While everyone knows that mattresses can get pretty disgusting after a few years, not many people know that comforters can also become loaded with dirt, dust, sweat, mites, and dead skin cells. For that reason, the question, "How often should you wash your comforter?" is indeed a very important question. 

There can be several answers to this question depending on how well you care for your comforter. In some cases, a comforter might be in such bad shape that you might need to consider replacing a comforter instead of washing it. Keep reading and learn more about how often you should wash your comforter and how to keep your bedding clean for many years to come.

How Often Should You Wash Your Comforter?

Having clean bedding is important for a variety of reasons, and if you don't often clean your comforter, you will soon find that not washing it regularly can have consequences. When you sleep, your bed will eventually become loaded with dead skin cells, sweat, mites, hair, and other debris. This can cause your bed to have an unpleasant smell, and it can create the perfect breeding ground for various types of bacteria and insects. 

When this happens, you might wake up with bug bites on your skin or acne from the bacteria living on your covers. This, of course, is not ideal.

At the same time, there is such a thing as cleaning a comforter too often. If you do this, washing a comforter all the time will result in that comforter getting pretty worn out. The stuffing inside the comforter might start to lump up in certain places, while other parts of the comforter barely have any stuffing at all. 

The trick is to find the balance between washing and not washing your comforter. Ideally, you should wash your comforter two or three times every year. That way, you can keep the comforter clean, and you won't have to worry about the comforter getting too worn out. 

However, you might need to wash your comforter more often, depending on a variety of factors. For example, washing your comforter two times every year is fine only if you have a sheet separating you from the comforter. If you use the comforter itself as your sheet, you will need to wash it much more often. 

In some cases, you might need to wash it as often as once a week. Since washing a comforter so often can be exhausting, it's best to sleep with a sheet beneath it. 

How to Know When It’s Time to Replace Your Comforter

You might have the best comforters in the world, but even so, there will come a time when you will need to replace them with new comforters. But what are the signs that your comforter is old enough to be replaced? As mentioned before, lumpiness is not a good sign when it comes to comforters.

When your comforter starts to get lumpy, it can become uncomfortable to sleep with. Some parts of the comforter will leave you cold in the middle of the night while other parts are so overstuffed that they will make you too warm. Comforters tend to become lumpy at a faster rate if you are a restless sleeper. 

Tossing and turning, and kicking your sheets will make it more likely for the stuffing inside the comforter to become displaced. Another obvious sign that it's time to go about replacing a comforter is that stuffing is leaking out of the comforter. The leak might start out small and might not be anything to worry about, but eventually, your comforter will have less and less stuffing.

Sooner or later, there will be large patches in the comforter that don't have any stuffing at all, and your comforter won't be able to do a great job at keeping you warm at night. If there are stains on the comforter, you shouldn't wait around to throw it out. 

While some stains can be removed by washing them, some stains, such as those caused by coffee or red wine can often be permanent. If you don't sleep with a sheet between you and the comforter, sweat stains can also be a problem. These can be hard to get rid of, and they can leave the comforter with a bad odor as well. 

How to Wash Your Comforter

If it's not yet time to replace your comforter, you should learn how to wash it in the meantime. Washing a comforter isn't that difficult of a task, and all you really need to do is throw it in your washer machine. Because comforters are quite bulky, you will want to use the heaviest setting your washer machine can offer.

That way, the machine will be able to scrub out any excess dead skin cells, dust, mites, and so on. It might be able to remove some easy stains from the comforter as well. Once the comforter is done washing, don't forget to throw it in the drier. 

It is important to keep your comforter dry because if the stuffing inside stays wet for a long period of time, it can become a breeding ground for bacteria and insects. After your comforter is done trying, fluff it a little to make sure the stuffing is in all the right places. 

What You Need to Know About Caring for Your Comforter

How often should you wash your comforter? It depends on how you use it. If you have a sheet separating you from the comforter, you only need to wash it a few times a year. 

If not, you might need to wash it every week. To learn more, contact us here.