Bedding question that frankly, I am ashamed to ask

[roaringwater]

I have had a home of my own for 22 years, been married for 20 of those and have quite old children.

However, I am embarrassingly clueless about some elements of housekeeping. While I do change the bedlinen (even I am not quite this filthy), I don't really know what you're supposed to do to keep the actual pillows and duvets clean. To be truthful, every now and again, I just crack and buy some new ones in IKEA. Surely there must be a better way?

Also, I have no idea why I don't know this stuff - my parents' home is immaculate. I was a very studious, bookish child: this was greatly lauded and encouraged and I wasn't ever shown how to do practical things (e.g. figured out for myself how to clean a bathroom when I bought a house.)

Advice from more capable people would be great.

There is a lot of paranoia about dirt and quite frankly, environmental vandalism on this thread. You do not sleep with the duvet next to your skin. There is no need to wash it unless something spills on it.

Pillows should have pillow protectors and mattresses matress protectors that get washed every now again because gravity means that drool/sweat/other secretions will soak through sheets/pillow cases. But unless you shag on top of your duvet/chew it in the night, there really is no need to replace it/wash it. The occasional airing on a breezy day is more than enough.

all of you folk washing your pillows and duvets, are they made of synthetic fibres?

Ours are feather/down.... and we use pillow protectors and air the duvet regularly.

Sheets, pillowcases and duvet covers get washed weekly on a very hot wash. (well, OK, sometimes every 2 weeks).
Theoretically, a natural fibre duvet (feather and / or down) can be washed in a washing machine, but most domestic washing machines are not big enough, so mine go once a year to a dry-cleaner for a domestic wash and dry - bacuse they have larger machines.
Similarly, I understand they can be put in a tumble dryer. (apparently with 3 tennis balls, to stop the feathers getting crunched up). My tumble dryer is nowhere near big enough, so they are dried as part of the dry-cleaner service.
I understand that synthetic fibre should be dry-cleaned anyway.
Personally, I dont think they are quite as good after being cleaned anyway.
That said, I did once wash a natural fibre duvet by hand in the bath, and dried it outside in the sun.
I occassionally wash pillows in the washing machine, though I use protectors, between the pillow and pillowcase

I never wash our duvet or pillows.

I change bed sheets once a week and our mattress topper goes to the launderette once every 3 months for a refresh.

DH and I both shower/bath every night before bed and sometimes again in the morning. As long as sheets are clean I don't see an issue unless there is wee or anything like that from pets/children.

A little surprised at the amount of washing of regular pillows/ duvets. I’ve very rarely had mine laundered (but get aired in summer/ between changes if I have the time). I have Pillowcase / mattress protectors on all beds. Washed maybe once every 2 months or so? Mattresses turned and vacuumed, maybe three times a year?

Only time a duvet gets washed/ laundered is if anything has been spilt / anyone has been unwell. Other than that, everyone in my family showers daily. So beyond the regular vacuum/ shake, I don’t know see the need for anything beyond that.

I don't wash my duvet or pillows, I have protector on my pillow that I wash every couple of months and my duvet is a pure wool one which is supposed to be naturally anti dust mite or something (not sure of the science!). I do hoover my mattress and turn it regularly.

Duvet goes to the launderette once a year. Pillows get washed one at a time and spun, then hung on the line of a warm day. Once a year is fine if you always use cases.

I wash duvets about every 2-3 years. Pillows have been occasionally washed, but sometimes just used until they are thrown out.

We only have a thin, king sized duvet so it goes in our washing machine easily when I think it could do with freshening up. On top of that we have a throw which looks nice, but adds an extra layer when we want a warmer cover on the bed.

I wash the duvets maybe once every year or two? We have an all season duvet that buttons together, so the individual "halves" squeeze up enough to go in the washing machine. Pillows - same. They're feather. The cheaper poly ones go in the bin when they get flat and loose their mojo.

Okay, I say every year or two. That's a lie. About twice in the last 10 years for our duvet.

Not at this time of year though - wait til a nice warm day in May and put it in the washing machine first thing in the morning so that it can dry in the sun all day on the line.

Duvets you can dry clean. Wouldn't recommend laundering them yourself. Pillows, generally they recommend changing them for new once a year. I have never cleaned them, just replaced them.

My grandparents' pillows were good enough for them and never needed washing, so ...

I have pillow protectors and wash them every week when I change the bedding, I have a summer and winter quilt and wash them before I put them away for the next season

This linen care website suggests feather duvets need cleaning every 5 - 10 years “ if at all”.

I was just in Homesense earlier having a meander as you do and saw pillow protecters and went and now I wished I'd bought some after reading this thread, makes perfect sense.

I did buy a new mattress protector however as my old one kept moving around and getting all wrinkled up. I think I'll go in again and buy the pillow protectors.
My DC have easy wash duvets from M&S although I think they've stopped selling them.
I bought myself a feather and down duvet recently as I get so hot at night, even in winter, and putting a cover on weighs it down so I guess that will need washing more than usual.

I'll wait till the summer for that it's only 4.5 tog so will dry quickly and fit in my machine.

I take my pillows to a local place, they are great. However, they sadly don’t do duvets.

They may have a local franchise you could use, Trevor and Simon.

Our launderette and also the dry cleaners charge £10 for any size duvet to be washed.
If you use synthetic duvets I would just buy a new one and let the dog have the old one or use it for camping or sleepovers.
If you like natural goose or duck down i would have it laundered between summer and winter as PP said.
Always use zipped & quilted cotton pillow protectors and your pillows will. Last longer.

I put two pillow covers on the pillow and that keeps it pure white and fresh. One cover doesn't seem enough. I wash the duvets in spring/summer.

Pillows are never the same once you've washed them. Dry-cleaners (some) will recondition them but it's quite expensive and not worth it unless you have fabulous goosedown pillows.

My pillows are fine after I've washed them. I guess it depends which ones you have.

Our duvets are down, or feather and down.
Ditto pillows.
They all wash perfectly.

Yes, I’m confused by the people saying it’s ruined their pillows. Yes they go a bit funny (the stuffing all moves to one side) initially but just shake them out / punch into them a few times and they look good as new... no? We have a real mix of pillows... some quite expensive, some cheap... all go through the wash.

Also our king sized duvet fits in the washing machine so I suggest people give that a go before throwing out. Admittedly it’s a thin tog one (tend to add a blanket in winter) but I’m sure more will fit in than people assume.

I can’t wait for spring to give my bedding a good cleaning.

What do people do with mattresses? I run the steam cleaner over every 3 months or so but I’m not sure it does anything.

People who are sending their duvets to be machine v washed elsewhere, are they feather duvets?

Mine are.

People who are sending their duvets to be machine v washed elsewhere, are they feather duvets?

No, mine is synthetic. My DH is allergic to feathers.

Ffs

I wash pillows and duvets in the washing machine. Problem with pillows is they can lose their shape. I have good pillow protectors so the pillows don't need washing much.