You probably gathered from the title, this is another interesting blog post on an extremely boring topic, sheets. We’re going there because our last post '4 things you should probably know about doing laundry’, raised a string of questions related to washing sheets, and we aim to serve. So here are few helpful tips on dealing with your sheets. They’ll have you more than covered (sorry, we can’t help it!).
There's a tag in the bottom right hand corner of every sheet, use it as a guide.
Instead of guessing which is the long side of your fitted sheet, a sheet that looks like a perfectly circular shower cap when it’s not on the bed, look for the tag and you’ll know immediately. What are you going to do with all the time you just won back?
Rotate your fitted sheet each time you put it on your bed.
You know that big brown patch that you find on your fitted sheet up near your shoulders? The one made from sweat, makeup, dead skin, and other bodily things? Well, you can't stop that from happening, but you can slow the pace it ruins your fitted sheet by rotating it each time you put it on your bed. The tag we mentioned above, use it to navigate. Bottom right, top left, repeat, repeat, repeat....
Be bothered with flat sheets, if you want to bother less.
If you use a flat sheet, you only have to wash your doona cover once a (generous) month, which according to experts, is 4 times less frequently than you should be washing your sheets.
Wash your sheets about once a week.
Mary-Louise McLaws, Professor of Epidemiology in Health Care Infection and Infectious Diseases Control, recommends we strip out beds at least once a week to keep our skin free of bacteria, infection and dust mites. She also mentioned that washing the sheets once per week ensures that the sheets do actually get clean when they are being washed, because sweat hasn’t built up to a critical level (again with that pesty brown patch).
Be like everyone else and wash your sheets at least once per fortnight.
We know finding the time to wash sheets once weekly is tough, because sheet data (from our friends across the sea) told us so. According to Youpoll, 33% of U.K. residents claim to wash their sheets once per week, while 35% claim to wash their sheets every fortnight. Although experts in the UK also recommend washing sheets once per week, 1/3 of the population are not dead from their dirty sheets, so don’t be too hard on yourself if life gets in the way of perfect behaviour. Just don't wait longer than a month... the same study reports that people who leave it longer than a month are far less lucky in the sack. Go figure.
Sheets like it hot.
The hotter the temperature, the better your chances of ridding not just the dust mites, but all the bacteria that can live in your sheets. This advice comes with the caveat that if your sheets are cheap, hot temperatures will shrink them. Read the care instructions first.
There you have it, everything you need to know to get your sheets in order.