Your bed sheets, comforters, and pillowcases go through a lot — tossing, turning, trysts, and more. Yet they still try to comfort you through it all. Isn’t it about time that you returned the favor by cleaning and storing your winter bedding properly during the summer? Here to show you how to clean and store your bedding with ease are our friends/bedding experts at Parachute. Because we all want to keep that fresh, new feeling all year long. If you like soft bed sheets and pillowcases (who doesn’t?), be sure to wash yours on the Delicate cycle in cold water. Because hot water can degrade the fibers over time, leaving you with shrunken sheets. Washing your sheets on the Delicate cycle is also akin to giving them a gentle massage yet full cleaning. Versus a fast cycle which is more of a surface clean and thus not as thorough. Also, wash your sheets with less detergent than recommended on the bottle because washing them with too much soap causes buildup that makes your sheets stiff.
Notice how your bed sheets always come out of the laundry dryer looking like a tornado ran through them? That’s because when you overload the dryer, you leave little space for your sheets’ fabric to fluff up. This results in unsightly, annoying wrinkles that interrupt your Zzzzs by tickling you in your sleep. The best way to get wrinkle-free bed sheets: Wash your sheets alone and only fill the dryer up halfway. Taking your bed sheets out of the dryer slightly before the drying cycle has finished lets you easily smooth out any creases because the sheets are still a wee damp with moisture and thus, more flexible. After you take your sheets out of the dryer, make your bed and smooth out any wrinkles. If you don’t plan on using those sheets, you should still get rid of any wrinkles and then store them (more on the best way to store your bedding below) so that they stay in great shape, ready for you to use again in the winter. Washing large comforters and blankets at home is tough because most washing machines aren’t big enough to handle the bulk.
And because comforters and blankets are so large, it takes hours for them to dry. To speed up the process, take your down comforters and luxury textiles (like merino, alpaca, and cashmere throws) to your friendly neighborhood dry cleaner to ensure that they’re cleaned properly and returned to you in the best condition. Pro Tip: If you’re short on time, use a service like TaskRabbit to bring your bedding to a dry cleaner and return it to you once the dry cleaner is finished. Mildew and mold are two frightening words. To keep them out of your vocabulary, and most importantly, out of your bedding, store your linens in a cool, dry place. A cotton bedding bag keeps your items away from humidity and dust while allowing air to circulate, which is perfect for storing natural fibers such as wool. You can store multiple pieces in one bedding bag, but make sure to place heavier blankets on the bottom so that the bag doesn’t topple if it’s on a top storage shelf. If you don’t have a linen closet, store your bedding in a trunk and keep it at the foot of your bed for easy access.
Or pack your out-of-season bedding into a MakeSpace bin and send it away until you need it delivered back to you in the winter.Getting a new mattress can be an exciting time. Maybe you’re upgrading your mattress to one that’s more comfortable and bigger. Or maybe you’re moving in with that special someone. Either way, before you can buy a new mattress, you need to figure out what you’re going to do with your old one. Luckily, we did all the homework for you. We’re going to show you step by step how to clean and store a mattress, box spring, and bed frame. Because if you value your space, and don’t want to deal with selling your old mattress on Craigslist, you know that keeping it around is not an option. Before you clean your mattress, box spring, and bed frame, we recommend taking apart the bed frame and headboard. After you’re done, put all the screws, nuts, washers, and other small pieces in a Ziploc bag. Then, tape the bag to your headboard. That way, all the pieces are in one place, which makes moving, storing, and re-assembling your bed frame much easier.
Pro Tip: Don’t forget to wash your bedding. Especially if you’re going to use it on your new mattress or put them in storage. Once you’ve disassembled your bed frame, separate your mattress from the box spring. If you’re like most people and clean your mattress never, you’re probably wondering: How the heck do I clean a mattress? It’s pretty simple actually. Grab your vacuum and use the brushy nozzle to vacuum all the dust, crumbs, and dead skin that’s settled into the mattress. Next, use an upholstery cleaner like Bissell’s Pet Stain Pretreat for Carpet & Upholstery (recommended by Good Housekeeping) to remove stains and obliterate odors. Just make sure to do this in a well-ventilated area and let your mattress air out before you put it in storage. Prefer to go a more natural route? Add a few drops of your favorite essential oil to a container of baking soda and sprinkle it on top of your mattress. Give it a good massage, leave it there for an hour, and then vacuum it off.
Free Bonus: Want more easy cleaning hacks like the one above? Check out our list of 5 insanely easy cleaning hacks that are ridiculously effective. Though your box spring gets much less direct use than your mattress, you should still vacuum it like you did with your mattress. Oh, and don’t forget the bed frame. Mix some water with dishwashing liquid, dip a rag into the solution, and then wipe your bed frame with it. Next, go over your bed frame with a wet cloth, let both of them dry, and that’s it. You’re ready to move on to the next step: Now that you’ve cleaned your mattress, box spring, and bed frame, the last thing you want to do is to get anything dirty or scuffed up while in transit. Put your mattress and box spring in separate mattress bags to protect them against dust, dirt, stains, water, and damage while they’re in transit or storage. To protect your now-disassembled bed frame, wrap the pieces in moving blankets. If you’re the Hulk, skip to the next section.
If you’re not the Hulk, skip nothing because you’re going to need help from a friend. And moving straps like Forearm Forklift’s Mattress Mover straps so the both of you can easily lift your mattress, carry it downstairs, and load it into a moving or rental truck without breaking your backs. Why the emphasis on “moving or rental truck”? Because tying a mattress to the top of your car is dangerous (Who wants to crash into a flying mattress? Oh right, no one), and you run the risk of bending your mattress beyond repair. And now for the fun part: Haul everything to a storage unit. Pack everything into a storage unit. Make sure your mattress lies flat (so the padding and coils don’t settle). Return your rental or moving truck. And then treat your friend to dinner as a “thank you” for taking time out of his/her weekend to help you. We had you for a minute. This is the MakeSpace blog. And with MakeSpace, you haul nothing. You pack nothing into a storage unit.