How to Care for Your Mattress: Making it Last

Buying a new mattress is exciting. It is also a large investment. After spending hours online, and scouring dozens of mattress stores searching for the perfect mattress, you have finally found it: the mattress you simply cannot live without. Hopefully, you have found a comfortable all-natural latex mattress to build dreams upon.

When you bring it home, you, of course, want to dress it up with fancy bedding, and care for your mattress, so you get the most from your investment. But, do you really know how to do that? Below are some great tips and pointers for taking care of your mattress that you should know if you want to keep your mattress fresh and well maintained for many years to come.

Care for Your Mattress

Below are great ways to care for your mattress.

Use a Mattress Protector

You should use a mattress protector as soon as you get your brand new mattress home. A waterproof mattress protector will extend the life of your mattress by keeping it clean from debris, liquids, and all kinds of other pollutants that would otherwise find their way to your mattress.

If you protect your mattress with a mattress protector from the get-go, your mattress will not get dirty as quickly. It will have an added layer of protection against common environmental filth and stains that accumulate over time.

What Are the Benefits of a Mattress Protector?

A dirty mattress is not comfortable, nor is it easy to sleep on. Luckily, a high-quality mattress protector or mattress cover will keep your mattress clean. While you should still clean your mattress periodically, cleaning a mattress protector is easier to do, and you can do it far more often.

• Mattress protectors decrease dust mites in your bed
• Mattress protectors decrease allergens
• Mattress protectors provide a barrier for spills, sweat, and other liquids

The truth is that mattresses can get dirty quickly, especially without a mattress protector. Having that extra layer of protection is essential if you want to take proper care of your mattress. Additionally, you will get better sleep on a cleaner mattress every time.

Rotate Your Mattress

Did you know that rotating your mattress extends its lifespan? The average person sets their mattress down on the bed frame, and the mattress never moves again. However, rotating your mattress regularly allows every side to experience even wear and tear.

If you do not rotate a mattress, the same sections will wear out quickly, while other portions of the mattress will get almost no wear. Eventually, once a side of your mattress gets too worn out, it will become unusable. Regular rotation can extend your mattress’s lifespan far longer than you might have thought possible.

Change Up Where You Sit

Try to avoid sitting on the same edge of your mattress every day when you are getting ready in the morning. If you continually sit in the same spot, it can lead to mattress sagging in the corners.

Let Your Mattress Receive Air

When you buy a new mattress, moisture can easily become trapped within the covers. To prevent moisture and mildew, fold back your covers, and air out your mattress each morning while you’re getting ready for the day. This will prevent moisture buildup.

Other methods for airing out your mattress include:

• Turning on the ceiling fan
• Opening a window
• Running a dehumidifier

You never want your mattress surface to get damp, but sometimes you inevitably sweat in the night. If, for some reason, you do not have a waterproof mattress protector on your mattress, or you did not get the mattress protector off in time to wash it, dry your bed out as quickly as possible to prevent mildew turning your mattress stale.

Give Your Mattress Support

Half the battle in getting a good night of sleep is the bed frame your mattress is laid upon. Make sure to use a sturdy bed frame, so that your new mattress has the proper support. An insufficient bed frame will cause the mattress to bow or sag.

Be Gentle When Moving Your Mattress

Mattresses should last several years. More than likely, you are going to move at some point, and your mattress is going to come with you. Avoid damaging your mattress during moves.

• Do not bend your mattress
• Cover your mattress with protective material
• Avoid creating creases or sags in the mattress

Damage to a mattress in transit can last for the mattress’s lifetime.

Soap Up Your Mattress

If you have the unfortunate luck of staining your new mattress, clean it gently with mild soap and water. Never dry clean a mattress. The chemicals in dry cleaning and spot removers can be harmful to the fabric.

Always Let Your Mattress Dry

Never use too much water on your mattress. You do not want the middle of your mattress to get soaked, or it will take too long to dry. When cleaning the surface of a mattress, always spot clean with damp rags, rather than soaking it with liquid.

Let it dry fully before dressing your mattress. Speed up the drying process by setting it outside on a sunny day.

Let Your Bed Get Some Sun

The ultraviolet rays from the sun can be good for your bed. If you know the forecast calls for a sunny day without rain and high humidity, consider setting it outside for a few hours.

While the sun’s ultraviolet rays will not actually kill dust mites, they will dry out your mattress and freshen it up.

Regularly Wash Your Sheets and Linens

Do not keep the same set of sheets on your mattress for too long. You should wash your bedsheets once a week. If you have multiple sheet sets, change your bedsheets at least once a week.

Having clean sheets will keep your mattress clean. Additionally, you should clean your mattress protector regularly. You can also keep multiple mattress protectors in the same way you might have multiple sheet sets. Though, high-quality mattress sheets and protectors can get expensive.

Skip Breakfast in Bed

While eating in bed sounds romantic and whimsical, cleaning up the orange juice you spill all over your new mattress is not fun for anyone. Avoid spills by not consuming food and drinks while in bed. If, however, your mattress does get wet, dry it quickly with a hairdryer.

If you are a smoker, do not smoke in bed. Besides being extremely dangerous, it can also reduce the life of your mattress significantly.

Vacuum Your Mattress

Vacuuming your mattress is the best way to clean it. It is not too harsh, and will help to get rid of dust and reduce allergens. Try to vacuum your mattress once a week if you can.

• Vacuums can grab dust mites
• Vacuums can grab dead skin cells
• Vacuums can grab crumbs

Vacuuming will help pick up all kinds of nasty debris that gets stuck on your mattress throughout the night. If you use a mattress protector (like you should!), you can vacuum that in between washings. 

Be careful not to vacuum your mattress too roughly. Depending on what kind of mattress you have, it might be fragile.

Clean Your Mattress with Baking Soda and a Vacuum

While you are cleaning your mattress with a vacuum, consider using baking soda as well. Baking soda has deodorizing properties, and can soak up liquids.

• Strip all sheets and the mattress cover off your bed
• Sprinkle baking soda all over your bed, covering every inch
• Let it sit on your bed for as long as possible

The longer you can leave the baking soda on your mattress, the longer it has to soak up stains, liquids, and deodorize. You should wait for at least several hours. Once it’s time to redress your bed, vacuum up all the baking soda. You will be amazed at how fresh your mattress smells.

Avoid Bedbugs at All Costs

Bed bugs are nefarious. They are a mattress’s nemesis. It’s nearly impossible to save a mattress once it has been infested with bed bugs.

When traveling, always inspect a bed, couch, cot, or sleeping surface to make sure you do not see bed bugs. You do not want to bring them home to your mattress, and risk ruining it forever.

Sometimes, it’s unavoidable, though. If you live in apartment housing in a large city, or somewhere else where housing is close together, there are ways to protect your mattresses from bed bugs.

There are mattress casements on the market that bed bugs cannot pass through. These keep bed bugs from infiltrating your mattress.

If you happen to see a bed bug in your home (even just one), call a professional exterminator.

Choose the Right Type of Mattress

Your mattress care will depend on the kind of mattress you purchase. For example, some mattresses need to breathe and “off-gas” when you first open them up. These mattresses, particularly memory foam and polyfoam mattresses, are not organic or natural, and they release what are called volatile organic compounds (VOCs).

Let Your Synthetic Mattress Off-Gas

Like a lot of other new items, certain mattresses emit that “new mattress smell” (similar to new car smell). It will dissipate over time. To speed up the process, try leaving your mattress uncovered for several hours when you first get it home. If you have an old mattress, sleep on that for a night or two, so that your new mattress’ odor is completely dissolved before you sleep in it.

Never sleep on a mattress that is in the process of off-gassing. While mattress off-gassing is not considered toxic or life-threatening, it is not necessarily safe, either.

Natural Latex Mattresses Do Not Off-Gas

If you go the organic route, you do not have to worry about mattress off-gassing. One hundred percent natural latex mattresses are not made with synthetic chemicals, and do not release VOCs. So, you can sleep on a natural latex mattress as soon as you get it home.

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