Let’s face it, doing the laundry isn’t the most fun activity. What if you could use your bed sheets longer between washes while still sleeping in clean sheets? Here’s a trick to do just that.
Apartment Therapy reader Chellyt84 confesses her secret: She makes the bed with both the flat and fitted sheets, but sleeps on top of the flat sheet. After a week, she removes the flat sheet and sleeps on the fitted one. So instead of washing the sheets every week, she only has to do it every other week.
You might need more pillowcases and duvet covers to rotate, however, if you want the whole bed to be clean. Alternatively, you can keep them fresher for longer by showering before bed, avoiding a nap after you’ve been sweating all day and keeping pets and food away from it.
Just remember, if you’re not washing your bed sheets regularly, means you’ll be sleeping on a build up of fungi, bacteria, pollen and dead skin. If that’s not enough to encourage you to freshen up your bed linen often, dirty sheets can trigger asthma and other allergies and can be a haven for critters.
This article has been updated since its original publication.
[referenced url=”https://www.lifehacker.com.au/2019/07/how-to-fold-a-fitted-sheet/” thumb=”https://www.lifehacker.com.au/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2019/07/sheets-410×231.jpg” title=”How To Fold A Fitted Sheet” excerpt=”There’s no housekeeping task more defeating in nature than attempting to neatly fold a fitted sheet after it’s been washed.”]
Comments
21 responses to “Make Your Bed Sheets Last Longer Between Washing”
Why not just make t with 3 fitted sheets and 3 flat sheets and make it last even longer?
Better yet, 4 of each sheet type! Also, make it with 8 blankets.
What about mattresses piled on top of each other?
Just toss one out the window and Hey Presto!
ive completely solved this problem. i just put a new sheet over the old. i am currently about 1.5 meters from the ceiling so i have about 3 more years before i abandon my bedroom, move into the spare room and start again.
People wash their sheets every week? Now I feel gross; I only change them about once a month.
I do mine every fortnight.
You wash sheets?
I don’t mind DOING the laundry, it’s making the bed afterwards that kills me.
if you sweat a lot during your sleep or someone wet your bed, you might contaminate both sheets …
but seems a nice idea for some people 🙂
someone ?
There’s a reason for using sheets, it keeps your mank of the blankets and stops them from being scratchy, plus it helps hold the heat in more efficiently in cold weather. This is just bloody pointless, and doesn’t solve anything…!
Agreed
Ok, this is stupid… So instead of washing the fitted sheet and flat sheet, you now have to wash the flat sheet and doona.
A doona is far more annoying to wash than a fitted sheet.
I sleep in between the flat sheet and the fitted sheet, and wash those twice as often as the doona.
Chellyt84 needs to confess that she does not wash her doona.
It was standard practice in our house to use two flat sheets. Every week, the top flat sheet goes to the bottom and the bottom sheet got washed. A clean sheet then used for top sheet.
here’s a better idea; don’t wash your sheets until you can notice that they are tangibly dirty and actually NEED to be changed. That way you don’t waste time doing weekly washing/putting your sheets back on out of compulsion rather than necessity. Lifehack.
Isn’t the idea for sleeping under the flat sheet so you don’t have to wash your dovet and its cover?
Whether you have a bath or shower before or after sleeping might have an impact too.
Before hoping into bed I totally encase myself in cling wrap, I never have to wash my sheets!
Or sleep on the floor and never wash sheets or make the bed?
I solved this problem by first – only living in hotels and serviced apartments. And then when the money eventually ran out, I now live in the park and sleep on benches. Haven’t really thought it through though.. so far has only been a summer thing, and summer has been kind. When winter rolls around I’ll need another solution. Will be a shame to give up my bench though considering the awesome WiFi it has. But as long as i NEVER EVER have to do bed-clothes-laundry again… I think it’s a win-win in the grand scheme of the universe.
The other amazing thing about this thread is that no one has mentioned anything about extra curricular nocturnal activities and how they might affect this clean-sheets plan. Eating in bed… making forts, hot-boxing, letting the dog in the bed etc… these things all contribute to dirty sheets.