How often should you wash your sheets?
How often to wash and change your sheets, and the rest of the bed, from the pillowcases to the comforter, with the minutes each one takes.
The short answer
Once a week: sheets and pillowcases together, in the hottest water the care label allows. Every two weeks is fine if you don’t sleep in that bed every night, or you shower before bed, sleep alone and no pet sleeps on it.
The whole bed, in one table
Sheets are only the top layer. Everything under them needs a wash too, only far less often. This is how often each part comes round in CozyHaus, and how long the app gives it.
| What | How often | Minutes | Sleep Foundation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sheets and pillowcases | Every week | 10 | Every week |
| Duvet cover | Every week, with the sheets | included | Every 2 weeks to a month |
| Mattress protector | Every month | 5 | Every 1 to 2 months |
| Pillows, aired in the sun | Every month | 5 | Not covered |
| Duvet or comforter | Every 3 months | 15 | Every 2 to 3 months |
| Mattress, vacuumed | Every 3 months | 15 | About every 6 months |
| Pillows, washed | Twice a year | 15 | Every 4 to 6 months |
| Mattress, rotated | Twice a year | 10 | Not covered |
We wash the duvet cover with the sheets, because the bed is already stripped and it goes in the same load. If yours stays on longer, that’s within the advice too.
Why once a week
Every night, sheets take on sweat, skin flakes and the oils from your skin and hair. Dust mites feed on the skin flakes. A week is about how long a bed takes to stop feeling fresh, and the Sleep Foundation and the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America both say weekly.
It’s also cheap. Changing the bed takes about 10 minutes, and the washing machine does the rest.
Is once a month too long?
It’s longer than any advice we found, but it isn’t a moral failing. A good sign to go by: if the sheets smell of you when you get into bed, they’re due. If a month is where you are now, start with the pillowcases: swap them every week, since your face sleeps on them, and let the sheets catch up.
What changes the answer
- A pet sleeps on the bed: every 3 to 4 days, says the Sleep Foundation.
- Hot weather or night sweats: more often in summer, when there’s more sweat.
- Someone has been ill: wash the bedding once they’re better, as hot as the label allows.
- Dust mite allergies: weekly, hot, and a hot dryer.
- A spill on the mattress protector: wash it as soon as you can, not at the end of the month.
- A guest bed nobody slept in: air it once a month, and change it after each visit.
What temperature to wash sheets
The hottest the care label allows. Cotton usually takes hot water; polyester and many blends want warm. For dust mites, the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America says 130°F (54°C) or hotter, then a hot dryer cycle.
Dry everything all the way before the bed is made. Slightly damp sheets on a mattress are the start of a musty bed.
Changing the bed in 10 minutes
- Strip the bed: pillowcases, duvet cover, top sheet and fitted sheet.
- Start the wash, and leave the mattress bare to air while it runs.
- Fitted sheet first, starting with the two corners at the head of the bed.
- The top sheet if you use one, then the duvet in its fresh cover. Turn the cover inside out, hold two duvet corners through it, and shake it down.
- Fresh pillowcases last.
A tip
Keep two sets for each bed. Then changing the bed never waits for the dryer, and one set rests while the other is in use.
Sources
- Sleep Foundation, How Often Should You Wash Your Sheets?
- Sleep Foundation, How to Wash a Mattress Protector
- Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America, Control Indoor Allergens
- Minutes and frequencies: the CozyHaus chore catalogue, Bedroom.
Let your phone keep the schedule
CozyHaus plans the chores that fit your home, a few small ones a day, and shares them with everyone who lives there.
Coming soonon the App Store