I’ve always washed my sheets once a week…in hot water. One, because it feels so amazing {even if it’s only in my mind} to crawl into freshly washed sheets on a regular basis. And two, because it turns out you are not the only one in there {I’m not talking the HH here}. Think I am about to dish something juicy? Think again, peeps {seriously, what kind of girl do you think I am?!} You’re also sharing your bed with dust mites–and well, how do I put this? Their poop. Yeppers, anywhere dust can settle, so do dust mites. Washing sheets in warm or hot water kills most of the critters that take up residence in between the sheets–washing them weekly will give them very little time to build up.
If bugs weren’t enough, consider this: we shed about 1 million dead skin cells per day. If you get your 8 hours of sleep in, you could reasonably be sluffing off 1/3 of your skin shedding quota in bed. Grody, I know. Here’s the other thing, we are oily. We secrete oil and sweat as we sleep, and then our sheets courteously shimmy it off of us.
Bottom line: Humans are gross. Bugs are gross. Wash your sheets weekly.
Friendly tip from me to you,
~ Mavis
Jules says
Do you get the most recent National Geographic? Oh my word! I decided to read it in bed before I went to sleep last night, (BIG mistake) and there is a huge and gross article about mites in there. Tiny little bugs that live ON us, that are just about everywhere in the world. Creeped me out! I’ll be washing the sheets today!
Mavis says
Thanks for the warning so I NEVER read that! Gross!!
Darlene says
Totally agree with weekly sheet washing, but how about blankets and comforters? I don’t wash those weekly, and am curious how often other folks wash them 🙂
Heidi P says
I don’t wash our blankets very often ( I will now) but a couple weeks ago I decided to throw our comforter into the wash even tho it said “dry clean only” and surprise surprise surprise turned out perfect. Tumbled dry on low then hung it over our rarely used exercise bike to finish drying. I gambled because I was thinking I should replace it so if it was destroyed no big loss.
Mavis says
Probably at least once a month or more. I’m not as crazy about the blankets because they don’t touch my skin, but I wash them pretty regularly.
Dana says
It’s probably a good idea to have more than one blanket you use regularly. I wash whichever blanket we use after a week and the comforter cover once a week. The comforter itself is washed once or twice a season.
Butterflyweed says
Call me crazy, but I wash mine daily. I LOVE clean sheets. I am a poor sleeper and clean sheets help. For years I changed them twice a week. One thing so many people say is if they were really rich, they would have clean sheets daily. I may not be rich, but this bit of luxury I can do. I have it down to a science and it fits right in my morning schedule. My husband gets up first so when I get up, I strip the bed. Sheets in washer on shortest wash-they aren’t really dirty. Have coffee and toast while they wash. Into the dryer, I check emails. Sheets dry, back on the bed and then I shower. Less than an hour. Since I change them daily, I don’t really tuck in blankets, just the corners.
Heidi P says
I don’t think you are crazy. If washing your sheets daily makes you happy then go for it. I was wondering how often you need to replace your sheets with that much washing.
Mavis says
I’m wondering the same thing. Even great quality sheets would probably bite the dust eventually after that much washing. How often do you have to buy new sheets?
Butterflyweed says
The sheets last about 2 years. I buy the Kirkland Pima Cotton sheets at Costco. In the past I have spent hundreds on really expensive Egyptian cotton ones, but I like the Costco ones best. I have several brand new sets in a closet because I have found ones I like and am afraid Costco will stop stocking them. I wash in warm water with minimal detergent and liquid fabric softener. Then I use both dryer balls and dryer sheets. They are so soft and fresh and wonderful. Once a week I use hot water and bleach. We spend 1/3 of our lives in bed, why not have the best? I did work up gradually. First twice a week, Tuesday and Friday. Then I upped it to Monday, Wednesday and Friday and then said the heck with it and started daily. I must admit to working from home, which does make it easier, but like I said, it’s less than 1 hour start to finish.
Mavis says
Don’t give me any ideas! The HH might kill me if I started that routine, but know I’m envious!
Jenn says
I wash mine once a week as well. On the hottest cycle and add in extra baking soda to help with any odors (my hubby tends to cocoon himself and will sometimes sweat. Gross I know.). I love fresh sheets as well. Slipping into a set of freshly washed sheets at the end of a hard day, there is nothing better.
Mavis says
Agreed! Nothing better!!
Lana says
In order to avoid dust mites you must wash every single thing on the bed in hot water. But, allergists tell their patients every 10-14 days is sufficient. All that washing in hot water just destroys the bedding. We have done it weekly for 23 years for allergy reasons. You need good encasements too! I recommend National Allergy Supply. Theirs have a warranty and they will replace them when they fail and they will from all that hot water.
Mavis says
Like a lifetime warranty? That’s awesome. I’m going to look them up. Thanks for the heads up!
Tracy L. says
Clean sheets are one of my very favorite things!! I would love to be Butterflyweed, but simply do not have the schedule to accommodate that. But EVERY Sunday sheets are stripped, nothing like crawling into clean sheets to start the week. I like to strip bed down to mattress on a monthly basis: mattress protector, pillow protectors, blankets, etc. if I don’t wash my pillows, I at least put them through dryer to kill dust mites. I have allergies, this helps my allergies and my OCD, no heebeegeebies!!!
Mavis says
What kind of pillow do you have? Do you think a memory foam pillow would get messed up in a dryer?
Tracy L. says
I have down pillows from pacific coast down. Costco used to carry them, don’t know if they are still there. I have also gone to their outlet in downtown Seattle. They go through a more rigorous cleaning process than typical, and as long as I wash them and/or throw them through the dryer periodically I don’t have problems.
I have no experience with memory foam pillows. But I would worry they wouldn’t keep their shape, and they’re foam, what is the foam made out of? Would it release fumes when heated? Sorry, thinking to much. I just try to stick to more natural options.
Pam says
When I was single, sheets/blanket/comforter/pillowcases got a once a week wash in hot water. After I got married, I started changing the sheets more often (I married a restless sleeper who sweats a lot). Seems like over the years I’m changing the sheets more and more and am now on an every 3 day schedule. Blankets are once a week. I have a washable comforter for the warmer weather that gets washed once a week. My winter comforter is down filled so I use a duvet cover that gets washed once a week. Always in hot water – with bleach if it’s white. I buy good quality sheets and have to replace them every 3 years or so. I had memory foam pillows but killed them in the washer so I went back to pillows that are machine washable. Mine go in once a month – his go every week. I LOVE sliding into a fresh, clean bed and don’t mind the extra work to keep it that way,
Mavis says
I agree! The extra work is sooo worth it!!
Margaret says
The sheets are washed weekly. Blankets every other week. I love clean sheets. I would do them every day if I could.
Janet says
We have covers for the pillows and mattresses for dust mites and bedbugs. They are in the store with the mattress pads, etc. We also have mattress covers to keep them cleaner and mattress pads for softness.
Heidi HO says
What if you wash your sheets in cold water… wouldn’t the heat from the dryer still kill the dust mites?
Lana says
Yes. They do charge shipping for the replacements but our pillow encasements have been replaced MANY times since we bought them 21 years ago.
Lana says
I do not why this comment is here. It should be up top after the question about the lifetime warranty from National Allergy Supply.
Heidi, the dryer does not kill dust mites but hanging them out in the full sun will.
Anna Laity says
I love me some clean sheets! I wash ours every three or four days, and I also add baking soda and use a gentle detergent like a wool wash made from eucalyptus. I have linen sheets, which are DIVINE because they are crisp when first washed but then become super soft and cosy against the skin.
I recommend linen for anyone who sweats or has trouble sleeping. I used to use 1000 thread count cotton sheets, but now I’m a linen lover because they breath so much better and are naturally antibacterial. I can only sleep in white sheets, that are line dried (I live in Australia, it’s hot and dry) and I agree that getting into a fresh bed is heaven.
Raymond Dean White says
We wash them weekly in cold water then hang them out to dry. I think the UV here in Arizona will sanitize the sheets.
Holly says
I was told dust mites need humidity greater than 50% to survive, so places like Arizona don’t have them. We’re in Houston where it’s VERY humid, so I’m jealous! My daughters has allergies. We have a de-humidifier to keep the humidity in her room at around 45%.
Lynn says
Hense the reason that I have faithfully had a hot shower before bed every single night my whole life….and also taught my children to do the same. Makes the sheets and bedding stay much cleaner. That’s for sure. Can’t imagine going to bed “as is” at the end of the day. Yuck.
Tracy L. says
I also do this!!! It makes me calm down at the end of the day, AND I want to be clean getting in my sheets! It also reduces the chance of sleeping with germs or pollens you’ve picked up throughout the day!
Ashley says
So: A- You are all making me feel lazy, and B- Please don’t talk about dead skin cells, that’s my weakness. My husband’s family used to have an old cabin and every time I’d lay on the bed I’d be so grossed out picturing like 100lbs of dead skin cells (it was comfy though!).
Anyhow, before children, I would wash ours once every 2 weeks, unless it was campfire season, then I’d wash them once a week (because a smoky smelling bed isn’t cool). After kids, I wash them somewhere between once a day and once a month. I’m a complete clean freak, so spit up/pee on my bed won’t fly. But if bodily fluids stay off, then I tend to get a bit side tracked by life and they don’t get washed. As hard as I try to be cleancleanclean with my house, sometimes my kids do need attention, plus less than 4-5 hours of sleep makes me a bit of a crab, gotta pick your battles!
suzanne says
Amen sister!
Debbie says
Thank you for your comment! I was feeling sooooo lazy (and kinda gross!) after reading all of those before yours! It’s amazing how life before children was so different than it is now. Wouldn’t change it though. 🙂
lynne says
guess I’m in the minority…I change mine every 2 weeks. Unless it’s summertime, and temps & humidity is high, then they get changed weekly. I also use the Norwex mattress spray…it claims to eliminate dust mites. I use it on my mattress and pillows once a month.
Lynn says
Oh yes! I forgot to mention the Norwex mattress spray. I have a good stock of that too. Use it often. 🙂
Marcia says
Every 2 to 4 weeks. Don’t be grossed out.
I don’t do the laundry, my husband does. With 2 small kids and each working full time? Not worth the xtra work for us!
D'Anna says
If the sheets come right out of the dryer they have to go back on the bed cuz once they hit the linen closet they get a smell that makes me feel smothered. No one else seems to smell what I smell…sometimes I use linen closet sheets but leave the old pillowcase cuz it doesn’t have a smell and I have to leave the covers turned back for hours to let the smother smell out. Ok, so I’m nuts and probably gross because the smell freaks me out I don’t like to change the sheets much. I figure I bathe before entering the bed so how “dirty” do they get? Bath towels are the same, if they are from the linen closet I think they smell. Some deep stuff I just shared there.
Lisa says
I totally get this! Be trying to rid my linen cupboard of a smell that nobody else in the family can really smell. Thank you for affirming I’m not the only one.
D'Anna says
Do you think it’s the wood shelves that have the smell and it just permeates into everything? I may spend my weekend taking everything out, toss some stuff, rewash everything and maybe wipe the shelves down w/ something.
Joyce Tucker says
Hi D’Anna
I find that my tea towels smell when pulled out of the linen closet.
Do you use fabric softener dryer sheets? I think the softener sheets have some sort of oil product that does the softening. I notice my tea towels smell like rancid oil if stored for a long time…
PattyB says
We don’t use fabric softener. The sheets get washed about every 2 weeks or when my husband gets around to it because I just cannot do that job yet. but when I was well, I would wash the sheets 1x week and the blankets 1 a month. I’d vacuum the mattress and flip it about 1x month. Vacuuming was 1x week with touch ups when needed. I could go on and on about what I used to do but my world is different now and I have to be calm about it and accept it. =)