How often should you wash Duvets & Pillows?

sd8974

Hi,

Just how often should you wash Duvets & Pillows, whether this be for hygiene or to get rid of dust mites? Is once a year a good frequency? If so, how long should you wait until throwing them away and buying new ones?

Thanks in advance,

Shane.

squeaky

Hiya,

There's a thread on washing duvets Here

And one on washing pillows Here

And another pillow thread that might help Here

mystic_trev

Personally - I prefer a good scratch.....lol

sd8974

squeaky wrote:

Hiya,

There's a thread on washing duvets Here

And one on washing pillows Here

And another pillow thread that might help Here

Thanks Squeaky for listing those, but they mainly deal with how you wash duvets and pillows. I'm after how OFTEN you wash duvets and pillows. I'm surprised nobody mentioned this in any of your threads or the other threads that came up in my searches...

Queenie

sd8974 wrote:

Hi,

Just how often should you wash Duvets & Pillows, whether this be for hygiene or to get rid of dust mites? Is once a year a good frequency? If so, how long should you wait until throwing them away and buying new ones?

Thanks in advance,

Shane.

:hello: Welcome Shane

Spring time I launder the duvets - all part of my spring cleaning routine. I also "air" them periodically.
I store them during the summer in a zipped underbed container with scented satchets.

When do you throw them away? :think: I try not to unless the inner stuffing is seperating and becoming useless
If the outer cover of the duvet itself (not the duvet covers which *you* put on) gets a hole/tear/worn, then I simply stitch it up. You don't see the repairs when you have put your bedding type cover over the duvet so it's not a "skill necessary" job
Depending on the tog rating of the quilt ... if the batting (inner stuffing) has become thin, patchy and seperating, depending on how much area that covers, I have actually cut them down to make speedy lap covers for the sofa for winter nights and used the thinner one's as "batting" (the inner sandwich) for a homemade quilt.

I have some duvets which have lasted 15yrs and are still going strong.

HTH

squeaky

sd8974 wrote:

Thanks Squeaky for listing those, but they mainly deal with how you wash duvets and pillows. I'm after how OFTEN you wash duvets and pillows. I'm surprised nobody mentioned this in any of your threads or the other threads that came up in my searches...

Once a year for me. I try and pick a time in high summer (I'm sure I've said this before somewhere) when there's most likely to be plenty of sun. It's too big for the washing machine so I do the old grape treading trick in the bath, hang it out to dry, shaking well at intervals and re-hanging until thoroughly dry. Pillows will fit the machine so usually twice a year.

HTH

sd8974

Queenie wrote:

I have some duvets which have lasted 15yrs and are still going strong.

Thanks for the replies...

..but can you be sure that these duvets are "clean"? I'm not obsessed with cleanliness, but I thought it was good practice to ensure that you changed mattresses/duvets etc after some years. The only web information I found was for a particular brand of bedding, but that suggests replacing your duvet every 5 years:

http://www.finlayson.fi/english/familon/hoitoteksti.htm

Or is there no limit to how long it is recommended you should keep bedding as long as you clean it thoroughly and regularly?

trafalgar_2

I clean my duvets every 6 months and my pillows are washed in hot water on a rotation basis ,there's one in the wash every week and as I have 8 pillows in use they are all washed once every two months..............in the summer when it's easier to dry them outside then I will do two at a time....this is my preferance not a rule,I have this thing about dust-mites and feel better if the bedding is cleaned regularly:D

Pillows must be washed in HOT water or the mites still live...........so it's worth buying good pllows as they will hold up to the laundering better:D

trafalgar_2

sd8974 wrote:

Or is there no limit to how long it is recommended you should keep bedding as long as you clean it thoroughly and regularly?

Exactly,as long as it's clear and holes aren't appearing or the duvet ain't lumpy ,you can keep them as long as you wish to

Curry_Queen

trafalgar wrote:

I clean my duvets every 6 months and my pillows are washed in hot water on a rotation basis ,there's one in the wash every week and as I have 8 pillows in use they are all washed once every two months..............in the summer when it's easier to dry them outside then I will do two at a time....this is my preferance not a rule,I have this thing about dust-mites and feel better if the bedding is cleaned regularly:D

Pillows must be washed in HOT water or the mites still live...........so it's worth buying good pllows as they will hold up to the laundering better:D

But surely by only washing one pillow at a time, any resident mites in the others will just transfer over immediately so you never actually get rid of them

squeaky

Didn't I read somewhere on here that the way to deal with mites was to tumble dry them on hot for, um, 20 minutes was it? So rather than having a wash day it might be worth having a regular tumble drying day and do them all at once.

I'll see if I can track down that reference...