattress lumpy? Does it sag or look worn out? These are signs that you need to replace your old mattress.