To not buy new pillows

[AliceAbsolum]

DH saw a YouTube video and apparently you should buy new ones every 6 months.

Ours are 2 years old and fine, I think this is all just capitalism and it's filthy lies.

I buy quite expensive pillows (about £80 typically) and probably buy a new one every couple of years - I get the new one and rotate my last one to DH and then the kids . But Ive never thrown away a pillow. I use them for cushions or I unpick the side and use the feathers from one to plump up another (two lots of feathers in one pillow).

I have to say I have varying levels of success washing pillows. Synthetic ones are fine but feather pillows are temperamental and don't always dry out properly. They can clump even if you dry them in the tumble dryer which then means you've ruined a pillow.

I do still have my childhood pillow. Its now a cushion in the playroom.

Good grief, if everyone replaced all their pillows every 6 months, we'd need more landfill sites.

I always use pillow protectors under the pillow case, and wash them when I wash the rest of the bedlinen.

My pillows are pristine.

Its just marketing spin.

I just bought memory foam pillows for me and the husband to go with our new mattress. I’m planning on both lasting the same length of time if I’m honest. My old pillows which were still pretty good have gone to the kids and their old one have gone for spare.

I buy fairly expensive pillows generally 100% down, and I look after them so I don't have to replace them. I wash them on a gentle cycle with wool/silk detergent and then tumble dry, plump, tumble dry, plump until they are good as new. I also use pillow protectors as ex DPs head sweat stained one and it just wouldn't come out, it looks gross but is clean. To throw them away would be so wasteful

I've had most of my pillows for 20 or so years. They're fine. My dd is uses my grandmother's feather duvet, which my grandmother bought in Norway in the 1950s.

Do it!

"DH saw a YouTube video and apparently you should buy new ones every 6 months."

It was probably posted by a bedding manufacturer or shop !

I replace mine about once a year. They go flat and get stained. They aren't expensive any more.
Cheap ones do.

I replace mine about once a year. They go flat and get stained. They aren't expensive any more

What do you do with your old ones? They might not be expensive to buy but they’re pretty costly to the planet.

Yanbu as long as you wash them they are fine.

Any comments re concerns about the planet are being made by people following a vegan diet I hope. Otherwise it's glass houses and all that. 🤷🏻‍♀️

Any comments re concerns about the planet are being made by people following a vegan diet I hope. Otherwise it's glass houses and all that

And that attitude is precisely why we are fucked. Just because you don't do everything doesn't mean you shouldn't do as much as you can.

Exactly I agree. We should all do as much as we can and not just what's convenient.

Exactly I agree. We should all do as much as we can and not just what's convenient.

But the all or nothing approach you're advocating deters people from doing anything.

I don't wash my pillows, but do occasionally vacuum them when I vacuum the mattress.

I use pillow protectors these days so they and the pillowcases get washed but not the pillow itself. The pillow gets replaced once it has distorted or flattened itself so much that it has no shape or use as a pillow left.

We should all do as much as we can and not just what's convenient
But I’d stay starting with what is convenient (like not replacing pillows all the time of doing quite so much washing) is a good start, wouldn’t you say? Better than nothing?
Those worried about dust/skin in pillows, do you think hotels are as obsessed? And that’s other people’s skin... (it doesn’t bother me st all, by the way).

And that attitude is precisely why we are fucked. Just because you don't do everything doesn't mean you shouldn't do as much as you can.

exactly.

If everybody started to be mindful and take small steps, we would already go a long way.

I wash mine every month or so (to mange our dust mite allergies: asthma and eczema etc). I also change pillow cases and protectors weekly.

When we stay with my parents (who never wash their pillows) the DCs really struggle. I had asthma as a child and I don’t think my parents ever understood the extent of my dust mite allergy. Washing our bedding makes a big difference to me and the DCs.

Some of my pillows are newish IKEA and some are over 10 yrs old (BHS and John Lewis). None are lumpy from the frequent washing.

I also wash our mattress covers and duvets regularly. And I have a further layer of special dust mite mattress protectors zipped around the entire mattress on each of our beds. I only got these mattress zipped covers last year - and they have helped much more than I anticipated. .

WTF!! So in an adult life time you've probably had 40 sets of sheets, duvet and pillowcases

Er, no as I am not that old 😂

We had the same duvet for about 10 years! But we do replace the bedding every year or so. I give the old ones to my vet or the charity shop if he doesn’t want them. He also has our old towels and pillows.

I’ve never washed a pillow in my life. Pretty sure it would ruin them.

Ed I do the same with old pillows bedding and sleeping bags. Local animal sanctuary's are grateful for them especially in winter.

I have had lots of disasters washing pillows, the layers of hollowfibre always bunch up in the machine and render the pillow unusable. Anyway, inspired by this thread I decided to try an experiment, I folded a pillow in half and shoved it into a pillow case, then squeezed a second one in and closed up the pillowcase. Without any room to move around they came out perfect! No bunching, lovely and clean. Going to wash all my manky pillows now.

Earl I agree every little helps. My comment about vegan/glass houses was directly at whoever (I can't remember who) made a dig at me about pillow changes and the environment. This was a simple thread about pillows. No need for snarky comments about saving the environment.

I take them at the dry cleaners once at 6 months and bin them after a year. Admittedly I don't buy super £££ ones. I do the same with the duvet. This is super important hygiene.

Not sure what to do about the matress, though, how often does that need to be changed?