For any homemaker, the bedroom and the bed specifically is a place of retreat, peace and calm. At the end of a busy working day, perfectly clean and fresh bed sheets will help you get a good night’s sleep. Bed linen care is, therefore, a critical part of ensuring a good night’s sleep. The following tips will help you care for your bed sheet.
The most important factor to take into consideration with any laundry is to read all labels for each piece of clothing to ensure that you don’t disregard cleaning requirements for specific fabrics. Often, however, people don’t pay attention to reading labels. Whilst many bed sheets can be washed by hand or in your washing machine, some fabrics require special care.
It is also important to note that, when your bed sheets get stained, the longer a stain sits, the harder it is to remove, so create a soaking solution by filling a sink or bucket with warm water and half a scoop of your preferred washing powder. Mix the solution thoroughly by hand before soaking the sheet for an hour. If it keeps floating to the top, use a white towel to keep it immersed. After it has soaked, gently wring out the excess before adding it to your wash as normal. That way your stains will lift right off before they get a chance to set.
If you are using a washing machine, use the hottest water setting on your washing machine that’s safe for the material (this is why reading care instructions is important). If your sheets are polyester, it is best to wash them using warm water, while cotton can tolerate hot water. Hot water is also said to be able to kill most germs and takes care of dust mites that thrive in bedding.
Ideally, you should wash your sheets once a week, however, once every other week is also fine. While many people wash clothes every week, the same attention is not always given to bed sheets. If your wash your clothing regularly, bed sheets shouldn’t be any different.
Separate by colour. Just like clothing, dark colours or reds can dull or bleed onto lighter colours.
Hang sheets to dry outside, sunshine is a natural disinfectant and helps brighten whites. It is also recommended that you always iron your bed sheets since ironing helps kill the last germs and dust mites that might remain after the wash. Ironing also helps you easily store bed linens.
Important: Hot or cold water?
During sleep, bed sheets get soiled from body oils, surface dirt and body fluids which may carry germs that can only be killed with hot water. Washing with hot water also kills dust mites which thrive in bedding.
