It’s clean-up time

Seven tips for a clean and healthy bedroom. Teja Lele Desai

T he festive season heralds the beginning of the ‘Great Indian Clean-up’ in every home, and it’s time to open up cupboards, closets and cabinets that may not have been opened the entire year. If it’s time to tackle the bedroom, pay special attention to these seven items — they need to have a clean bill of health to ensure your room is healthy.

Mattresses

Whatever your mattress type — innerspring, air bed, waterbed, memory foam, latex, coir — the mattress picks up a lot of dust through the year. Dusting isn’t enough. Sprinkle baking soda and let lie for half an hour before vacuuming. Do this on both sides, and follow by a through airing in the sun. You may also consider getting your upholstery and mattresses professionally cleaned.

Pillows

Pillows aren’t just packed with foam or down; they can also house several types of allergy-inflaming fungi. Add to that the sweat, skin that you shed, and the conditions are ideal for dust mites. How to keep them spanking clean? Apart from regularly laundering bedding, anti-allergen covers can help protect pillows from outside germs.

Bed sheets

All the factors that pillows have plus lots more sweat since the entire body rests on a bed sheet. So what do you do?

Washing everything in hot water is a great idea but drop in a batch of bleach once in a while. Studies have released that a hot wash with a bit of bleach will kill bacteria on the bed linen and also clean up the machine.

Headboards

Whether your bed had a built-in headboard or you got a cushioned one affixed to the wall, the headboard — apart from styling your room — helps you rest your head comfortably while you’re reading or binge-watching your favourite serial on the telly. Keeping this clean is vital, so make sure you vacuum thoroughly to suck out every bit of dirt and grime. Wooden hardboards can be cleaned up with a wet wipe but upholstered ones may need a shampoo plus bleach.

Rugs

The rug that provides your feet a soft and cushioned landing the moment you wake up sees a lot through the day. Dirty feet, muddy shoes and coffee/tea spills — no wonder it’s a sitting duck as far as bacteria is concerned.

Shake small rugs every day to dislodge dry dirt, brush out pet hair and vacuum regularly. Consult care labels for small rugs to determine whether they should be dry-cleaned, spot-cleaned, or laundered.

Bath mats

Bath mats don’t have the most enviable job – they must sit in a dank atmosphere, be soaked with water and be prone to the growth of mould and bacteria. Add to this the fact bathroom floors, along with the bowl, are amongst the most contaminated parts of the bathroom. Make sure you wash the mats once a week on the highest heat and with bleach; wash separately from bedding or clothes. Ensure that you disinfect the floor so that bacteria don’t get back on a clean mat.

Laundry basket

Make sure you use one bag for dirty clothes and use another for clean ones. Ensure that you wash the dirty bag along with the clothes. Hard hampers, be they wood or plastic, can be rubbed down with a disinfectant but stay away from bleach as it may discolour the material.