How to Clean a Mattress

Learning how to clean a mattress (like learning how to wash pillows) is one of those household tasks that isn’t always top of mind. If you think about it, you spend about ⅓ of your life laying on your mattress so making sure you take good care of it is important. Luckily, mattress cleaning and maintenance isn’t very difficult – all you need is baking soda, a vacuum, and hydrogen peroxide to clean, deodorize, and treat stains!

HOW TO CLEAN A MATTRESS

• Remove all pillows, sheets, mattress protector, etc. and sprinkle the surface of your mattress with baking soda
• Leave baking soda on the surface of your mattress for 12-24 hours (the longer the better!) to absorb any odors or moisture
• Vacuum baking soda plus any lingering dust, dirt, and dead skin that inevitably seeps between the fibers of your sheets away before re-making the bed!

HOW TO REMOVE STAINS FROM A MATTRESS

If your mattress has a tough stain to remove, follow these steps:

• Attach a spray nozzle to a bottle of hydrogen peroxide
• Spray the mattress stain lightly with the hydrogen peroxide then leave it alone to dry completely
• You will be amazed by how effective this is! If after drying, you notice the stain isn’t fully gone just repeat the process
• Never spray so much that you soak the mattress and always make sure it is FULLY dry before covering up with sheets

HOW TO MAINTAIN THE QUALITY OF A MATTRESS

• Rotate your mattress every 3 months (TIP: set up a recurring calendar reminder to let you know when it’s time to rotate again)
• If you use a box spring, rotate the box spring every 6 months (but never flip!) to keep it from wearing too quickly in one area
• Protect your mattress from future stains with a quality mattress protector – consider a waterproof mattress protector if you have young children who are more prone to getting sick/having accidents

DON’T FORGET ABOUT YOUR PILLOWS

Pillows require regular cleaning as well! Check out how to wash your pillows.