An average adult spends one-third of the time sleeping. So that's quite a few hours you spend - including sweating - on your mattress. Both for hygiene and maintenance purposes, it is important to clean your mattress regularly. Mascha is an expert on eco-friendly cleaning and shares her best cleaning hacks with us. This time, she gets to work on her mattress. She does this twice a year and as a result, she sleeps like a rose.
Here's how to clean your mattress in an eco-friendly way
I am wedded to my mattress. Whenever I sleep anywhere else, I have to get used to it. No matter how nice a hotel is, it often cannot match my own familiar bed. Your bed - and especially your pillow and mattress - make sure you can sleep well and recharge your batteries for a new day. Of course, sleeping well is best done on a clean and fresh mattress. Yet it can get dirty in many ways: through sweat, dust in your home, dander, food spills and pets. It is important to clean and maintain your mattress regularly to prevent the accumulation of dirt and bacteria. This can cause foul odours and reduce the lifespan of your mattress. And that would be a real shame, because a mattress is a pretty big ‘thing’ and therefore quite stressful to make. So the most durable mattress is one that lasts as long as possible. In short, get to work! Not only me, but also the Consumers' Association says this.
Miracle baking soda
For cleaning the mattress, I use baking soda. Even though the wholesale grocer's marketing department insists that you need a kitchen cupboard brimming with bottles of detergent for every chore. Nothing could be further from the truth! You can go a long way with basic cleaning products such as natural vinegar, baking soda, citric acid and green soap. You'll save on plastic packaging and transport which, of course, is better for the planet. And it saves you money. For eco-friendly cleaning of your mattress, baking soda is great. You can usually find baking soda in baking products at the supermarket or drugstore.
Cleaning your mattress with baking soda in three steps.
Eco-friendly cleaning of your mattress
Tools
- dash of vinegar
- soft cloth
- about 100-200 gr baking soda for a double mattress
- optional: essential oil (e.g. eucalyptus)
- soft brush
- hoover
Instructions
- First remove the bedding and possibly your mattress topper from the bed. Immediately put the bedding in the washing machine. Check what material your duvet is made of. Synthetic duvets and pillows can be washed in your washing machine. Check the care label to see at what temperature you should wash your duvet. If your duvet is too big for your own washing machine, you can take it to a professional cleaner or launderette nearby. Or wash the duvet out by hand in your bath or a big tub. This also applies to your pillows. Can't or don't want to wash the duvet, pillow and topper? Shake out your duvet and air it out by hanging it (when it's not raining!) out your open window, over your balcony edge, your garden furniture or on your clothesline. Preferably don't hang your duvet in the sun. Down duvets in particular do not cope well with temperatures higher than body temperature!
- Now that your mattress is empty, the first thing you can do is check it for stains. Stains in your mattress can be removed with a splash of vinegar on a soft cloth.
- Next, you are going to put the baking soda on the mattress. For a fresh scent and as an additional remedy against dust mites, you can add essential oils such as eucalyptus, peppermint or lavender oil to the baking soda. To do so, mix about 20 drops with a full packet of baking soda (which is about 200 grams). Then sprinkle the baking soda by hand or in a sieve all over the mattress.
- Using a soft brush or your hand, rub the baking soda well all over the mattress and into the fabric fibres. The baking soda kills fungi, bacteria and dust mites in the fabric fibres of the mattress. Therefore, leave it for at least 2 hours to let it soak in properly.
- After soaking, vacuum away the baking soda with your hoover. Take your hoover and use a small attachment nozzle to vacuum the whole mattress thoroughly and suck up all the baking soda. With this, you will immediately vacuum away all dead bacteria, dust and dust mites.
- Finally, clean the frame of your bed with a damp, soft cloth and remove all the baking soda that has flown off there too.
- Put back your fresh mattress topper. And make your bed again with the cleanly washed bedding.
Mattress cleaning
By following this step-by-step plan and cleaning your mattress at least twice a year, it will stay fresh, hygienic and last longer. That will sleep well! If you have another good eco-friendly cleaning tip the world should know about, feel free to send us a message. You can use thegreenlist.nl get in touch via the follow and contact buttons at the bottom of this page.
More green cleaning tips from thegreenlist.nl
- With baking soda, you can do a lot more eco-friendly cleaning: read all about this wonder drug here.
- Also natural vinegar is an environmentally friendly cleaning agent for anything and everything.
- Want to enjoy your dishwasher for longer and use it as sustainably as possible? This will get your dishwasher shiny clean again!
- Wondering how to create an eco-friendly toilet? You can read all about it in this article.
- Could you use new bedding and want to make a sustainable choice? At Circular Dreams, you'll find sustainable and affordable bedding, At Koala Hug you will find sustainable and hypoallergenic bedding and At Tuur® you will not only find sustainable bedding, as well as beds, mattresses, pillows and accessories.
Photo credits: Mascha Bongenaar.
