If the idea of pounds of sweat and microscopic organisms freaks you out like it does me, then it’s time to refresh and deodorize your mattress with this all-natural solution!
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HOW TO: REFRESH & DEODORIZE YOUR MATTRESS
When we made the move from Michigan to Florida a few short years ago, we actually sold quite a bit of furniture and slowly have been adding the pieces we need back to our home ever since. While we did end up bringing our bed with us, the mattress didn’t make the move (although we didn’t sell it either, gross!).
We disposed of that thing before leaving, knowing we needed a new one anyway. What we couldn’t believe was how heavy our 7-year-old mattress had become.
Imagine how shocked I was to learn that mattresses ultimately double in weight after 10 years because of human cells, dust mites, bacteria, fungal spores, fungal elements, pollen, dander, and secretions and excretions of the body that accumulate… SO gross!
Now, grateful that our time had come for a new mattress (at the time of the move) we sleep with a mattress cover and I always wash our sheets weekly, if not more depending on what’s happening. Like those proud parenting moments where your little one joins you in bed in the middle of the night and then wet’s YOUR bed.
Yeah, awesome.
We also regularly use essential oils to refresh, sanitize, and deodorize our mattress.
Next time you take your sheets off to wash them (in hot water), clean your mattress too, and get ready to fend off the dust mites that like to live in the bedding and fabric of your mattress.
How to Refresh and Deodorize Your Mattress with Essential Oils
- First, place a cup of baking soda in a jar that has a lid and add 15-20 drops of essential oil of choice.
- Shake well, then, using a kitchen sifter, sift the mixture all over the top of your mattress. Let sit for at least an hour (the longer the better) and when you’re ready to make your bed, use a vacuum hose attachment and vacuum it all up.
Your room will smell amazing and your mattress will be deodorized! 
The baking soda is great for removing stale and musty odors and adding in an essential oil that is purifying and repels dust mites makes this work wonders in your sleeping environment.
Essential Oils for Refreshing and Deodorizing Your Mattress
I love using Clove Essential Oil because it’s a favorite scent of mine, and along with Peppermint Essential Oil, Lavender Essential Oil, Lemon Essential Oil, and Eucalyptus Essential Oil, these are each great oils for repelling dust mites. We recently went through and cleaned up all of the mattresses in our house… and it feels so good!
The same system works for your carpets as well, especially great for homes with pets because as well as repelling dust mites, the same applies to fleas.
Use the above formula and sprinkle over carpets and rugs before vacuuming to clean, deodorize and refresh those carpet fibers, as well as repel fleas and more.
Tools I Used
Happy cleaning… and sleeping!
I’m confident using essential oils from Spark Naturals. Their 100% pure oils are not processed, diluted, or manipulated in any way with solvents or other additives. For a 10% discount, use code FRESHMOMMY!
Think this how to deodorize your mattress post is worth a read? Please share… I’d greatly appreciate it!
Check out some of our top Essential Oil Posts!
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Easy Recipe for The Best Homemade Playdough with Essential Oils for Calming by top Florida lifestyle blogger Annie Laboy of Fresh Mommy. Change the colors and cookie cutters for any holiday. This pink is perfect for Valentine's Day or Easter!
Havok says
You are correct – I DO need this! I may not have essential oils to use with it, I’m betting my mattress could use some baking soda! I’m not sure how well my vacuum will do to get it all off, but I’ll try it at least once!
Tabitha Laboy says
Definitely start with the baking soda, and then when you can get an essential oil to really get the sanitizing features they offer, that will help as well! Lemon is a really inexpensive one for cleaning, if you want to start there 😉
I actually don’t have a good hose attachment on my vacuum, so I just set my entire vacuum on top of the mattress and vacuum that way! Works well for me! Haha.
Steph says
Fantastic! I’m soooo doing this over the weekend. I already vacuum my mattress once a month or so, but have never tried the essential oil/baking soda solution. Thanks for sharing!
Tabitha Laboy says
Awesome!!! Let me know how you like it 😉
Lora says
EEP! I need to do this! Thanks so much for sharing! 🙂
Valerie M says
I can’t wait to try this when I change the sheets this weekend!
Tabitha Laboy says
Oh yay! You’ll have to let me know what you think of it!
April says
I did not know how to clean a mattress. Our needs cleaning, actually it needs replacing but we can’t afford that right now. Good to know I can freshen it up. I am visiting from the #tbb. I hope you have a wonderful weekend.
Tabitha Laboy says
Thanks so much for coming by!!! 😉
Elora says
Brilliant. I’ve done this before — in different ways. NEVER heard of using the kitchen sifter, though. SO SMART.
Tabitha Laboy says
Well thank you Elora!!! 🙂
Kelsey says
Hi! I really like your blog! Iove this idea! Do you think Tea Tree oil work? Also what size and/or brand sifter do you have? Thanks!
Tabitha Laboy says
Awe thank you so much Kelsey! Tea Tree oil would work great! It’s such a beneficial oil (it’s not my favorite scent, but would work wonderfully!). I’m not sure the brand of sifter that I have, but it’s just a fine mesh.. and came in a pack of three sizes. I’ve had them forever in my kitchen, so if you have any kind of mesh sifter it would work! 🙂
Thanks so much for coming by!
Ana says
Awesome! Haven’t heard of anything like this before. Just now that I’ve read your article Annie. I’m just being unsure about pouring oil to baking soda, but I know this is worthy to try with. Will definitely come back once I’ve done this. You know, it’s another time for mattress cleaning. 🙂
Antoinette Mack says
I really need this information. I am planing to clean my mattresses next week. I am very glad that I have found your article. I am going to show it to my husband and make him clean them. 🙂 Best regards!
Maria says
Thanks for this tip, Annie, I find out that I am too lazy! Our mattress has been uncleaned for a year, and this is the time to refresh it!
Tabitha Laboy says
Well I’m glad it can help!!! It’s easy to let it go… I do all the time, and then realize it’s been awhile! Haha. 🙂
Jennifer mcbride says
Brilliant! Never tried using baking soda. I have been using lysol and lemon. Have you tried it? it works great too!
Csilla says
Hello tabitah could you please tell what type of essential oils that the most works for refreshing the bed thank you csilla .
Jenna Jamieson says
I feel memory foam mattresses in the lower price range cool really miserably. And the higher price is a bit out on my range. Could you advise of what can be a possible alternative? To be fair, the mattress is now five years old, and it did see some rough use when we made it into a space for our son to play indoors when we had a smaller house. Are spring mattresses a good idea? I’ve heard some pretty bad things about them, but I guess with a top layer of memory foam (it comes out cheaper over here) it should work ok.
Lucy says
I can not wait to try this recipe, it was great.
Bedroom Furniture Singapore says
Thanks for the tips, it sure going to remove bad odour from the mattress behind the cost effectiveness of the technique used.
Gopi Geet Katha says
we have metal shoe racks at home and we use it to hold those large boots and heavy leather shoes,
Herry Hermawan says
Thanks for sharing, i will try with my mattress
Dimitri Council says
How can I clean the top of my mattress? It has stains from spills on it or can I get it reupolstered?
lisa says
how long often week or month or ??? clean mattress u use it
Kilim Pillows says
Extremely great idea.
noah says
I was getting really into this because it smelled great for a few days like essential oils 🙂 but it BACKFIRED! now my matress smells like stale or rancid oil and I am not sure what to do!!! I tried a few more treatments of just baking soda, caring it out to the sun and spraying a little vinegar and bleach on it which actually helped and I thought it was better but after a few more days the smell is back. :/ Maybe are used a little bit too much essential oil and get carried away because it smelt so good LOL My mattress never smelled bad in the first place I was just so excited about it smelling like licorice or cinnamon. But now the smell is driving me crazy and I try washing my sheets every other day. I’m guessing one more round of light bleach and vinegar in the sun I don’t know. Any ideas? Thanks
Tabitha Laboy says
I’m so sorry to hear that Noah! Must be that it was just too much… I’ve never had that happen, or heard of that happening. I would continue to try with hot water and vinegar and sun… the less ingredients you use the better to clean it out.
Thomas Valient says
I love this idea, but I’m worried that getting all the baking soda off your mattress would be impossible. Although I suppose it might not matter too much since you’re going to put sheets on it anyway, so it’s not like you would be sleeping in a bunch of baking soda.
Tabitha Laboy says
I hear you! Definitely start light! We don’t use a ton of baking soda, and then it vacuums right up. I use a light hand on the oils too.
C Stanley says
This is a fantastic recipe, thank you for the brilliant write up.
Nicky says
I don’t like this idea at all. Vacuuming up baking soda powder is a bad idea. Number one, it’s not going to sterilize you mattress much, if at all. It’s not much different than say trying to kill an ant or spider by dumping salt on it. If you get it wet the story might be different but then it’s going to take forever for your mattress to dry unless you put it outside on a hot day. But whether you use dry or dissolved baking soda in water it’s going to leave a salty residue/. In the case of water dissolved the residue will remain in your pillow top. Actually the wet method probably would have more of a freshening effect. As far as vacuuming up dry baking soda however i have to say it’s a bad idea because it’s such a fine powder that some is likely to go strait through and blow out the vent at which point you will be inhaling it and it will settle on all your furniture. That will be much worse if you use an older vacuum with a bag or basic one layer filter. If you have a HEPA or double filter then it’s just going to clog it prematurely and will still blow out baking soda dust back into your air. Baking soda is superfine. Check out it’s micron size compared to your vacuum filter. I guarantee you. Bad idea. Use everclear spray instead and/or silica based cedar oil 10 – 20% spray all. Everclear will completely evaporate leaving no residue. The cedar oil will kill dust mites and other micro insect organisms. It leaves some residue from the hydrated silica but the cedar oil eventually completely evaporates.
Tina says
Had to Google “refresh my mattress” to refresh my memory and ‘lo and behold realized it’s the very same ingredients I’ve been using for years as carpet sprinkling! Although instead of the sifter I store my carpet/mattress fresher in a mason jar with holes punctured in the lid for ease of use! Thank you again reminding me!
Nicalaine says
Did this today! I used DoTerra Serenity!
Bedding And Beyond Vouchers says
I am read your blogs about refresh and deodorize your mattress an I am use essential oil on refresh and deodorize my mattress. My mattress looks very beautiful and amazing. I like your blogs.
Chrisler Sanders says
your blog is refereshing, I will follow your suggestions and lets see the results later. thanks a lot…
navi says
“Informative post on oils . Clear and detailed. Thanks!”
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