Tips For Cleaning & Removing Mattress Stains & Odors

Here are tips for cleaning and removing mattress stains and odors. It includes general instructions for vacuuming and cleaning and what to do when there are spills or accidents.

We sleep on our mattresses every night, and because of that we need to keep them cleaned and well cared for. This is especially necessary for allergy sufferers, so you remove dust and debris from the mattress that accumulates with time.

General Mattress Care Tips

Unless there is a spill or accident (which I'll discuss below) your mattress doesn't need care too often. However, every quarter you should rotate it, so that there is even wear between the sides. If the mattress is designed to allow someone to sleep on either side it can also be flipped. Here are instructions for turning and rotating a mattress.

In addition, at the same time that you rotate or flip the mattress, approximately quarterly, you should also vacuum it thoroughly.

Vacuuming a mattress is simple. All you do is use the upholstery attachment on your vacuum cleaner, just as you would with upholstered furniture.

(You can get more tips for reducing and removing dust in your home here.)

What To Do If You've Got Spills Or Stains On Your Mattress

Accidents can happen on your mattress, such as someone vomiting or a potty accident with young kids.

First Line Of Defense: Protection From Spills & Accidents

Ideally you will have tried to prevent these types of messes by using a waterproof mattress protector or sheet protector to keep liquids like this from seeping into the mattress.

In the past these covers have felt strange, like sleeping on plastic, which wasn't pleasant, so some people shied away from them. However, now these mattress protectors have improved significantly, and have a much softer feel to them. Therefore, if the mattress is being used by anyone where this could be a foreseeable problem, invest in these covers! You'll thank yourself later. They come in full mattress covers, and in sheet protectors that can be laid down on a bed, over the sheet, if someone feels sick, for instance.

Even if you choose to forego a waterproof cover, you should at a bare minimum have a regular, fabric mattress cover that you have overtop of your mattress, at all times. (You can get tips for how to wash types of bedding here, including these types of mattress covers.)

What To Do If An Accident Still Happens

While prevention is best, I know things still happen sometimes. The key to dealing with spills and stains on mattresses is to understand that a mattress should be treated like other pieces of upholstered furniture.

The first step is to deal with the accident or spill as quickly as possible, trying to prevent as much liquid from seeping into the mattress as possible.

You do not want the mattress to get really wet, especially not to let liquids seep down into the mattress innards, whether that be from the initial spill or mess, or from the cleaning products you use to try to remove the stain.

Further, to the extent that you need to wet the mattress to clean it, you want to let it dry thoroughly before putting bedding back onto it, because otherwise mold or mildew can develop and that's a bad problem as well.

For general tips for how to clean upholstery check out the linked article.

In addition, below I've got a round up of tips from readers who've tried various products on techniques to clean and remove stains from mattresses that can help you with specific problems you may encounter.

Tips From Other Readers {Plus Share Your Own}

Do you spend a lot of time cleaning your home and possessions? If so, you can use some good tips to help you get these chores done, so you can have some fun! Here are tips I've collected from readers like you, and from around the web to help you with these tasks.

Here are the best tips submitted so far:

Share Your Tips Here

Cleaning Tip: Use Baking Soda

How To Remove Urine

How To Clean Stain Coming From Inside

Rug Doctor Urine Eliminator Spray

Use Tide To Go Pen

Spot Shot Worked To Remove Urine

Totally Toddler Remover {For Protein Stains}

OdoBan Removed Vomit Smell

Pet Select Pee Pee Remover {For Urine Smells}

Search This Site

It has happened to everyone. A potty training child, or someone else in the family has had an accident and accidentally peed on the bed, and it has soaked into the mattress.

Or while you were sick you sweated a lot, and now you have sweat stains on your mattress.

Or, gasp, you allowed someone to eat and drink in their bed and they spilled something all over the mattress.

Perhaps no big accidents occurred at all, but over time your mattress has begun to look dingy and worn.

No matter what happened, tell me your tips for removing all these types of stains, and more, or just how you successfully cleaned your mattress below.

Third photo courtesy of TruckPR

Related Pages You May Enjoy

Stain Removal Tips & Tricks For Busy Moms

Share House Cleaning Tips & Ideas

Don't Forget These 10 Things When You Deep Clean Your Bedroom

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CAUTION: This website is provided for informational purposes only. It is provided as is, without warranties or guarantees. Some stains and messes just won't come out, and are permanent. Further, some cleaning methods can harm your item, so if what you want to clean or launder is sentimental or expensive call a professional. See disclaimer of liability for more information.