It’s Friday night and you just texted your friends from bed saying that you can’t make it out tonight. Soz, mate. You have an important date with Ben, Jerry, and the Fab Five. They’ll understand.
A jaw-dropping moment occurs on the latest episode of Queer Eye as you’re about to inhale a big scoop of chocolate chip cookie dough flavoured ice cream. The spoon is halfway to your mouth and the pause causes the melted ice cream to fall onto your brand new mattress and sheets. Nooo! Now you’re scrambling not to create a bigger mess but the pint tips over and now the whole bed is covered in stains. The damage is done.
How do you remove stains from bedding? It’s not always ice cream. Sometimes a kid wets the bed or a menstrual mishap occurs overnight. Life is messy. In this article, we address a few common stains and how to get them out of bedding — including sheets, quilt covers, and mattress covers.
Red wine
Red wine is a super common stain on bedding. Hey, we love to sip and snuggle under our silk sheets too. If a red wine spill happens in bed, don’t let it dry. Slide a bowl under the sheet where the stain is located. Immediately sprinkle salt on the stain and dab with steaming hot water and a clean cloth. If there’s a removable cover on the mattress, soak the stained area in soda water, add table salt to the affected area, let it rest, then chuck it in the wash. Pour another glass of wine.
Chocolate
Eating chocolate in bed is the only way to eat it. Remember Elle Woods from Legally Blonde? LIAR! *throws a box of chocolates at the TV.* If you accidentally smear chocolate on your bedding, it’s going to be tricky to remove. Use a knife to scrape off what you can, then pour a bit of cold water over the remaining spots. Gently rub liquid laundry detergent over the stain and let it sit for five minutes. Next, soak it in cold water for 15 minutes and then throw it in the wash with a stain remover.
Ink
Are you working in bed? Tsk-tsk. On the (rare) chance that an ink pen explodes in the wash or a permanent marker loses its cap, move quickly to get the stain out. For an ink stain, dab (don’t rub) the affected area with rubbing alcohol. This lifts the ink. Then blot it dry with a paper towel and rinse the stain with cold water. Be careful with this method as alcohol can cause the colour to run in certain fabrics. Hairspray can be used as an alternative to rubbing alcohol.
Urine
Whether your pet peed on the mattress during Sunday morning snuggles, or your kids have a bed-wetting incident on their mattress, it’s important to act quickly when removing urine from a memory foam mattress. To clean a urine stain, use an enzyme-based cleaning solution, such as Vanish Preen Odour Neutralising Trigger. If your mattress has a removable cover, quickly spray the messy area, then wash as normal in the machine. Use the same method on urine-stained bed sheets!
Blood
To remove blood stains from your mattress, combine simple home ingredients (cold water, saline solution, baking soda, and salt) and dab to the area. Let it sit, then throw it in the washing machine. For stubborn stains, dab a hydrogen peroxide soaked cotton ball directly to the stain. Then run it under cold water to rinse.
Vomit
Oh yeah, we’re getting into it. Vomit is fairly easy to clean. Let’s say your baby spits up in bed… all over your new quilt cover. Simply remove the chunks (sorry), then throw your bedding in the wash and hang to dry. If vomit gets on the mattress, mix water and white vinegar in a spray bottle and apply it to the stain. Dab it with a towel and sprinkle baking soda on it to mask the smell. Let it sit overnight, then try vacuuming the dry residue from the mattress stain. Of course, if you’ve got an Ecosa mattress, simply remove the washable cover and machine-wash as normal. Easy!
Spaghetti sauce
We’ve learned by now that eating in bed is risky. If you happen to spill food in bed, quickly remove the sheets and the mattress cover, soak the stained area in soda water, add table salt, and let it rest. Rinse out the salt and wash it as you normally would.
Coffee
There’s nothing like sipping coffee in bed while reading the Sunday paper. If you’re distracted by the crossword puzzle and spill coffee, flush the area with cold water. Rub the stain with laundry detergent and let it sit for five minutes. If that doesn’t work, add a simple stain remover spray to it and throw the sheets and mattress cover in the wash.
Grease/Essential Oil
Eating pizza in bed? Can we come to the party? Say you get pizza grease on your sheets — immediately sprinkle baking soda over the stain. Let it sit for a few minutes, then add dish soap to the area and dab it with a wet paper towel. Throw the sheets in the wash and continue eating pizza on the couch. Problem solved. The same goes for essential oils, as the properties are similar.
Sweat
As humans, we sweat a lot when we sleep. Sometimes, our bodily fluids discolour perfectly white bedding, leaving it yellow. Yuck! To remove these sweat stains, hand wash with gentle detergent and soak the sheets with oxygen bleach, borax, or baking soda and white vinegar. You can do this in a bath. Then machine wash as normal and hang to dry.
If you’re prone to bed stains and spills, consider the Ecosa memory foam mattress. It has a waterproof inner cover, plus an extra removable outer cover that makes the stain removal process and mattress cleaning much easier. It protects the mattress itself from absorbing wet stains and holding the odour. It’s like the Thor of mattress protectors. We’ve got your back, serial spillers of the world! You deserve all the wine, chocolate, and pizza in bed, without compromising your mattress!