Airing Out

When the idea of posting about this came to me, I had a certain kind of picture in my mind of old European houses with their down pillows and comforters hanging out of the windows, but when I checked on-line for pictures, all I found was information about airing out the beds. I’ll spare you the details of why this is necessary, but believe me, it is! You will never again have to give an excuse for an unmade bed --- you are simply airing it out! The advice I read was to throw back the covers and open a window for at least an hour first thing in the morning. The above picture is another way - a recent shot that my friend, Marg, sent me.

So, back to what I wanted to post about. The end of summer is the perfect time to strip beds down to the mattress, vacuum the mattress before turning it over, wash what you can and air out what you can’t. I don’t know if it’s the way I was raised, but I’ve always loved the smell of anything that has been dried outside and find that the “almost Fall” sunshine is especially nice. At this time your comforter is probably still packed away somewhere and if you didn’t get a chance to hang it out or spread it out on some lawnchairs before summer, now is a good time. If it’s a polyester filled duvet, you can wash it on gentle cycle, dry it in the dryer for a bit and then hang it out for that fresh scent.

Now, about the pillows ...

1. Remove the pillow cases and protectors to wash them separately.
2. Put two pillows in the washing machine to balance the load. I don’t know how the front loading machines work, maybe there is no balancing act there.
   Set the cycle on gentle and fill with warm or a mixture of warm and hot water.
   Use about half of the amount of laundry soap that you would for a normal large cycle and add two capfuls of bleach in the appropriate dispensing compartment. Rinse twice if you feel it’s necessary.
3. Place in the dryer for one hour. Fluff in-between. Some people add tennis balls to help with that. Continue drying and airing them out in the sun if you can or keep drying until you are sure they are completely dry. This is very important.

I don’t buy expensive pillows, so sometimes they clump up in the wash – if that happens I just go and buy new ones! Not much lost. But if the pillows wash well, as most polyester and feather pillows do, it almost feels better to put your nose into a freshly washed pillow than a new one.

You can also handwash a pillow in the bathtub and roll it up to squeeze out the water. When you are sure it’s well rinsed and squeezed, roll it up again in some large towels and step on it, to get as much moisture out as possible. Put it in the dryer for an hour or two and then in the sun for a day. I’ve always been amazed as to the bleaching effect the sun has on stains and so it is a bonus if you can turn your pillows (or duvets) to face the sun where most needed.