A mattress is a big investment and rightly so: the quality of your sleep has a profound effect on the quality of your life and how well you function. Since we spend about a third of our lives sleeping, it's worth it to take a few moments to keep it functioning at its best. Try out these tips every few months to keep your mattress in tip-top shape!
- Strip your mattress down: Inspect the mattress for surface soil and stains. Spot clean using an upholstery shampoo or a tiny bit of diluted mild soap and let dry before you make up the bed again. Let dry thoroughly.
- Flip or rotate it every season: Turn the foot of the mattress so it becomes the head. Next season, flip it over. Rotate it the following season and flip it the season after that. If your mattress is a pillowtop, you won't be able to flip it over so just keep rotating it head to foot and foot to head. The result of these mattress acrobatics is that your mattress will wear evenly, free of the sags that come from constantly sleeping in the same spot. Even doing this every six months helps.
- Place it in the sun: We're not suggesting you drag it outside, but placing it in direct sunlight can naturally disinfect your mattress. If you've spot cleaned your mattress, do this step before you flip it over.
- Vacuum it: Even if you keep it covered with a mattress covere, it's a good idea to vacuum it to keep the dust mites at bay. After you've flipped and stripped your mattress, sprinkle it with a few handfuls of lavender (If you live near a Trader Joe's, try their lavender drying bags) before you place it in the sun. Not only will the lavender keep it fresh smelling but the scent is said to enhance sleep. No lavender? Try baking soda. Vacuum up the lavender or the baking soda.
- Now cover it with a mattress cover: A mattress cover protects your mattress and it's easier to wash a mattress cover if you spill something in bed (your morning coffee perhaps?) than a whole mattress. Try one that's made to keep dust mites at bay.
- Change your sheets regularly: Simply changing your sheets on a regular basis (once a week in most cases), can help keep dirt from collecting on your mattress and becoming a breeding ground for dust mites.
- Final trick: I like to tuck a used dryer sheet or sachet (all natural, of course) under our sheets when we make up our bed. They absorb odors and impart a pleasant scent.
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If you want to protect your mattress from stains, you will need a mattress protector. These are ofter coated with a resistant coating that will shed the liquid. Mattress covers will on encase it and keep the dust mites at bay.
The grammar of the first tip makes me laugh a bit: "Spot clean and let dry before you make up the bed using an upholstery shampoo".
I love oddball sentence construction.
I am easily amused.
Thanks for the solid tips, otherwise!
There's no need to flip or rotate Select Comfort Sleep Number mattresses, and they're the most comfortable mattresses I've ever had.
most mattresses are now made with cushy tops so you can't flip them.
A lot of mattresses are no flip designs.
Most mattresses that don't have the pillow tops are also now made so that you can't flip them.
Shorter life span, more money for the mattress manufacturer when you need a new one. Something that a lot of people overlook when mattress shopping. Ca-ching!
I just bought my very first mattress and the salesman told me all new mattresses are no-flip designed. None of the mattresses they had in their warehouse could be flipped, only rotated.
buy a latex mattress and a european-style frame with slats... no ugly box spring and the mattress is completely flippable. i sleep like a rock on ours. bonus: it never creaks or squeaks. ;)
I'm in love with the comforter and sheets--anyone know where they're from?
Ikea has flip mattresses. They make them no-flip these days because the materials that go into making a mattress have gone up in cost and its much cheaper to make, not because its better. I still suggest a flip mattress- like I said, Ikea.
Weird. I thought only pillow tops couldn't be flipped. Learn something new every day.
Also, the idea of dragging our king-sized mattress into the back yard made me giggle. We almost broke up dragging it from the car to the bedroom (it was a hand-me-down from a friend), much less regularly outside and back in again. Will try the rest of the tips, though!
I am with juliadevi on latex matress; we rotate it, but didn't flip - weren't sure we could... going to try... we have a tatami bed, works great for us