Menu
Your mattress is one of the most hard-working items in your home and can easily be neglected while you go about other cleaning chores.
But after weeks, months, or even years of use, the average mattress is not a particularly sanitary place.
A build-up of sweat, stains, odors, and urine may be waiting for you when you lift those sheets, and tackling these common culprits is not always so easy. Worse still a musty and dusty old mattress is a haven for mites and bugs that bite.
Hiring a professional to clean your mattress can get pricey especially if you want to clean and sanitize your bed regularly.
However, there are some reliable DIY hacks for mattress cleaning that can refresh and revive your mattress and keep it at its best. We have rounded up 4 simple, cheap, but effective methods for cleaning your mattress. Better still they can be combined for an extra-deep clean too.
One of the great things about these everyday substances and techniques is that they are not as harsh as the branded upholstery cleaning products and chemicals and you can easily repeat the methods if you don't get the desired results the first time.
We advise that before you clean your whole mattress you test out your cleaning methods on a small discrete area of the mattress first. Also, if your mattress manufacturer has specific cleaning advice follow that as a priority.
You're sure to have a box of baking soda at the back of your cupboard and when you see the results you can achieve on even a well-worn mattress you will definitely want to use it regularly.
Think about what happens when you add baking soda to water or vinegar. Baking soda is packed with alkaline cleaning potential that draws out moisture, unpleasant odors and reacts with stains for an amazingly effective clean.
You can also add a few drops of tea tree, lemon, or lavender essential oil to disinfect and fragrance.
Using baking soda on your mattress is as simple as sprinkling a liberal dusting across the surface of the mattress and working it in with a soft brush. Then you let it sit there for as long as you can, up to 24 hours, letting the baking soda work on the mattress.
After you have let the baking soda do its thing, simply vacuum it off for a fresh, clean mattress. Often if you take a look at the used baking soda, you’ll find that it is grey with all the absorbed dirt!
Take a look at this great tutorial for cleaning a mattress with baking soda:
If you are struggling with stains, particularly urine, on your mattress, White vinegar may be the solution you are looking for. The acetic acid in white vinegar is great at eating away at stubborn stains and after you see it in action on your mattress you may want to use it with your laundry too.
Grab a spray bottle and spray down the stained area with a diluted vinegar solution. If you can tag-team your stain removal efforts with fresh air and sunlight, this will help fade and freshen your mattress. Blot off the excess with a kitchen towel and leave to dry.
Alternatively, for an added kick, grab your baking soda and dust down your damp area. The combination of the vinegar and bicarb produces a really effective clean.
Learn from the best with this neat tutorial:
Real baby or fur baby stains can also be given the heave-ho by using hydrogen peroxide. Peroxide is a mild-bleach and safer and gentler to the mattress materials than the regular household stuff. Take a 3 percent solution of hydrogen peroxide and add in a small amount of dish soap and baking soda.
Use this to spray down the stain and leave it to sit for a few hours. You should see an improvement in the stain and the process can be repeated if you still need to tackle odor.
Even though steam does not remove stains, we love this cleaning method as it kills the germs, allergens, and mites that can make a mattress a really unhealthy place. Blasting boiling hot steam through the fibers of your mattress will give you the confidence that your sleeping surface has had a deep-down sanitizing clean.
To get the best results you will need to first vacuum your mattress on both sides. This is a great way of freshening a mattress quickly and lifts loose dust and dirt before application of the steam. Prepare your steam cleaner according to the manufacturer’s instructions.
Go over every surface of your mattress with your steam cleaner including the sides. Once you have completed the cleaning, prop the mattress up by an open window for a few hours to dry and air out.
Check out this quick tutorial on steam cleaning a mattress:
After all your good work you definitely should continue to keep your mattress sanitary. Cleaning professionals recommend you should tackle your mattress at regular intervals with a basic clean every 8 weeks and a deep clean twice per year.
If you haven't already invested in a quality mattress protector, it is well worth getting one as not only will it stop your mattress from accumulating stains, but you can also select a padded or memory foam design that will provide you with added support.
If you have children or pets, a waterproof mattress protector is a must for ensuring that your mattress isn't totaled by pee or other unmentionables.
It's great that you can give a mattress a real clean with regular household substances.
We find that when you make tasks like these simple, you can get right on and get the job done.
So go grab your gloves and give that mattress the overhaul it needs!